Author: yuengerwv

I was speaking with someone who stated that if a teaching isn’t in the Bible, the church made it up and is simply man made.

This is a common problem among certain mainline or non-affiliated Christian communities.  It is important to remind them that without a Tradition there is no Bible, as the Bible was assembled by the faith community based upon the Traditions.  Here are some additional references that are in the Bible: 1 Cor 11:2 “Hold fast to traditions I handed on to you”; 2Thes 1:15 “hold fast to traditions, whether oral or by letter”; 2Thes 1:15 “Shun those acting not according to tradition”; Jn 21:25 not everything Jesus said is recorded in Scripture. 

I have a friend from another state who had a wonderful relationship with their local pastor.  Several years ago, the priest ended up leaving the Catholic Church and going to another denomination.  My friend continues to visit with the priest and says he is still their confessor.  I don’t want to create a problem for my friend needlessly but it was my understanding that such a confession would not be valid.  Am I right?

You are correct.  I am sure your friend takes great comfort in the guidance of the former priest.  Unfortunately, your friend’s experience is not uncommon as every diocese has such.  While a priest is a priest forever, priests are given faculties (the capacity to function) by their local Catholic bishop.  Without such faculties, your friend’s priest, or any priest who has had their faculties revoked when they walked away from their assigned ministry, may not function as a Catholic priest, with a rare exception.  Given what you have said, I will presume his faculties were withdrawn and he was automatically excommunicated by accepting a ministerial position in another denomination.  A priest without faculties cannot validly absolve sins in confessions (Canon Law 966) and cannot validly administer the Anointing of the Sick, both of which involves the forgiveness of sins. While any mass they say may be valid, they are illicit and would not fulfill one’s Sunday obligation to attend mass.

You have said in homilies that you are the supply line, not the field soldier, that is the layperson’s ministry. Can you explain that?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the Laity:
897 “… have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World.
898 “By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will…. It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according to Christ and maybe to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.”
899 The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the matter involves discovering or inventing the means for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church:
Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head, and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.

Whereas according to Canon Law:
285      §3. Clerics are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power.
§4. Without the permission of their ordinary, they are not to take on the management of goods belonging to lay persons or secular offices which entail an obligation of rendering accounts. They are prohibited from giving surety even with their own goods without consultation with their proper ordinary. They also are to refrain from signing promissory notes, namely, those through which they assume an obligation to make payment on demand.
286      Clerics are prohibited from conducting business or trade personally or through others, for their own advantage or that of others, except with the permission of legitimate ecclesiastical authority.
287      §2. They are not to have an active part in political parties and in governing labor unions unless, in the judgment of competent ecclesiastical authority, the protection of the rights of the Church or the promotion of the common good requires it.

As one can see, by virtue of being a cleric I am not in the position to make the changes in the world a lay person can.  By virtue of being a cleric, I can support, nurture, and provide for those lay persons who are changing the world.  By providing the sacraments of the Church and making them available for the nurturing of their Christian faith, I am assisting God in providing the graces necessary for lay people to accomplish their mission.
By proclaiming the Word, Evangelizing, and providing the sacraments, I assist in building up the Church, (the people of God) who then can transform the world as they fulfill their mission.

In our faith, is death predetermined as some believe? I guess that is the right way to ask if our time is up it’s up?

You are touching on several issues.
The first thing is to remember that God has two wills. His manifest will and his permissive will. For example, God said, “let there be light” and there was light (Manifest Will). God gives us free will, hence we can do things God does not desire to happen (Permissive Will). If you walk into a bank while someone is robbing it, you might get shot and killed. That is not God’s plan, it is the result of the robber’s free will committing evil. God permits actions he opposes. The alternative is to eliminate free will.  Your death was not predetermined by God.
Part of free will is to do those things that enhance our lives and those around us. (Why we avoid people with a virus.). We also have a responsibility to care for the body and life given by God. Thus, we love our neighbor as ourselves.

