Visiting a cemetery on All Souls’ Day? Here are some recommendations

Caraveli, Peru, Mar 20, 2020 / 05:48 pm (CNA).- A Peruvian bishop has rescinded permission for priests of his diocese to hear confessions by telephone, just five days after authorizing them to do so.

Bishop Reinhold Nann of the Diocese of Caravell, Peru said March 15 that priests of his diocese could hear sacramental confessions by telephone, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and obligatory social isolation in Peru. Nann added that no public Masses or religious services could take place in his diocese.

On Friday, however, the bishop announced that the possibility of confessions by telephone “is annulled” in light of Vatican guidance on the subject of confession issued earlier the same day.

That guidance called for “prudent measures to be adopted in the individual celebration of sacramental reconciliation, such as the celebration in a ventilated place outside the confessional, the adoption of a convenient distance, [and] the use of protective masks.”

The guidance “did not make mention of confession on the telephone,” Nann said, which is why he had rescinded the possibility.

Earlier this week, Fr. James Bradley, an assistant professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America, criticized the idea that confession could be offered through the telephone. “The nature of confession, like all the sacraments, involves a personal and ecclesial encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the Word made Flesh. A virtual reality can never replace the reality of the incarnation. We can deepen our faith through watching a livestream of Mass, but we all know: it’s not the same as being physically present,” Bradley told CNA.

The canon lawyer also noted secondary concerns which should be considered when discussing new or adapted forms of sacramental ministry.

“There are also practical issues that relate to the nature of the sacrament of confession. A telephone call or online meeting raises serious concerns about privacy, anonymity, and safeguarding,” Bradley said.

Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap, a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, also told CNA that “physical presence is absolutely needed for the validity of the enactment of the sacrament.”

“The reason I say that is because the sacrament is the action of Christ performed by the minister, and for that action to take place, the priest and the penitent must be in communion with one another, in a physical manner.”

Weinandy told CNA that confession is an “interpersonal exchange.” The physical presence of confessor and penitent point to the significance of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

“The sacraments flow from the Incarnation, and because of that, there has to be a bodily presence of the one who is enacting the sacrament, and the one who is receiving the sacrament. They’re doing the sacrament together,” Weinandy said.

“The Incarnation sets the framework for the sacramental order. Sacraments by their very nature, are incarnational signs that effect what they symbolize and symbolize what they effect, and one must be a part of that sign and reality to participate in the sacrament,” he said.

In the 17th century, the Church declared that confession by letter would be invalid. More recently, in 2011, papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, responded to the proposition that sacramental confession might one day take place by iPhone app.

“It is essential to understand well that the sacrament of penance requires necessarily the rapport of personal dialogue between penitent and confessor and absolution by the present confessor,” Lombardi said at the time.

One cannot speak in any way of ‘confession by iPhone,’” Lombardi added.

Priests in some parts of the world have devised creative ways to offer the sacrament of confession during the pandemic, among them “drive-up” confessionals and confession through a rectory window.

ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contributed to this report.

[…]

Morelia, Mexico, Aug 27, 2018 / 03:20 pm (ACI Prensa).- The Archdiocese of Morelia confirmed Saturday that the corpse of Fr. Miguel Gerardo Flores, who had disappeared for a week, had been discovered.

The Morelia archdiocese said Aug. 25 that the body of Fr. Flores, of the Missionaries of the Holy Family, was found in Nueva Italia, 100 miles southwest of Morelia in Mexico’s Michoacan state.

The clerics of the archdiocese “join together in their sorrow and express our condolences to the Missionaries of the Holy Family,” according to the statement.

“May Our Lady of Health intercede for our brother priest, console his mom, siblings, friends and the entire Missionaries of the Holy Family community,” the archdiocese stated.  

“Let us continue to pray for the grave situation of violence in our towns. May she help us to imitate her Son, who calls us to live in his peace.”

Fr. Flores was born in Sombrerete in the state of Zacatecas, and was ordained a priest in 2007.

The Archdiocese of Morelia informed that Fr. Flores, who was 39, was born in Sombrerete in the Mexican state of Zacatecas and was ordained a priest in 2007.

He was serving as parochial vicar at St. Catherine of Alexandria parish in Jucutacato, about 70 miles southwest of Morelia.

Fr. Flores was last seen Aug. 18 in Uruapan, of which Jucutacato is a suburb.

At least four priests have been murdered in Mexico this year.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

Bogotá, Colombia, May 2, 2018 / 02:57 pm (ACI Prensa).- Inspired by Pope Francis’ message during his 2017 visit to the country, the Church in Colombia is preparing to celebrate the first National Day of Reconciliation on May 3.

Auxiliary Bishop Elkin Fernando Álvarez Botero, secretary general of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, explained that the bishops met in November 2017 to more deeply reflect on the message of the Holy Father during his Apostolic Visit to the country that year.

In that meeting, he said, the bishops “wanted to have a day set aside especially dedicated to praying for reconciliation among Colombians.”

The bishops decided that that celebration would coincide with the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which in Colombia is May 3.

During his visit to Villavicencio in September 2017, the Holy Father urged Colombia “to open your heart as the people of God, allow yourself to be reconciled! Colombians, don’t be afraid to ask and offer forgiveness. Don’t resist reconciliation in order to come together, to re-encounter each other as brothers and sisters and overcome enmities. Now is the time to heal wounds.”

The pope’s trip was largely the result of the country’s ongoing peace process between the government and Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

After more than six decades of conflict, a peace deal was finally struck in August 2016, de-escalating a conflict which since 1964 has left some 260,000 people dead and an estimated 7 million displaced.

In preparing for the day of reconciliation, Bishop Álvarez Botero reflected, “Let us be convinced, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that reconciliation with God, with our brothers and sisters, with ourselves and with nature is the path we must take to reach peace.”

He urged Catholics not to grow tired of praying for reconciliation “and peace for our country, because they are a gift that only comes from Jesus Christ, who gave his life on the Cross to heal our wounds and to knock down the wall that separates us, hatred.”

The bishop encouraged people to make “a serious commitment to reconciliation” in order to “eradicate from our personal and communal life all that which divides and separates us, which leads us to violence and death.”

He also urged the people of the country “to cultivate, care for and promote the values that dispose us to live reconciliation.”

Among Colombians, he said, there is “dialogue, sharing, solidarity, understanding, patience and above all, the charity that allows us to reach out to the poorest and neediest with the same love that Christ taught us from the Cross.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]