Priests Intention

[ginny]

My question is about the intention of a priest who has lost his faith to “do what the church intends to do” . We are told that as long as the priest has the intention of doing what the Church does then the sacrament is valid. I’m thinking that is a problem because many of the dissenting priests do not believe what the Church teaches and therefore are probably just going through the motions without intending to do what the Church does. How many priests have lost their faith and don’t believe any more - I think many.

Would the answer be that as long as they are doing the physical thing that the Church does without the intention that it would be valid?

 

[Jdg164]

ginny:

My question is about the intention of a priest who has lost his faith to “do what the church intends to do” . We are told that as long as the priest has the intention of doing what the Church does then the sacrament is valid. I’m thinking that is a problem because many of the dissenting priests do not believe what the Church teaches and therefore are probably just going through the motions without intending to do what the Church does. How many priests have lost their faith and don’t believe any more - I think many.

Would the answer be that as long as they are doing the physical thing that the Church does without the intention that it would be valid?

Wow. I’ve never thought of this before. You have absolutely stumped me. Let me make sure I understand your question by posing it in an example. Let’s say Fr. Joe no longer believes in Real Presence in the Eucharist. You are asking if when Fr. Joe consecrates the Eucharist, is it valid? My educated guess would be yes because A) God consecrates the Eucharist through the priest- regardless of his state of mind at the time and B) A priest is still a priest by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and hence still performs his duties “validly” until he is no longer a priest.

As I said- these are guesses. I really wish one of the official apologists would weigh in on this one because now you have me wondering!

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

A priests intention is presumed to be correct. However if he comes out and says to you or someone else something to the contrary. That his intent is to only act out the Last Supper in symbolic form. The Mass would be invalid and the Bishop should be notified ASAP.

It is true that if a priest has doubts. He still intends to Consecrate but doubts anything happens. That is different. The intent is always presumed unless it is known to be lacking with absolute certainty.

 

[Katholish]

A priest can still validly consecrate the Sacred Host even if he has lost his faith in the True Presence.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 64, Article 9:

I answer that, As stated above (5), since the minister works instrumentally in the sacraments, he acts not by his own but by Christ’s power. Now just as charity belongs to a man’s own power so also does faith. Wherefore, just as the validity of a sacrament does not require that the minister should have charity, and even sinners can confer sacraments, as stated above (5); so neither is it necessary that he should have faith, and even an unbeliever can confer a true sacrament, provided that the other essentials be there.

Reply to Objection 1. It may happen that a man’s faith is defective in regard to something else, and not in regard to the reality of the sacrament which he confers: for instance, he may believe that it is unlawful to swear in any case whatever, and yet he may believe that baptism is an efficient cause of salvation. And thus such unbelief does not hinder the intention of conferring the sacrament. But if his faith be defective in regard to the very sacrament that he confers, although he believe that no inward effect is caused by the thing done outwardly, yet he does know that the Catholic Church intends to confer a sacrament by that which is outwardly done. Wherefore, his unbelief notwithstanding, he can intend to do what the Church does, albeit he esteem it to be nothing. And such an intention suffices for a sacrament: because as stated above (8, ad 2) the minister of a sacrament acts in the person of the Church by whose faith any defect in the minister’s faith is made good.