The issue of being predestined comes from the thinking that if God knows when we are going to die, we cannot change it. Here is where I refer to the understanding that because God is outside of time, he knows things “before” they happen. Just because he knows something does not mean it is his will it happens. For example:
You may know from your life’s experience if your child does certain things it will have a bad outcome. Just because you knew it in advance does not mean you caused it to happen.  Parents sometimes allow their children make decisions (and mistakes) so that they will hopefully grow wiser and learn.  Because God does not eliminate free will when we abuse the gift and commit sin, does not mean that God always likes the way we use our free will.
Back to your question, when we die involves numerous potential issues.  If we have a cancer, we can choose treatment or not, that decision may impact when we die.  If a physician by mistake gives us an incorrect prescription, that may impact when we die.  If we fail to look both ways before crossing a street, that may impact when we die.  Just because God knows how we will behave, or when and how we will die, does not mean we are predestined to die at a particular time.

Your question reminds me of a joke, (I have no idea who’s the author.) 
God gave me certain things to accomplish in my life before I die.  I’m so far behind, I’ll never die!

There are a lot of different documents that come out of the Vatican. How do we know which to pay attention to and which are of greater or lesser importance?

Since I admit I am not up to date on my hierarchy of papal documents, I invite you to visit a webpage called: A Pocket Guide for Different Papal Documents April 1, 2020, by Ramzi Bishtawi who researched it.

Apostolic Constitutions are the most solemn papal document and are typically addressed to the public. This form of legislation is important in dealing with doctrinal and disciplinary matters of a local church or the Church as a whole.
Encyclicals are letters of pastoral or theological content, meant to be read by all of the faithful. These letters are typically longer reflections, on topics of importance to the pope. While an encyclical does not hold the weight of a constitution, it nevertheless holds high papal authority for a given issue.
Apostolic Exhortations are addresses emphatically urging the faithful to consider a particular spiritual matter or activity, of importance to the Pontiff. Despite the similarities, apostolic exhortations carry less authority than encyclicals, and are not considered legislative.
Apostolic Letters are written by the Pontiff in response to a specific need or addressed to a specific group of people. These letters are pastoral in nature, but not legislative.
Motu Proprio, which translates to “by one’s own initiative,” is a legislative document dealing with specific issues relevant to the Church in a given time in history. A motu proprio is issued by the pope himself and can be on any topic.
Papal Bulls are official declarations or announcements issued by the pope. A papal bull was used by St. John Paul II to announce the Jubilee Year of 2000.
Papal Rescripts are usually written in response to a petition placed before the Roman Curia, the administrative institutions of the Holy See, or the pope himself. These papal rescripts are meant to make new laws or modify existing ones.
Decretal Letters are letters of a pope containing a decretum, a pontifical decision. Canonizations and dogmatic definitions, for example, are often decreed in the form of a decretal letter.
Breva, or Apostolic Briefs, are lowest on the hierarchy of papal messages, and they deal with matters of relatively minor importance.

How is it that those politicians who openly support abortions can receive Eucharist?

The answer, while complex, boils down to two canon laws and how they are interpreted.

Can. 915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.
Can. 916 A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

The first deals with a juridical act by a bishop or other ecclesial authority.  If a person’s bishop, (a) which is determined by his or her domicile, (b) or the pope, or (c) a given bishop exercising authority in his own diocese, (i.e., apart from the person’s diocese of domicile), regarding a grave public sin has formally stated that someone may not be admitted to Holy Communion. 
The second deals with the conscience of a person.  This is a determination of a person and his or her confessor regarding grave sin.

As you can see there are two distinct issues. 
The first deals with a formal state of Excommunication, which is proclaimed and enforced by a bishop with competent authority.  This would be similar to a secular judge in making the official declaration that someone guilty of DUI homicide loses the right to possess a driver’s license or to drive a motor vehicle. 
The second is like a person who knows he or she is an alcoholic making a choice to not possess a driver’s license or drive a vehicle.  For example, I know of alcoholics who rather than tempt themselves purposely have chosen to not get a driver’s license or own a motor vehicle.

A local priest, with certain exceptions, does not have jurisdiction or authority to refuse someone presenting themselves for Communion, unless the local bishop, or other bishop with competent authority, has declared such.  It is important to remember that, while such behavior may cause scandal, Excommunication is an ecclesial discipline calling someone to repent, not a political issue. We are free to disagree with the local bishop, regardless, it is his call not ours.

