Serious omission

[Fergal]

Dear Friends,
In our Parish all Masses / Mass intentions are booked in the Parish Office and are assigned to a daily Mass and not to a specific Priest. The person booking the intention is then told what Mass it will be included in so as to allow them the privilage of attending to pray with the Church for that particular intention.

The Priest saying Mass is always given a list of intentions to be prayed for at that Mass just before Mass begins.

One of our parishoners asks for a Mass to be said for the Holy Souls once a month and pays an offering to the Parish for that Mass. It is listed in the usual way on the list of intentions. One of our Priests, when he sees this intention listed, refuses point blank to pray for the Holy Souls no matter how many times it comes up. In fact he has stated that he does not believe in praying for the dead.

To make matters worse those who have asked for this intention to be included and have paid a generous offering are always present expecting to hear the intention read out.

I am curious to know how serious would you view this deliberate ommission? Is he withing his rights to omit praying for an intention that has been accepted by the Church and for which an offering has been paid?

Thanks in anticipation!!
Fergal
Naas
Ireland

 

[space_ghost]

Tell you what my friend… i would waste no time in making sure your bishop is aware…

I personally am not in the business for measuring the degree of graveness, but i would be willing to bet the bishop would have an interest…

Then if you see a gallows outside the church the following week you can almost bet it was mortal…

 

[Panis_Angelicas]

Dear Friend Fergal,

Belief in the doctrine of purgatory is obligatory, not optional. Your priest seems to have a serious issue with the Church and the doctrines She teaches.

He is also being dishonest in accepting money into the parish coffers for a Mass intention which he obstinantly refuses to even mention before Almighty God and the faithful.

I agree that this matter seems quite serious and that the bishop should know. Perhaps this priest is lacking in some formation, needs counselling, or just needs to be reprimanded for arrogance.

I’ll join you also, in praying for this priest.

Pax Christi. <><

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Note

Can. 949 A person obliged to celebrate and apply Mass for the intention of those who gave an offering is bound by the obligation even if the offerings received have been lost through no fault of his own.

Can. 953 No one is permitted to accept more offerings for Masses to be applied by himself than he can satisfy within a year.

Can. 955 §1. A person who intends to entrust to others the celebration of Masses to be applied is to entrust their celebration as soon as possible to priests acceptable to him, provided that he is certain that they are above suspicion.

He must transfer the entire offering received unless it is certain that the excess over the sum fixed in the diocese was given for him personally. He is also obliged to see to the celebration of the Masses until he learns that the obligation has been accepted and the offering received.

§Can. 956 Each and every administrator of pious causes or those obliged in any way to see to the celebration of Masses, whether clerics or laity, are to hand over to their ordinaries according to the method defined by the latter the Mass obligations which have not been satisfied within a year.

Can. 957 The duty and right of exercising vigilance that Mass obligations are fulfilled belong to the local ordinary in churches of secular clergy and to the superiors in churches of religious institutes or societies of apostolic life.

They don’t directly address the problem described here, but it is clear that it is a serious matter that the Bishop must look into.

 

[JimG]

He doesn’t believe in praying for the dead? So does he also refuse Mass offerings for the deceased individually, not just the poor souls as a group?

There is actually no obligation on the priest’s part, though, to announce the Mass intention. Some parishes do it audibly at Mass. Others post it in the bulletin. Some do neither.

In our parish there are too many intentions to be able to handle them all locally, so most are sent to the missions.

JimG

 

[Servulus]

Fergal:

The Priest saying Mass is always given a list of intentions to be prayed for at that Mass just before Mass begins.

The idea of a list of intentions for a particular Mass opens another facet of this issue. According to Canon Law:

“Can. 948 - Separate Masses are to be applied for the intentions of those for whom a single offering, although small, has been given and accepted.”

Unless the person offering the stipend had a list of intentions, there should only be one per Mass.

More food for thought.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Servulus:

The idea of a list of intentions for a particular Mass opens another facet of this issue. According to Canon Law:

“Can. 948 - Separate Masses are to be applied for the intentions of those for whom a single offering, although small, has been given and accepted.”

Unless the person offering the stipend had a list of intentions, there should only be one per Mass.

More food for thought.

This list may be for the Prayer of the Faithful and not the mass intention.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Servulus:

The idea of a list of intentions for a particular Mass opens another facet of this issue. According to Canon Law:

“Can. 948 - Separate Masses are to be applied for the intentions of those for whom a single offering, although small, has been given and accepted.”

Unless the person offering the stipend had a list of intentions, there should only be one per Mass.

More food for thought.

Not quite. Note that there is a caveat here – “for whom a single offering…has been given and accepted.” Multiple intentions are permitted at a Mass (after all, the fruits of the Mass are infinite), but only one may be in response to a stipend.

In my parish, for example, we regularly pray for the sick, the deceased and the intention for which a stipend has been offered. This is perfectly consistent with the canon you cite.

Deacon Ed