Sinning and the Sacraments

by Michael Shackleton · August 24, 2016

Married people who live in sin with a partner who is not their spouse may not receive the sacraments. Yet a priest who breaks his duty of celibacy can not only validly receive but also perform the sacraments. Is the Church not discriminating here between priests and lay people?

Spouses who live in adultery with someone not their marital partner sin seriously. Priests who ignore their obligation to be celibate also sin seriously. Adulterers who receive the sacraments or perform the sacrament of baptism do so validly, and priests who receive or perform the sacraments of Eucharist, reconciliation, baptism, anointing or confirmation also do so validly. There is no real discrimination here.

As broached in my column, whoever the minister of the sacrament, and whether that person is in a state of grievous sin or not, all sacraments correctly carried out by him or her are valid because it is Christ who works the sacrament, not the minister.

If the person gives up the adulterous union and can reconcile with the lawful spouse, that person can be absolved from the sin of adultery in the confessional. (Even if the innocent spouse refuses reconciliation, the offender can be absolved provided that the adulterous relationship has stopped.) A priest who has had sexual relations can likewise be absolved. God’s mercy, we know, is total provided that the sinner repents and resolves to sin no more.

It is important to understand that both the unfaithful spouse and the unfaithful priest are in a state of sin, the priest just as much as the lay person. Informed spouses know that an adulterous union prevents them from going to Communion.

They have defied the God before whom they swore to remain true to their partner in the sacrament of marriage.

And the unfaithful priest will have no doubt that, both in his life and every time he celebrates a sacrament, he sinfully defies the all-holy God to whom he exclusively gave himself in the sacrament of holy order.

Each of us has a conscience that comes from deep inside our being and we must carry that to Christ who will be our judge. We should not decide for ourselves whether anyone, spouse or priest, is living sinfully. Leave that to God alone. He is the one who will search the state of their conscience and pronounce the final verdict. Updated from March 1, 2009