Why can't confessions be over an internet webcam?

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I know this topic has been brought up several times, but I think I may of found a loupol :cool: … Probably not. :o

Anyways, I remember last Sunday, my parish priest gave a homily over this Friar who could only shout his confessions to another priest on board a ship because the ship priest was not allowed to get off, and he was able to receive absolution.

Anyways, if one could shout his confessions to another priest and receive absolution, why couldn’t it happen over a webcam?

My example was, if there was a person in a state of mortal sin in Maine, and then a priest in California…the Person in Maine, confesses to the priest in California…and says the sin, and the priest in California gives a penance and absolution to the person in Maine. How could absolution not be given?

Since when does distance have a play in the validly of absolution? If a contrite person is confessing a priest 1000 miles away, but using a medium to get to the priest, how could confession be invalid?

The priest is offering absolution to the person in Maine, not through the camera or the internet, but to the person.

I would love answers.
Thank you!
 
My goodness!!! I wouldn’t ever go to confession if I knew it was over a not so secure transmission that other people might find out about. :eek: At least, my whispered confession to a priest in person is guaranteed to be confidential.

Although, I have no doctrinal information to your original question about the validity of the sacrament in that situation. Others may be able to provide you with that. 🙂
 
I actually asked my priest that. Kinda.
I asked him why the church doesn’t have a 1800-confess number for emergency confessions. He said it has to do with privacy.
 
Who cares if someone else hears is? The priest will not tell.

If someone else hears my confession, that doesn’t invalidate the absolution.

Pope John Paul II, when he was a priest, the government set up recording machines in his confession. That doesn’t mean all of his penitents didn’t receive absolution.
 
I agree there are substantial arguments in favor of these e-confessions (although I believe telephone, not webcam, would be an even more appropriate manner of doing things…since a webcam is substantially less private and anonymous).

But the church does not yet agree.
 
I quite like the idea, but at this stage I would rather travel 100 kilometers with my old and slow truck on the humpy bumpy gravel road, before I confess in front of a camera. That’s just, because I’m healthy and fit.

In some cases it might even be a real need to confess over the internet, f.i. for dying old and sick people and especially when so many young men don’t want to answer their calling to the priesthood of Christ, but rather rely on these few priests we have, that are often old and sick themselves.

I also think that it has never been condemned by the pope to confess over the phone, but I could be wrong out of various reasons, maybe fear of sacrilege.
 
grasscutter said:
My goodness!!! I wouldn’t ever go to confession if I knew it was over a not so secure transmission that other people might find out about. :eek: At least, my whispered confession to a priest in person is guaranteed to be confidential.
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This is not true. I was in a confessional once and I can hear clearly what the person on the other side is saying. But I chose not to gossip so I focused on something else so I wouldn’t understand what is being said.
mburn16 said:
I agree there are substantial arguments in favor of these e-confessions (although I believe telephone, not webcam, would be an even more appropriate manner of doing things…since a webcam is substantially less private and anonymous).

But the church does not yet agree.
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Anonymity is not required in confession. Also there is such a thing as caller ID.
 
I am not an expert on the Catachism of the RCC, but I was taught, as a boy-over 65 years ago, that all the Sacrements must be handled person to person, with one of the individuals being the Priest, who is standing in for Christ.
So, the privacy issue has nothing to do with it. Confession requires a personal interaction with the priest being the presence of the Lord, which obviously can’t be done via radio, telephone, or the internet.
 
George_Stegmeir said:
I am not an expert on the Catachism of the RCC, but I was taught, as a boy-over 65 years ago, that all the Sacrements must be handled person to person, with one of the individuals being the Priest, who is standing in for Christ.
So, the privacy issue has nothing to do with it. Confession requires a personal interaction with the priest being the presence of the Lord, which obviously can’t be done via radio, telephone, or the internet.
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Good point! So be it!🙂
 
From what I understand, I have only been a few times. I think there is a greater accountability for going in person vs webcam. I know by talking with friends on skpye who live overseas, it’s great but it’s not the same as having the person across in person. I think the technology should be embraced but used only sparingly for example if someone is dying and there isn’t enough time for the priest to travel to hear the confession, using the webcam would be beneficial or if we were dealing with an epidemic and it was safer for the priest to hear the confession via web again it would work. It could be used in very rural areas where the remoteness prevents priests from visiting often. That said, these situations don’t happen that often. As with any technology we need to discern and decide how can the technology be best used. Making web confession available for the average person who has the time to travel or make an appointment for confession is not a good idea. However, it could be a great tool for shut ins, emergencies, and people living in remote areas.

