Hello, Br. J.R. I thought that the exception of cardinals from being ordained to the bishopric is not for Jesuits in particular but for anyone who requested it. [snip]
Also, I believe that Jesuits cannot seek high office (even within their own order) but can become a bishop or cardinal if the Pope demands it.
You have two different ideas going on at the same time, age and religious community. Let’s deal with age. A man who is older may ask to be dispensed from the episcopal requirement in the Code of Canon Law. It’s up to the Holy Father to grant the request. One of two things can happen. The Holy Father grants the request or the candidate does not get the red hat if he does not accept episcopal ordination.
Let’s talk about Jesuits. Jesuits may not seek episcopal positions and are not bound to accept them either. The pope cannot demand it. He does not have the power to do so. You cannot impose ordination on anyone. Popes do not make it a policy to impose on religious anything that is contrary to their laws, especially not Jesuits. The Vatican has a great deal of respect for the Jesuits. A pope can offer the red hat to a Jesuit priest. The Jesuit can decline, if the Holy Father says that the priest must also accept ordination to the Order of Bishop. The Pope has to accept the response or dispense with the rule about being a bishop. He cannot force any religious to accept Holy Orders. That’s not one of his powers or rights.
God bless you for your explanation.
Brother JR, you stated that some like to wait for a change of heart…From what I read Fr. Cutie has a child with his wife.
Therefore, my question is would Fr. Cutie have to wait until his wife passed away and his child(ren) is older if he has a change for heart?
God bless,
goforgoal
The rule is that if you attempt marriage and have a child, even though the marriage is invalid, the natural duties supercede those of the priesthood. Therefore, Father Cutie’s first duty is to be a good Catholic father to his daughter. This would involve returning to the Catholic Church, requesting a dispensation from celibacy and validly marrying his wife. That is the change of heart in this particular case.
In each case, it’s going to be different, because there may or may not be children, etc. But some bishops really prefer that you leave honorably by asking for a dispensation. If you are dismissed, it has the same effect. However, in a dismissal, your faculties a stripped away. If you get a dispensation, you voluntarilly give up your faculties. You will always be a priest, regardless. Once you are ordianed: deacon, priest or bishop, no one can take that away from you. You can live as a layman. But you are never a layman. You will always be a cleric who is outside of the clerical state. It’s like a retired medical doctor. You don’t cease to be a doctor. You stop practiticing medicine. Fr. Cutie will always be a priest until he dies.
JR,
That’s something I’m most curious about. As an ordered religious, what would be your feeling on a restoration of allowing non-priests to the College of Cardinals? I specifically wonder if the Church wouldn’t benefit from the presence in the College of women religious. As you say, those duties really aren’t directly related to Holy Orders.
Women can never be cardinals. One of the duties of a cardinal is to vote in a papal conclave. No woman can vote in the conclave. A cardinal can be elected pope, even if the cardinal is a layman or a religious brother. It has happened. No woman can be elected pope, because the pope must be free to be ordained deacon, priest and bishop.
Should we have laymen and brothers receive the red hat? I don’t want it. I’m remembering one of our General Ministers, St. Bonaventure. He was washing dishes when the messenger came with his read hat. In those days they delivered it to you. At the time, he was the superior general of the Franciscan Order. But the superior of the house had made Bonaventure responsible for the kitchen. You have to understand that Bonaventure was a professor of theology, the superior general of the order and a bishop at the same time. However, when you live in a friary, the local superior is still your boss. When the messenger came with the red hat, Bonaventure looked up and said, “Good God, I can’t do all the things that I have to do now. Can’t this wait?” The messenger insisted that the pope needed a response. So Bonaventure said, “Hang the hat over on the branch of that tree. I’ll get around to it, after dishes and after I finish my prayers.”
Back to Cutie, given that in some places the Anglican Liturgy is quite beatiful and consistent with catholic liturgical principles, it occurs to me that his new Episcopal parishioners might actually be receving the Eucharist since he actually has valid orders via apostolic succession! Thoughts?
They most certainly are receiving the same Eucharist that you and I receive at any Catholic mass in any of our 23 Catholic Churches. However, the mass is illicit. A priest who is suspended, dispensed, dismissed or excommunicated does not have the right to celebrate mass. He has the power to do so, but not the right. It’s one of those things that just because you can do so, does not mean that you may do so. However, if you’re ever in the emergency room and you need absolutioin and Fr. Cutie is the nearest priest, he can validly and licitly absolve you. You don’t have to go shopping for a priest, in case of an emergency.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
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