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Question Title Posted By Question Date
Is this permitted? Vianney Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Question:

Can a non Catholic bishop use a Catholic Church, in this case shrine, for his instalation, where a woman bishop(ess) is a co-installer.(http://www.fbsynod.org/Web/OffBishop/InstallERB/Pictures.html)

Would you think the Catholic bishops present would have blessed themselves as the new bishop gave them a blessing. Isn't the church being a hypocrite in allowing this?Thank you from a curious mind.



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM


Dear Vianney:

Canon Law 1210 states:

Only those things which serve the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion are permitted in a sacred place; anything not consonant with the holiness of the place is forbidden. In an individual case, however, the ordinary can permit other uses which are not contrary to the holiness of the place.

The bishop has the authority to define what is "contrary to the holiness of the place."

Thus, as best as I can tell not being a Canon Lawyer, the Bishop of Orlando is within his canonical rights to allow this Lutheran episcopal consecration to take place at the Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine / Roman Catholic Church.

I personally think that allowing a consecration of a invalid bishop of a non-Catholic group not in apostolic secession is improper, although it might be technically okay if the bishop allows it.

Catholic Bishops attending, but not participating in the consecration of non-Catholic bishop, is not technically a problem and may serve some ecumenical purpose. But, I wonder why these Lutherans did not use their own building. This confuses me.

In addition, the "communion" during this consecration would not be valid and thus the Catholic Bishops present would need to abstain from it.

As for the blessing, anyone can give a blessing, but since this bishop is not a valid bishop I would think his blessing is ordinary and not truly episcopal.

As for hypocrisy, there is not enough information about what happened to make that judgment. We need to be careful about the sin of rash judgment.

If the bishops received an invalid communion, that may speak to hypocrisy, but as the event itself, there is nothing wrong in-and-of-itself in Catholic Bishops attending the ceremony. The use of a Catholic Church in the ceremony seems to be according to the discretion of the Bishop -- a discretion that I personally think is faulty in this case, but then who am I to say?

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary


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