Each weekday, you'll find a new question and answer. Check back for the new question and scroll down to see previous day's entries! Let us know what you think - - or question! -- by emailing us at tcanswer@osv.com.
Anglican at Confession?
Q. Is it possible for an Anglican to go to Confession to a Catholic priest? If so, is the priest obliged to keep such a confession as private and sacrosanct as he would keep the confession of a Roman Catholic?
J.N., via email
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Francis Hoffman, J.C.D.:
Let’s begin with what is established in Canon 844 § 4: “If there is a danger of death or if, in the judgment of the diocesan Bishop or of the Bishops’ Conference, there is some other grave and pressing need, Catholic ministers may lawfully administer penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick to other Christians not in full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who spontaneously ask for them, provided that they demonstrate the Catholic faith in respect of these sacraments and are properly disposed.”
So, yes, there are extreme cases when an Anglican could go to Confession to a Catholic priest, and in such a case the priest is obliged to keep that confession absolutely secret. Not to do so would be to “break the seal” of the confessional, which would cause the priest to be automatically excommunicated, a penalty that could only be lifted by the Holy See.
However, note that this provision is only “if there is danger of death” or if the bishop decides that there is “some other grave and pressing need.” Under normal circumstances, a Catholic priest could not administer penance to an Anglican.
St. Augustine Zhao Rong?
Q . I see the name “St. Augustine Zhao Rong and companions” on my calendar for July 9. I’ve never heard of them — who were they?
P.T., via email
A. Though the Christian faith first came to China in the seventh century, the Church has had a long and torturous history in that land. St. Augustine Zhao Rong is one of 120 martyrs who gave their lives for the Faith in China between 1648 and 1930. Though they were beatified at various times, they were all canonized together by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000, and their
Eighty-seven of them were born in China, including children and parents, catechists and laborers, as well as four Chinese diocesan priests. They ranged in age from 9 to 72.
The foreign-born martyrs were mostly priests or women religious, drawn primarily from the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Jesuits, the Salesians, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary and the Paris Mission Society.
St. Augustine Zhao Rong was a respected, high-ranking Chinese soldier who was chosen to accompany Bishop Gabriel Taurin Dufresse of the Paris Missionary Society to his martyrdom in Beijing. Impressed by the saintly bishop’s courage to choose death rather than deny his faith, Augustine asked to receive baptism. Soon afterward, he was ordained as a diocesan priest, fully aware that such an action would almost certainly lead to a slow and painful martyrdom for himself.
Augustine was a priest only a short time before he was put to death, but during that time he led many young people to the Christian faith. He was made to watch as one of those young converts, and 18-year-old boy named Chi Zhuzi, was flayed alive. Not long after, Augustine himself was tortured and killed, in 1815.
What’s a Pontiff?
Q. I keep seeing the word “pontiff” in my Catholic reading. Who or what is a “pontiff”?
E.C., via email
A. The word comes from the Latin pontifex, which means literally “bridge-builder” or perhaps “path-maker.” In ancient times, the title originally belonged to members of a college of priests of the pagan Roman religion who were closely associated with the civil government. Over time, the title came to be applied to leaders of other religions as well, including Catholic bishops.
In contemporary Catholic usage, the meaning of pontiff is usually restricted to the Bishop of Rome, so it’s simply another word for “pope.” The related term pontificate refers to the period during which a particular pope is in office (as in “the pontificate of Pope John Paul II”).
The Church vs. Contraceptives
Q. Was the Catholic Church the first Christian church to say no to contraceptives?
M.F., via email
A. The Catholic Church, from which all the other Christian traditions have ultimately sprung, has condemned the use of artificial contraceptives since ancient times. In that sense, I suppose you could say that the Catholic Church was the first of the Christian communions to do so.
However, I sense that you may be assuming that condemnation of contraceptives is a recent development. It’s not. Up until 1930, nearly all Christian communions were firmly opposed to contraception. In that year, however, the Lambeth Conference of the Church of England changed its position to allow contraception when abstinence was deemed “impracticable.” The (largely Protestant) Federal Council of Churches followed suit the next year, and in time the major Protestant denominations one by one began to fall in line.
It’s ironic, then, that today the Catholic Church is often seen by some non-Catholic Christians as unreasonable in rejecting artificial contraception. They fail to realize that their own denominations were once in firm agreement with the Catholic Church on this issue.
Masons and Cremation?
Q. I used to think cremation was forbidden for Catholics because the Masons used it to defy the power of God to resurrect the body. Any truth to this?
J.K., via email
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.:
The Church has always taught that both in life and in death the body must be treated with respect as a temple of the Holy Spirit. From her beginning, and not simply in reaction to Masonic practices in modern times, the Church prohibited cremation because it was a pagan ritual, contrary to the Church’s teachings about the sanctity of the body.
In 1963 the Church removed its prohibition of cremation, assuming that the danger which the previous discipline had forestalled is now minimal. The Church strongly recommends bodily burial in Canon 1176(3) of the 1983 Code of Canon Law: “The Church earnestly recommends the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be observed.”
The Code adds that cremation is still forbidden if a person has chosen it to deny Catholic teaching, such as the resurrection of the body and life eternal.
If possible, cremation should take place only after the requiem Mass is offered with the body present. If this is not possible, permission can be given to conduct the funeral liturgy with the cremated remains of the body present. This would require certain adaptations in the liturgy, since not the body but the earthly remains would then be present. The cremated remains must be buried or entombed, not scattered or divided among members of the family.
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