In the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, imposing a life of prayer and penance is a type of penalty used to punish clergy for crimes and misconduct. It is typically imposed on elderly priests as opposed to younger priests, who may face harsher penalties.
[What does it actually mean for a priest to be ‘laicized’?](_blank)
(Catholic News Agency)
Description
It is similar to
house arrest and while implementation of the penalty may vary, it usually includes banning the person from public ministry and limiting his interactions with others. It may also involve restricting or removing access to telephones or televisions.
For example, in the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well a ...
,
Cardinal Justin Rigali
Justin Francis Rigali (born April 19, 1935) is an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the eighth Archbishop of Philadelphia, having previously served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 1994 to 2003, and was elevated to the ca ...
established a program for clergy sentenced to lifetime of prayer and penance that prohibits them from celebrating
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
publicly, administering sacraments, wearing
clerical garb, or presenting themselves as priests; and they are monitored full-time by a former
probation officer
A probation and parole officer is an official appointed or sworn to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probati ...
.
Violations of the restrictions may result in a full dismissal from the clerical status.
According to canonist Fr. Damián Astigueta, the majority of priests who agree to abide by the life of prayer and penance "want to be helped and recognize that this penalty is a table of salvation for them."
See also
*
Loss of clerical state
In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the loss of clerical state (commonly referred to as laicization, dismissal, defrocking, and degradation) is the removal of a bishop, priest, or deacon from the status of being a member of the clergy.
The t ...
*
Defrocking
Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or ...
References
Catholic penal canon law
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