private vow dispensation

[OurLadysServant]

Can only your local parish priest dispense you from a private vow, or can any priest?

Whats church current teaching quotes?

What if my parish is two villages. The head parish priest is on the other village, and another parish priest for my village. I must go to the parish priest from my village?

Must I receive dispensation in confession with him? Or outside of confession?

 

[DavidFilmer]

Can only your local parish priest dispense you from a private vow, or can any priest?

Outside of a Religious Community (with a Religious Superior, either regular or secular), only a Bishop may dispense a vow. Many Bishops delegate many aspects of their authority to their priests (such as the authority to pronounce absolution for sins normally reserved to the local Ordinary), so it is possible for a priest to act on the Bishop’s behalf for many matters, but this would be limited to people who were canonically under that Bishop’s pastoral care (normally people living in that Diocese).

Whats church current teaching quotes?

Maybe a Canon Lawyer will chime in. There is no “teaching” here - it would be Canon Laws (which are only rules, not teaching (Doctrine)).

What if my parish is two villages. The head parish priest is on the other village, and another parish priest for my village. I must go to the parish priest from my village?

Your priest has no authority here, except what his Bishop delegates to him. Assuming your village has the same Bishop (and I think this would be almost universally true) then every priest in the village has the same delegated authority (which might be huge, or it might be nothing at all).

Just as a Bishop has a Diocese, a priest has a Parish, and the priest is canonically responsible for everyone in his Parish (whether or not they are even Catholic). But it would be unusual for a priest to refuse to serve a Catholic from another Parish.

Must I receive dispensation in confession with him? Or outside of confession?

If the Bishop has delegated authority to his priests, you do not need to obtain a dispensation within Confession. If you have violated your vow prior to receiving a dispensation, you should confess this to any priest. The priest may (at his discretion, and assuming he has been delegated the authority) dispense the vow during Confession, or he may ask you to approach him (or another qualified priest) afterward to discuss the matter of dispensation.

Canonically, a priest is an extension of his Bishop. He serves at the pleasure of his Bishop, and in the manner that his Bishop prescribes. He has no authority of his own.

 

[OurLadysServant]

If I am in need of a general confession covering over 2 decades of mortal sins. Could I receive dispensation from the promises outside of confession a few months before I confess (even if I have broken these vows for years and need to confess them also)

Are broken daily vows mortal sins?
Eg not to eat between meals, not to eat sugar sweet foods, to fast every wednesday and friday, to do bread and water fasts, lifelong celibacy, abstain from alcohol, say so many rosaries a day etc…

If I live in a parish with two villages and two priests (one per village), I must ask the priest who is overhead of my village. Both priests are under the same bishop, and diocese, except my local priest is not head of the parish, the other priest is head, although they both are over one village each.

How do I find out who to ask the dispensations from? Do I email my bishop? And see how he replies?

See your proper pastor or ordinary (bishop). CIC Can. 1196 In addition to the Roman Pontiff, the following can dispense from private vows for a just cause provided that a dispensation does not injure a right acquired by others:

1/ the local ordinary and the pastor with regard to all their subjects and even travelers;
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2/ the superior of a religious institute or society of apostolic life if it is clerical and of pontifical right with regard to members, novices, and persons who live day and night in a house of the institute or society;
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3/ those to whom the Apostolic See or the local ordinary has delegated the power of dispensing.
​

Can. 1197 The person who makes a private vow can commute the work promised by the vow into a better or equal good; however, one who has the power of dispensing according to the norm of can. 1196 can commute it into a lesser good.

Outside of a Religious Community (with a Religious Superior, either regular or secular), only a Bishop may dispense a vow. Many Bishops delegate many aspects of their authority to their priests (such as the authority to pronounce absolution for sins normally reserved to the local Ordinary), so it is possible for a priest to act on the Bishop’s behalf for many matters, but this would be limited to people who were canonically under that Bishop’s pastoral care (normally people living in that Diocese).

Maybe a Canon Lawyer will chime in. There is no “teaching” here - it would be Canon Laws (which are only rules, not teaching (Doctrine)).

Your priest has no authority here, except what his Bishop delegates to him. Assuming your village has the same Bishop (and I think this would be almost universally true) then every priest in the village has the same delegated authority (which might be huge, or it might be nothing at all).

Just as a Bishop has a Diocese, a priest has a Parish, and the priest is canonically responsible for everyone in his Parish (whether or not they are even Catholic). But it would be unusual for a priest to refuse to serve a Catholic from another Parish.

If the Bishop has delegated authority to his priests, you do not need to obtain a dispensation within Confession. If you have violated your vow prior to receiving a dispensation, you should confess this to any priest. The priest may (at his discretion, and assuming he has been delegated the authority) dispense the vow during Confession, or he may ask you to approach him (or another qualified priest) afterward to discuss the matter of dispensation.

Canonically, a priest is an extension of his Bishop. He serves at the pleasure of his Bishop, and in the manner that his Bishop prescribes. He has no authority of his own.

 

[thistle]

Can only your local parish priest dispense you from a private vow, or can any priest?

Whats church current teaching quotes?

What if my parish is two villages. The head parish priest is on the other village, and another parish priest for my village. I must go to the parish priest from my village?

Must I receive dispensation in confession with him? Or outside of confession?

TITLE V: VOWS AND OATHS (Cann. 1191 - 1204)

CHAPTER I : VOWS

Can. 1191 §1 A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God, concerning some good which is possible and better. The virtue of religion requires that it be fulfilled.

§2 Unless they are prohibited by law, all who have an appropriate use of reason are capable of making a vow.

§3 A vow made as a result of grave and unjust fear or of deceit is by virtue of the law itself invalid.

Can. 1192 §1 A vow is public if it is accepted in the name of the Church by a lawful Superior; otherwise, it is private.

§2 It is solemn if it is recognised by the Church as such; otherwise, it is simple.

§3 It is personal if it promises an action by the person making the vow; real, if it promises some thing; mixed, if it has both a personal and a real aspect.

Can. 1193 Of its nature a vow obliges only the person who makes it.

Can. 1194 A vow ceases by lapse of the time specified for the fulfilment of the obligation, or by a substantial change in the matter promised, or by cessation of a condition upon which the vow depended or of the purpose of the vow, or by dispensation, or by commutation.

Can. 1195 A person who has power over the matter of a vow can suspend the obligation of the vow for such time as the fulfilment of the vow would affect that person adversely.

Can. 1196 Besides the Roman Pontiff, the following can dispense from private vows, provided the dispensation does not injure the acquired rights of others;

1° the local Ordinary and the parish priest, in respect of all their own subjects and also of peregrini;

2° the Superior of a religious institute or of a society of apostolic life, if these are clerical and of pontifical right, in respect of members, novices and those who reside day and night in a house of the institute or society;

3° those to whom the faculty of dispensing has been delegated by the Apostolic See or by the local Ordinary.

Can. 1197 What has been promised by private vow can be commuted into something better or equally good by the person who made the vow. It can be commuted into something less good by one who has authority to dispense in accordance with Can. 1196.

Can. 1198 Vows taken before religious profession are suspended as long as the person who made the vow remains in the religious institute.