Category: Sacraments

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Sacraments

Can Catholic Couples Write their Own Wedding Vows?

Msgr. William J. King

June 1, 2023 7:07 am June 1, 2023

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A sense of romanticism sometimes prompts couples to think that the celebration of marriage is “their day,” when in truth it is one of the important sacramental celebrations of the…

A sense of romanticism sometimes prompts couples to think that the celebration of marriage is “their day,” when in truth it is one of the important sacramental celebrations of the Church. It is a wonderful thing that the couple feels so close to the celebration, wanting it to reflect their joy and hope and their personal histories. They open their whole selves to God’s grace in accepting the gift of marriage to another. Still, it is the Church’s celebration and not the couple’s own. This is especially true of the content of marriage — what the Church calls the “object of consent.” The Church has received the gift of married life from its author — God himself — and joyfully celebrates that gift with the spouses. The spouses receive the gift; they do not define marriage for themselves. Their openness to receive the gift in its fullness is expressed in their “consent” to the gift, their consent to marry one another as God has defined marriage.

The Code of Canon Law for the Latin-rite Catholic Church contains an essential element of basic contract law: the words and actions of the couple during the wedding celebration are the best indications of their intentions (see Canon 1101). The canon says that the “internal consent of the mind is presumed to be in conformity with the words and actions used” by the couple in the wedding celebration. Hence, the words used by each spouse when he or she consents to marry (the “vows”) are very important.

The Rite of Matrimony offers great freedom to the local conference of bishops to adapt the words and symbols of the wedding liturgy to local culture and customs, but it does not allow the couple the same type of freedom in altering the Church’s liturgy. For a time there was laxity among some clergy in allowing couples to change the words of consent or to compose their own vows. This led to some unusual expressions of the couple’s consent to marry. Hopefully this experimentation has ended, because the couple does not have the freedom to write their own formula for the exchange of consent.

There are other opportunities for the couple to compose and include a prayer or reflection within the Church’s Rite of Matrimony, and even more freedom for the couple to include their own spiritual reflection on marriage within the rehearsal before the rite, or the reception following the rite. However, apart from the several options for standard and approved texts that the couple may choose from within the Rite of Matrimony, the couple is not free to compose their own vows in a Catholic wedding.

Msgr. William J. King is a priest of the Diocese of Harrisburg.

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Sacraments

What is the Sacrament of Holy Orders?

Father Reginald Martin

May 24, 2023 8:01 am May 24, 2023

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes a number of pages to its discussion of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It remarks three degrees of the sacrament: deacons, priests and…

The Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes a number of pages to its discussion of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It remarks three degrees of the sacrament: deacons, priests and bishops, and describes the sacramental tasks properly assigned to each (see No. 1554). Bishops, because they represent the apostles, exercise a ministry of special honor — one that extends back to the earliest days of our faith, and, through an unbroken tradition, connects us to the early Church.

Priests share in this ministry, although to a lesser degree, and a document of the Second Vatican Council, Presbyterorum Ordinis, describes both the priest’s ministry and the authority by which he receives it from the bishop. The Catechism pulls from this document to teach that priests “depend on the bishops in the exercise of their own proper power” and “so are configured to Christ . . . in such a way that they are able to act in the person of Christ the head” (see Nos. 1563-1564).

The point here is to connect the Sacrament of Holy Orders with Jesus, the High Priest. For this reason, too, the bishop is the ordinary minister of the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is to remind us of the apostolic origins of the sacrament (see Catechism, No. 1313)

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Sacraments

Choosing A Confirmation Name

Msgr. Charles Pope

May 22, 2023 10:19 pm May 22, 2023

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Choosing a saint’s name is a matter of custom and is not, therefore, regulated strictly by Church law. Candidates for confirmation may choose a name of a Christian saint by…

Choosing a saint’s name is a matter of custom and is not, therefore, regulated strictly by Church law. Candidates for confirmation may choose a name of a Christian saint by which to be called, but they are not required to do so. They may also choose to be confirmed using their baptismal name.

If a confirmation name is to be picked from among the saints, the surest answer is to pick from among those who are fully canonized. If one is to use the name of an individual not yet fully canonized it would seem that their status should be announced.

In general, candidates for confirmation who choose a special name should pick a saint or blessed who provides a role model for living the Christian life. They should also consider that choosing such a name will place them under the patronage of the saint. Thus in determining a certain saint they may wish to consider a saint who gives them special inspiration or a saint who can intercede for them in a special matter based on their own needs.

