TO SEARCH is to Find

We do not have the answers to every question – maybe only a partial answer that could set you in the right direction. But the very asking of the question is the beginning of the answer.  So why don’t you send us your questions and together we will search.

CONFESSIONS OF A POPE
Does the Pope go to confession?
Yes, the Pope goes to confession. Normally the pope would have a confessor to whom he would confess regularly. His confessor, I expect, would be an older and clearly holy priest. I can also tell you that the experience of hearing confessions makes a priest aware of his own sinfulness, of his own need to go to confession and of God’s mercy.

A QUESTION OF WORTH
Can a priest in mortal sin celebrate Mass?

If you have access to the internet you can check out this link which answers the question: http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur68.htm . I’ll quote the heart of the answer of Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, which originally appeared in www.zenit.org :
Normally, to celebrate Mass or receive Communion while in a state of mortal sin would be to commit a sacrilege. Yet, the sacrament would be valid; that is, there would be a true consecration and a true sacrifice.
 
The reason is: Christ is the principal actor of the sacraments, so they are efficacious even when performed by an unworthy minister. As St Thomas Aquinas says: Christ may act even through a minister who is spiritually dead.
However, a priest who has fallen into mortal sin, but who is unable to make his confession despite his desire to do so, may celebrate Mass for the benefit of the faithful without adding a further sin of sacrilege.

VALIDITY OF MARRIAGE
Must a Catholic bride and/or groom be in the state of grace as they enter into matrimony in order for them to receive the grace of the sacrament? Is their marriage valid if they are not in the state of grace?

This is a related question also dealt with by Father McNamara at http://www.zenit.org/article-23209?l=english . I’ll give two quotes from his answer, highlighting the most important parts..
While marriage preparation courses have several goals in preparing the couple for married life, it is gravely incumbent that the couple reach a clear understanding of the commitments toward fidelity, permanence and openness to children. These commitments are essential to celebrate a valid wedding in the Catholic Church. Otherwise the wedding should not proceed, since no pastor should ever risk witnessing a probably invalid marriage.
It is also of very great importance that the couple prepare for marriage by living the state of grace. Cohabiting couples should be gently but clearly told that their situation is not conducive to an adequate preparation for a Catholic wedding. Cohabitation also risks the future stability of their life together, as has been shown by both pastoral experience and formal scientific studies.

 

Further on Father McNamara states:
With respect to validity, however, someone who is married while in a state of mortal sin may be validly married (as they would be validly confirmed, ordained, or validly celebrate Mass). But he/she would not receive the grace proper to this sacrament and indeed commits a further grave sin of sacrilege and renders the sacrament objectively illicit.
‘Invalid’ means that what has been done has no effect. In this situation it means that the couple have not been married. ‘Illicit’ means that what has been done is illegal but nevertheless has effect. Allow me to make a somewhat ridiculous comparison. If I steal a display bar of chocolate from a store and discover that inside the wrapping there’s only plywood, it’s only plywood, not chocolate, despite the wrapping. I can’t eat it. If, on the other hand, it is real chocolate and I eat it, it will nourish my body but, by stealing, I have broken both God’s law and the law of the land.
With respect to a couple cohabiting, what would we think if we discovered that the ‘priest’ celebrating ‘Mass’ was only a seminarian who gave the excuse, ‘Well, I’m intending to be a priest some day’. Would we want the bishop to ordain a person carrying on such a charade? 
With respect to validity, however, someone who is married while in a state of mortal sin may be validly married (as they would be validly confirmed, ordained, or validly celebrate Mass). But he/she would not receive the grace proper to this sacrament and indeed commits a further grave sin of sacrilege and renders the sacrament objectively illicit.
‘Invalid’ means that what has been done has no effect. In this situation it means that the couple have not been married. ‘Illicit’ means that what has been done is illegal but nevertheless has effect. Allow me to make a somewhat ridiculous comparison. If I steal a display bar of chocolate from a store and discover that inside the wrapping there’s only plywood, it’s only plywood, not chocolate, despite the wrapping. I can’t eat it. If, on the other hand, it is real chocolate and I eat it, it will nourish my body but, by stealing, I have broken both God’s law and the law of the land.
With respect to a couple cohabiting, what would we think if we discovered that the ‘priest’ celebrating ‘Mass’ was only a seminarian who gave the excuse, ‘Well, I’m intending to be a priest some day’. Would we want the bishop to ordain a person carrying on such a charade? 


FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF
Why do we have to evangelize people to believe in Jesus Christ? Can't we just respect their freedom to believe whatever they want?

The straightforward answer is:
• Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Mt 28:19-20).
• And [Jesus] said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15).
• Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high" (Lk 24:45-49).
• And the theme of WYD 2008: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

It is God who gives the gift of faith. It is our responsibility to preach the gospel in word and in deed so that those who don’t know Jesus Christ will have the opportunity to receive the gift of faith if God chooses to give that gift. For a Christian to say that it doesn’t matter what we believe and that we should leave people alone, is to say that God needn’t have bothered becoming one of us in Jesus Christ and that his death on the cross was a waste of time.

Each of us Christians has a serious obligation by the very fact that we are baptized, reinforced by the sacrament of confirmation, to evangelize others, that is to tell them about Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. There are many ways of doing that.
I’ll conclude with the opening or Pope Benedict’s homily at the closing Mass on World Youth Day in Sydney on 20 July:

‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you’ (Acts 1:8). We have seen this promise fulfilled! On the day of Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading, the Risen Lord, seated at the right hand of the Father, sent the Spirit upon the disciples gathered in the Upper Room. In the power of that Spirit, Peter and the Apostles went forth to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In every age, and in every language, the Church throughout the world continues to proclaim the marvels of God and to call all nations and peoples to faith, hope and new life in Christ.