What does the priest do?

[Giuseppe_Gavino]

If a priest commits a mortal sin and is unable to go to confession before he has to say Mass what does he do? Is he still able to say Mass?

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Yes.

 

[Giuseppe_Gavino]

Does he commit a sacrilege then by eating the host and drinking the wine?

 

[surritter]

He should make a “perfect act of contrition” and then his soul will be adequately prepared for Mass. He will have to go to sacramental confession as soon as possible. But at least he will be able to eat the host and drink the blood with a clear conscience at Mass. Regardless of all this, the Mass will be perfectly valid.

 

[Giuseppe_Gavino]

Thanks,

I knew the Mass would still be valid: I guess I just wanted to know what course of action a priest would take to not commit a sacrilege when receiving the Body and Blood of Christ if he was to fall into mortal sin before Mass.

 

[Immaculata90]

Plus…the sins of a Priest do not reach the people.

Let’s say for example (in a terrible and rare situation) that a priest was having an affair with a woman in the parish or whatever. That would theoretically make his Masses invalid because he is living in mortal sin with no apparent remorse. However, the Mass is still valid for those attending in good faith.

The sins of parishoners can sometimes affect priests, but the sins of a priest will not affect the people.

 

[SVP]

Hopefully a priest in such a situation would realise the gravity of committing a mortal sin and recuse himself from celebrating Mass to avoid further scandal.

{What is a Mortal Sin?} In order for a sin to be mortal, it must meet three conditions:

• Mortal sin is a sin of grave matter
• Mortal sin is committed with full knowledge of the sinner
• Mortal sin is committed with deliberate consent of the sinner

  This means that mortal sins cannot be done "accidentally." A person who commits a mortal sin is one who knows that their sin is wrong, but still deliberately commits the sin anyway. This means that mortal sins are "premeditated" by the sinner and thus are truly a rejection of God’s law and love.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Hopefully a priest in such a situation would realise the gravity of committing a mortal sin and recuse himself from celebrating Mass to avoid further scandal.

Technically there would be no scandal unless the sin was public/known.

 

[juno24]

(Bolding below is mine.) It is not true that the Mass would be invalid. Validity is not subjective. That is, a specific Mass could not be valid for one person and not for another. It would be a valid Mass, but the priest may be committing a sacrilege (although that is by no means certain). The validity of a Mass is NOT based on the state of the soul of the priest offering the Mass. That’s an ancient heresy (Donatism) that was dealt with long ago. If the priest intends to do what the Church intends, and he has proper form and matter, the Mass is valid even if the priest is in a state of mortal sin.

Plus…the sins of a Priest do not reach the people.

Let’s say for example (in a terrible and rare situation) that a priest was having an affair with a woman in the parish or whatever. That would theoretically make his Masses invalid because he is living in mortal sin with no apparent remorse. However, the Mass is still valid for those attending in good faith.

The sins of parishoners can sometimes affect priests, but the sins of a priest will not affect the people.

 

[DihydrogenOxide]

The sins of parishoners can sometimes affect priests, but the sins of a priest will not affect the people.

This is actually not true. Sin is sin, regardless of whether the sinner is a lay person or religious. A priest is human and has the ability to sin as does anyone else. Therefore, if a priest sins, it can affect others just the same.