I was thinking of donating my body to the local University for medical training and research.  Is that permitted by the Church?

Yes, it is permitted.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: (2292) “Scientific, medical, or psychological experiments on human individuals or groups can contribute to healing the sick and the advancement of public health.”  It further states (2296) “Donation of organs after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a manifestation of generous solidarity.”  (2301) “Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. the free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious.”  Having said this, it also states in 2300: “The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection.”  At most universities, when finished with a donor’s body it will be cremated.  Ashes, if not returned to the family, are usually interred in a mausoleum.

Personally, I would prefer a surgeon who has worked with a real body, al-be-it a dead one, to a surgeon who has only read about the body in a book.  Thus, I can see a benefit to future doctors and others in society by the donation of one’s body.
If you would like more information you may check with the closest medical school.

A few weeks ago, we had the first reading talking about Abraham bargaining with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. You never mentioned why God was going to destroy the cities.  Why not?

The reason is simple.  Those responsible for the common lectionary, had a pattern for deciding what scriptures to include and where.  First there was the division of the Gospels into a 3-year pattern designed sequentially.  Second, they looked for an Old Testament reading they felt echoed the Gospel message.  Third, they looked for a Psalm that would seem to connect the two.  Fourth and last, they arranged the Epistles sequentially with no intended reference to the other three scriptures.
The focus of the Gospel that week was prayer.  The Psalm emphasizes: “When I called you answered me.”  Given those two clues one looks at the first reading to understand why it was picked.  If you notice the reading did not touch upon what the issues in Sodom were.  The description of Sodom and Gomorrah were not yet given, not until the next chapter (19).  I asked, “Why was Abraham bargaining?”  The answer I discerned is his brother lived there.  He was trying to save his brother’s life. 
So, why would this scripture be chosen to go with this Gospel?  If you remember, at the end of the Gospel, Jesus, after giving the story about asking a neighbor for bread late at night, states: “if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”  To me the obvious answer was “persistence in prayer”.  Abraham was persistent in petitioning God.  Thus, as I was preparing to preach, I saw that these readings are not about sodomy but prayer. And even more importantly persistence in prayer.

Why do people in some churches stand after the “Lamb of God” and others kneel?

The original General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) has people standing, out of respect, from the presentation of the gifts until after communion.  This is the universal norm provided by Pope St. John Paul II in the newest missal, promulgated in 2000.  In the United States, because of local custom, the USCCB asked permission for an exception for people to kneel during the consecration.  This request for a local adaptation was approved.  Along with the approval was permission for the local bishop to make certain adaptation decisions for his diocese, one of those was after the “Lamb of God”.  Some bishops decided to have the people kneel again, other bishops decided to allow the people to remain standing. 

In my diocese the bishops made the decision to have the people remain standing.  That decision has never been altered, nor exceptions made for any parish.  Thus, in my diocese the norm is to remain standing after the “Lamb of God”.  No priest has the authority to make a change on his own.  Any priests instructing otherwise are doing such in violation of their Bishops’ lawful exercise of their ministry, and thus, are in disobedience.

A future bishop could change the norm, as would be his right.  Until such time as the bishop changes the norm for my diocese, we stand after the “Lamb of God”.

Why does a divorced non-Catholic wanting to marry a Catholic need a Declaration of Nullity?

The reason is a simple one.  Because the Catholic Church holds a marriage to be of significant value, it recognizes all marriages. 

The covenant of marriage “is brought about through the consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons who are capable according to law of giving consent; no human power can replace this consent” (can. 1057 §1). In other words, it is consent that makes marriage; not the presence of a priest or deacon (though for Catholics this is necessary), not the civil license, not the permission of parents, etc.

Thus, if the person were Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or whatever, if they were married, we presume the marriage to be valid unless proven otherwise.  Because a person is allowed only one valid sacramental marriage, unless the spouse dies, a Declaration of Nullity is needed or the person would be guilty of bigamy.
Everyone has a right to petition for a Declaration of Nullity, although, no one has a right to an affirmative decision.  This is why it is often best to communicate with a priest or a member of the local Tribunal for guidance in completing the proper petition form.

Here is a link to one diocese’s FAQ regarding the petitions for annulments and the process: Document for pdfs (dwc.org)