Canon Law Consumer Alert: On-Line Confession
On-line confessions are absolutely null and utterly void. 1983 CIC 960-961, just for starters.
A website purporting to offer on-line confession was recently called to my attention. I decline to link to it. The home page presents, interestingly (deceptively?), links to several good Catholic websites, but it does not identify who the "priests" are who receive the "confessions" and administer the "penances". But it doesn't matter whether these people are in holy orders; the confessions themselves are of absolutely zero sacramental value. See also 1983 CIC 1378.
If someone wants, nevertheless, to disclose their offenses to strangers on-line, I suppose nothing prevents them. But then, nothing prevents people from disclosing their social security and bank account numbers to strangers on-line, either. But we all know what happens to such folks, don't we.
A website purporting to offer on-line confession was recently called to my attention. I decline to link to it. The home page presents, interestingly (deceptively?), links to several good Catholic websites, but it does not identify who the "priests" are who receive the "confessions" and administer the "penances". But it doesn't matter whether these people are in holy orders; the confessions themselves are of absolutely zero sacramental value. See also 1983 CIC 1378.
If someone wants, nevertheless, to disclose their offenses to strangers on-line, I suppose nothing prevents them. But then, nothing prevents people from disclosing their social security and bank account numbers to strangers on-line, either. But we all know what happens to such folks, don't we.
posted by Dr. Edward Peters at
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