J
JReducation
Guest
- All Catholics and Orthodox who have reached the age of reason go to confession. Even the Pope has a confessor. For centuries it has always been a Capuchin-Franciscan Brother. And no, Friar Raineiro (sp?) does not wear a collar. He wears his brother’s habit when at the Vatican. This is very deliberately done by the Capuchins and other branches of the Franciscan Order to avoid distinguishing priests from their Franciscan brothers. They do not desire to stand apart, nor was it Francis’ wish either.
- In my post on justice I failed to use the word “not” and Joy corrected it. Thank you Joy. We are not to assume authority over someone who is not subject to our authority. It seems on this issue there are too many who want to control. There is a difference between expressing an opinion and passing a judgment. He who passes a judgment over a religious or priest for not wearing a collar is really trying to control.
- The collar is no guarrantee that the person wearing it is a priest. Many religious men wear collars, so do some Protestant ministers.
- The question on the title of this thread is funny. I think the OP wanted to say clerical dress instead of clerics. I suddenly had an attack of silliness and tried to imagine someone trying to wear a cleric (deacon, priest or bishop) wrapped around his neck.
- In the case of priests who belong to religious orders, congregations societies or institutes of apostolic life, the faculties to hear confession is granted by the major superior not a bishop. Once a community is established in a diocese, the major superior may give faculties to any member of his community to hear the confessions of the faithful. The bishop grants that authority to the major superior. It’s part of the contract between the diocese and the community. This protects the community’s autonomy.
There is a precedent for this in canon law. The Missionary Servants of the Blessed Trinity are a congregation of sisters founded in Maryland around the time of World War II. They never wore a veil or a long European style habit. A bishop wanted all women religious in his diocese to wear a veil. The Trinitarian Sisters explained that they had never worn a veil. The bishop insisted. The case went to Rome. Rome ruled in favour of the Sisters. The bishop decided that he would retrack his invitation to the congregation to serve in his diocese. Rome supported the bishop’s retraction. Both sides were acting within their rights.
This is the rule concerning dress. The rule of the community and the policy of the bishop have equal weight. If they can’t reach a compromise, they part company. The laity has no voice in the matter.
There was another issue involving a group of friars. The laity did not like the fact that they could not tell the friars apart. They did not know who was a priest and who was a layman. They wanted the priests to wear a collar while serving in the parish. The bishop ruled against the laity, because the friars were a mendicant order and are exempt. They answer only to their General Chapter and the Holy See. The habit was the tradition of the order and the laity had no right to demand that the friar-priests not wear the habit, but instead wear a Roman collar. It was unfortunate, because the friars became so upset that they pulled out of the diocese and left four parishes without anyone to attend to them. The bishop had to consolidate them into two parishes.
We have to be very careful where we step. If we want priests and religious to be there for us, we have to pick real issues and leave the small things alone. Everyone can find a priest when they go to a parish office, if there is a priest available.
In my parish you will never find a priest on the parish campus except during business hours. Our parish is staffed by mendicants. They do not live on the parish campus. They live at a friary several miles away. They have a schedule of parish hours that does not conflict with the schedule of the friary. There are certain times of the day when they don’t want to be found, because it’s community time, except in cases of life and death emergencies.
The supermarket is certainly a place where they do not wish to be targeted. If they are at the supermarket they are usually doing the shopping for the community. This is community time, as are community prayer, community recreation, community meals and so forth, just like shopping for your family is part of your family time.
JR
