Positive Duties of Clerics

The Positive Duties of Clerics.—(a) Duties to God.—All clerics are held to frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance, to daily devotions (i.e., mental prayer, visit to the Blessed Sacrament, a third part of the Rosary, examen), and to triennial spiritual retreats (Canons 125, 126). Moreover, clerics in Sacred Orders, benefice holders, and solemnly professed religious bound to the choir are obliged to the daily recitation of the Canonical Hours, each one according to his own rite and calendar (Canons 135, 213 sqq., 1475, 610). This obligation is grave, because its purpose is the important one of consecrating each hour of the day by the public prayer of the Church according to the usage that goes back to the earliest centuries. But the choral obligation of simply professed religious is light, unless the choir is impossible without their presence.

(b) Duties to Superiors.—Clerics are especially obliged to show respect to their Ordinaries and to give them the obedience promised in ordination (Canon 127).

(c) Duties to the Clerical State.—Clerics are required to cultivate their minds by sacred and sound studies, and to this end examinations and conferences are also prescribed (Canons 129-131); to keep themselves pure in soul and body by the observance of celibate chastity (Canons 132, 133); to conduct themselves in externals (dwelling, dress, etc.) in a manner befitting their position (Canons 134, 136). The clerical garb in this country is the cassock or habit in the house and church, and dark clothes and the Roman collar, or other distinctive sign for priests and brothers elsewhere. The dress of the clergy should avoid the extremes of dudishness and slovenliness (Second Council of Baltimore, 148; Third Council, 77). The duty of wearing clerical dress at least away from home and regularly is of serious importance, since its purpose is the honor of the clerical state and the protection of its members. It is also forbidden to clerics to cultivate their hair (e.g., to grow long locks, to use curling irons, to oil or perfume their head in dandyish fashion), since this is unbecoming in the followers of a thorn-crowned Leader. The use of the beard is a thing indifferent in itself, and hence it is forbidden in some places (generally in the Latin Church) and required in others (as in the Orient), according to tradition and local usage.