Society needs to realize a simple rule: just because a technology is available, doesn’t mean it has to be used. For example, we have the knowledge to make atomic bombs, does that mean we have permission to create bombs and bomb every country or every person who angers us? We can agree, the answer is no. We need discernment and common sense.
 
I don’t see why not.

Here’s why-

1)Confessions are possible today without the Priest even knowing who is present. If you choose not to have a face to face encounter(as a lot of people do) behind a curtain or door/confessional then what is the difference between doing that and/over the phone or using a webcam.
  1. It also opens up the possibility of having confessions more frequently. A lot of parishes in the US have confessions only on Saturday afternoons. I’d like to have the option of having one during the week, late in the evenings , early mornings etc. Having a webcam/telephone option opens up this possibility as any priest throughout the world can do it.
  2. Whats really needed in a good confession, is having Faith in the mercy of God and also a good connection with the Priest. I’ve been to confessions where i’ve not had a good or deep enough conversation with the Priest. I think counselling is also important during Confession. But if a Priest is worried about finishing up the line before the evening liturgy that may not always be possible
The Church should modernize this age old sacrament…
 
Here is the what I believe is the right answer from another thread.

In spite of all these well-established means of distance communication, the Church has stood firm that sacraments - all of them - need to be administered in person. With the single and incredibly rarely used exception of proxy marriage, and no others.

It needs to be private! Turn your cell phones off too.
 
WebCams haven’t changed the options.

Before webcams, there were telephones.

Before telephones, there was mail.

And before mail, there was couriers.

Where there weren’t couriers, it was possible to tell your confession to a friend, and have him walk 100 miles to the the priest, then have him return with an absolution.

I’m sure the Church’s requirement that confessions be conducted in person won’t be changed because of this.
 
JD27076 said:
I know this topic has been brought up several times, but I think I may of found a loupol :cool: … Probably not. :o

Anyways, I remember last Sunday, my parish priest gave a homily over this Friar who could only shout his confessions to another priest on board a ship because the ship priest was not allowed to get off, and he was able to receive absolution.

Anyways, if one could shout his confessions to another priest and receive absolution, why couldn’t it happen over a webcam?

My example was, if there was a person in a state of mortal sin in Maine, and then a priest in California…the Person in Maine, confesses to the priest in California…and says the sin, and the priest in California gives a penance and absolution to the person in Maine. How could absolution not be given?

Since when does distance have a play in the validly of absolution? If a contrite person is confessing a priest 1000 miles away, but using a medium to get to the priest, how could confession be invalid?

The priest is offering absolution to the person in Maine, not through the camera or the internet, but to the person.

I would love answers.
Thank you!
Click to expand...
“Using a medium to get to a priest …” :bigyikes: bad phrasing, lol.

I know you meant “media” and “a medium” is singular. 😉

That will probably not fly anytime soon. Though if I were to make a case for it, “what about the disabled who can’t travel to confession. Or those in remote places ONLY connected by phones, computers etc.?”

A bigger question along the same lines is - “Why isn’t Confession more available?”

Popes seem to call us to return to it. Yet most parishes offer it for just an hour here or there - and cover the rest of it with putting the onus on the penitent to make an appointment or catching a willing priest on the fly.

Why can’t each Diocese have one well-known place where round the clock confessions are available? < Ambitious huh? But “retired priests” could do this. And Donation boxes nearby could support the ministry.

