In italics below are quoted from the same CNA article as above:
“Digital communications can and do assist people in deepening their faith, especially through catechesis and formation,” he said. “We see wonderful examples of the internet as a tool for evangelization. We can appreciate this all the more in the present crisis, with dioceses and parishes encouraging and supporting their people through online ministries.”
Bradley told CNA that innovative approaches to ministry have to be grounded in the Church’s teaching. Underpinning canon law, he said, is the essential theology of the sacraments, often rooted in a necessary person-to-person encounter.
“The nature of confession, like all the sacraments, involves a personal and ecclesial encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the Word made Flesh. A virtual reality can never replace the reality of the incarnation. We can deepen our faith through watching a livestream of Mass, but we all know: it’s not the same as being physically present.”
“Some laws regarding the sacraments are flexible, for instance the norm of hearing confessions in a church or oratory. Others are not, for instance that absolution requires a validly ordained priest,” he said.
Those are the opinions of one Fr. James Bradley, assistant professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America. He spoke only as a professor, not in the person of Christ. Therefore, his opinions are just that and nothing more.
In contrast, Fr. Giorgio Giovanelli, also speaking for himself, took a different stance, one which makes logical sense.
Father Giorgio Giovanelli, a professor of canon law at Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, told Catholic News Service this week that he believes confession could take place over the phone, if Pope Francis would extend his permission.
“Some would object that the priest must be present. OK. That’s the kind of thing people would say in the 1980s, but the development of technology has allowed us to have other kinds of presence,” the priest told Catholic News Service.
“Am I less present by telephone? Virtual presence is real. Who could say that the celebrative dimension of the sacrament in these very particular, narrowly defined situations is lacking?” he asked.
Fr. Bradley continued to say:
“There are also practical issues that relate to the nature of the sacrament of confession. A telephone call or online meeting raises serious concerns about privacy, anonymity, and safeguarding,”
What Fr. Bradley so cleverly omitted was that churches are always ready and happy to accept donations online, without underscoring the importance of humility that priests ought to exercise in collecting donations, which is akin to begging for alms. He also artfully omitted to mention that privacy and anonymity can also be at risk when one enters financial information (such as credit or debit card numbers) online to donate to churches.
But one ought to forgive Fr. Bradley. He is after all a lawyer whose job is to advocate for one side, not to express objective and balanced viewpoints.
Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap, a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, told CNA that “physical presence is absolutely for the validity of the enactment of the sacrament.”
“The reason I say that is because the sacrament is the action of Christ performed by the minister, and for that action to take place, the priest and the penitent must be in communion with one another, in a physical manner.”
“Even in the Old Testament, Moses had to be in front of the burning bush to know he was in the presence of God,” Weinandy said.
One would assume that someone who works for the Vatican would know this parable in the New Testament, quoted in part below without references [2]:
Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.
If Jesus can heal the centurion's dying servant's illness without being next to him, why can a priest who is acting in the person of Christ (In persona Christi) not heal a penitent spiritually who is not physically present?
In the 17th century, the Church declared that confession by letter would be invalid. More recently, in 2011, papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, responded to the proposition that sacramental confession might one day take place by iPhone app.
In the 17th century, Vatican II was not yet in existence. If Fr. Lombardi revered the practices of the Catholic Church in the 17th century, why was he part of the Vatican that allowed Catholic parishioners to receive, without kneeling, Holy Communion in their hands, risking part(s) of it being left on the hand, for every minute morsel and particle (whether or not visible to the naked eye) of the Holy Communion contains the entirety of Christ's body and blood for "Christ is 'truly, really, and substantially contained' in Holy Communion." [3]
"It is essential to understand well that the sacrament of penance requires necessarily the rapport of personal dialogue between penitent and confessor and absolution by the present confessor,” Lombardi said at the time.
Does "the rapport of personal dialogue between penitent and confessor" vanish when both the penitent and the confessor are not sharing a physical space? Does the absolution of sins by the confessor become a matter of words without effect when done remotely even though the penitent’s remorse is genuine?
Weinandy said that all sacraments involve a physical dimension. In marriage, that dimension is expressed in the sexual union of husband and wife. In other sacraments, it is expressed in the rites and rituals themselves, he said.
Is it all about expressions of "rites and rituals themselves" per Fr. Weinandy? It is precisely because emphases are put on "rites and rituals" that seem to make them mechanical rather than heartfelt.
This is what Jesus taught [4]:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
While in-person confessions are preferable to other means, it ought to be made flexible at this time due to the pandemic in order not to place the confessor or the penitent in any kind of health risk.
[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/confession-by-phone-skype-or-emoji-could-it-happen-during-coronavirus-pandemic-93488
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+7%3A1-10&version=ESV
[3] http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/norms-for-holy-communion-under-both-kinds/index.cfm, Part I, paragraph 8, quoted without references.
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:5-6&version=NIV, quoted without references.
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