Rev. Msgr. Charles E. Pope is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

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Sacraments

Communion Gestures

Father Reginald Martin

May 18, 2023 7:12 am May 18, 2023

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The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) specifies three times during the Mass when the celebrant must genuflect: after showing the host (1) and chalice (2) at the consecration,…

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) specifies three times during the Mass when the celebrant must genuflect: after showing the host (1) and chalice (2) at the consecration, and before Communion (3). The text adds, “If, however, the tabernacle with the … Blessed Sacrament is situated in the sanctuary, the priest…and the other ministers genuflect when they approach the altar and when they depart from it, but not during the celebration of Mass itself” (No. 274).

The GIRM also prescribes appropriate devotional posture for the faithful who wish to receive communion, “When receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the Sacrament as a gesture of reverence and receives the Body of the Lord from the minister” (No. 160).

What response should we give a communicant — or a celebrant — who feels these gestures are insufficient? We might remark that the GIRM establishes minimum requirements. Should we wish to do more, only the practical limitations of the worship space limit us.

Thus if a celebrant wishes to genuflect before returning consecrated Hosts to the tabernacle, nothing prohibits him. Likewise, a communicant might genuflect or even kneel to receive Communion if this does not impede the progress of others wishing to receive the Eucharist.

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Sacraments

Communion More Than Once A Day?

Father Reginald Martin

May 11, 2023 8:07 am May 11, 2023

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The Church’s Code of Canon Law (updated in 1983) allows the faithful to receive communion twice in the same day, provided they attend the Mass at which they receive the…

The Church’s Code of Canon Law (updated in 1983) allows the faithful to receive communion twice in the same day, provided they attend the Mass at which they receive the Eucharist. Thus an individual may receive Communion at a daily Mass, and again at a wedding, funeral or other ritual (see Canon 917).

Insisting an individual attend the Mass at which she or he receives Communion stresses the communal aspect of the Eucharist. At Mass, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy” (No. 1326). We also unite ourselves with other members of Christ’s Body. The rule also discourages overzealous or superstitious souls from wandering from church to church and taking part in no more of the Mass than the Communion rite.

Deacons who assist at more than two Masses must excuse themselves from receiving Communion after the second, but the law does not apply to the dying, and states, “The Christian faithful who are in danger of death, arising from any cause, are to be nourished by holy Communion in the form of viaticum. Even if they have received Communion in the same day [they] are strongly urged to receive again” (Canon 921).

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Sacraments

Who Can Be Anointed?

Father Francis Hoffman and Msgr. William J. King

May 9, 2023 8:00 am May 9, 2023

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A look at the purpose of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick tells us who the Church envisions to receive it. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the…

A look at the purpose of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick tells us who the Church envisions to receive it.

The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has a dual character, expressed by St. James in his New Testament letter: “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven” (Jas 5:14-15).

The sacrament is intended to strengthen as well as to forgive sins. Because it involves forgiveness of sins, its celebration is reserved to priests and bishops. This is also why the Code of Canon Law says it is celebrated for persons “having reached the use of reason” (Canon 1004.1). The age of reason is generally considered to be about 7 years old.

Commentators and theologians suggest that the recipient of the sacrament must have the use of reason in order to profit from the two ends of this sacrament: to understand and benefit spiritually and psychologically from its strengthening grace, and to receive forgiveness of sins.

Children under the age of reason are not capable of sin and not capable of understanding the grace of this sacrament and receiving its consolation. Even though the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick cannot be offered, in such cases it is certainly appropriate to gather family and friends of the child for shared prayer.

A non-Catholic can receive the anointing of the sick, in special situations.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died to save all people. He won superabundant grace for us by His death on the Cross. The Church teaches that a person must be in the state of grace when he or she dies in order to get to heaven. One of the most effective means for grace is the sacraments, so we want to do whatever we can to provide the sacraments to all of the baptized, Catholic or not. For that reason, the Church allows baptized non-Catholic Christians to receive not only the anointing of the sick, but also the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist in special circumstances. Chief among those circumstances is when a person is in danger of death.

In these cases, there is only one requirement: the person must ask for the sacrament, and if the attending priest explains things clearly and has some pastoral skill and grace on his side, the gravely ill person usually wants to receive such sacraments.

This case is provided for in the Code of Canon Law: “If there is a danger of death . . . Catholic ministers may lawfully administer these same sacraments [penance, Eucharist, 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” (Canon 844.4)

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