"I am the door. By me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." - John 10:9 At every parish where I have had the pleasure of attending services, there is always a small group of people who find their way all the way up to the church building but don't actually attend services. At one parish it was a group of male gypsies who talked on cellphones or smoked cigarettes. At another it was a few Protestant husbands who, though they never attended services, opened the parish doors for people as they filed in. At yet another parish the men stood in the narthex and chatted until it was time to receive and then got in line. Latin or Greek Catholic, Eastern or Oriental Orthodox I see the same small throng of men standing next to the front door, but not standing, sitting, or kneeling amongst the people. If it were me (and I can only speak for myself here) this option would be an unsavory one. The boredom would be immediate. The anxiety of som...
That does pose some cannonical problems. From my understanding, A priest or bishop, if questioned by the authorites would have to be removed from his office if he were to give up information given in a confession. Am I correct? (at least for the Orthodox, I assume the Ukranian Catholic and Roman cannon on the matter is similar)
ReplyDeleteThis is moot. One confesses their sins, they are then forgiven. The priest/pastor then forgets. It is as simple as that. Let the Lord judge.
ReplyDelete"I am sorry your honor and I beg the forgiveness of the court, but what the accused confessed to me is, in my memory, as far as the East is from the West", I can not remember what he said.