I’m all for more confessions. And ONLY priests can do it. Sometimes it seems that
the Sacraments are being sloughed off as less important than business meetings or parish fundraisers. (Harsh? If it doesn’t apply pay no attention. If making the Sacraments priority one is an odd concept … I’d like to hear why),

I say this NOT out of disrespect at all. But as a loyal Catholic to those who MIGHT be
seeing their sacramental duties as … not so important? … not supported enough by people so adjusted to for efficiency elsewhere?

I DO see the privacy problems with phones, computers etc.

But I also see privacy problems with the liberal way Reconcilation is sometimes administered NOW. Confessionals closed and moved to open air areas. Face to face confessions being mandatory due to priests not offering the privacy option as they should.

And the unhappy times that priests leave people in confessional lines unconfessed after waiting quite a while – while Father "has to leave’ (hopefully for something at LEAST as important as a scheduled mass or something). < This has happened to me a couple times; sometimes I “got in” but others did not.

I know. It’s easy to complain. I only do it to bring about the good. More sins confessed and forgiven. Mortal sins too … so souls saved! < Priority ONE I believe and I’m no theologian. What could be more important? And ONLY priests (and UP) can do it. Some of the other “important stuff” CAN be delegated to lay people and monitored in my opinion.

Hyperventilating … losing judgement … gotta go … :stretcher:

Thanks for the thought provoking topic OP
 
I would rather travel 100 kilometers with my old and slow truck on the humpy bumpy gravel road, before I confess in front of a camera, which records my sins.
 
that story of that friar is entirely different and can’t be used to try and push for e confessions or webcam confessions. That was the only possibility for that penitent and his confessor. They were physically unable to reach one another so they worked with what they had. Had their been another priest on the ship to hear his confession he would have gone to him. If your priest/confessor is out of state on church business or visiting family or taking vacation or whatever, do you stop going to confession? No of course not. You go to your nearest priest. There may be a shortage of Priests overall, but theres enough Priests within a short drives distance from just about everyone in the country so there really is no point for confession through a media device. Besides, why have people confessing in their pajamas while lazily laying in bed? They should be humbling themselves before Christ in His Church and truly repent their sins, not just brush it off and look for even more reasons why they don’t have to go to Church.
 
One won’t be so happy with phone confessions once they are farmed out to a phone bank in India. :eek:😃

(fill in the blank with some country besides your own)
 
I think an app with drop-down menus as to type and number of sins linked to a cloud-based database would be good. The app could generate stats on the number of other people committing the sin, their success or otherwise in overcoming it over time, and the penance received. If people activated their locators, we would be able to get real-time information on sinning in different parts of the world, and requiring demographic information (age, sex etc) would allow trends in confessed sins to be mapped. If people provided information on their 'sub-affiliations" - SSPX, Latin, Eastern, Opus day, Jesuit etc there would be even more useful information. This would then allow priests to concentrate on preaching against ‘trending sins’, and Michael Voris would know for sure at what to wave his pencil. CAF prayer warriors would have clear targets. I think anonyomizer software would be a must to preserve the seal of the confessional, and penitents should be required to assue their confessor that they have checked their computer for spyware and keyloggers. 😉
 
Absolution must be given in person. In the Eastern Rite, it is possible to confess over the phone, but the penitent must seek out a priest in person to receive absolution.

As much as I hate/loathe/detest/abhor putting myself in a position such as confession, I still would never want to do it if it wasn’t in person. People are getting far too attached technology.
 
andreashofer said:
I would rather travel 100 kilometers with my old and slow truck on the humpy bumpy gravel road, before I confess in front of a camera, which records my sins.
Click to expand...
After a sacrifice like THAT your penance shouldn’t even be saying (a full) "Hail Mary." Maybe just saying “Hail Mary.” Thanks for the mental imagery.

The latter part of confessing before a camera made me think of an old Twilight Zone where Burgess Meredith confessed his “crime” of free-thinking in a totalitarian state - to a TV audience who were tuning in to watch his state execution. 😉

Git me my geetar, I’m a-goin’ t’write me a song about a humpy bumpy road!
**
“Oh my hooome’s on the Delta … Way down that ol’ bumpy road …” – Mc Kinley Morganfield (aka Muddy Waters) **
 
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