Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise V. On Penance › Dissertation II. On the Sacrament of Penance › Part II. On the Ministration of the Sacrament of Penance › Section I. On the Ministration of the Sacrament of Penance Generally › Chapter II. On the Right Use of the Power › Article II. On Things to Be Avoided in Confession › § III. On Solicitation to Shameful Things

point — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Point III. On the Manner of Denouncing

422.

I. The denunciation must be made to the local Ordinary or to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office (can. 904). Moreover, the denunciation can be made to the Ordinary of the place, whether of the denouncing person, or of the one denounced, or of the place in which the delict was committed. I said "can," because it is better that the denunciation be made to the Ordinary of the denouncing person, that is, of the solicited penitent. If it is made to an Ordinary who is not the Ordinary of the one denounced, it belongs to that Ordinary to transmit the act to the proper Ordinary of the one denounced, who can instruct the process, or to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. If the Ordinary refuses to accept the denunciation, the penitent is freed from further obligation.

II. Considering the norms prescribed of themselves, the person denouncing should appear personally either "before the Bishop or his delegate with the intervention of an ecclesiastical man who holds the part of notary, and with oath and with expression and subscription of his or her name";1 or before a confessor or another ecclesiastical man deputed by the Bishop without the intervention of a notary.2 The deputed person can summon the denouncing person to himself, or he himself can approach that person.

III. Practically, let the procedure be as follows:

  1. The person about to denounce, if it can conveniently be done, should approach the Ordinary, set forth the cause to him, and carry out his mandates.

  2. If the person cannot conveniently approach the Ordinary, let him or her write letters to him in which the fact of solicitation, the place of the delict, the name and office of the delinquent confessor, and his or her own address are set forth. If the solicited person cannot afterward present himself or herself to the Ordinary, let this be added in the letter so that the Bishop can depute another who may receive the denunciation. If a grave reason stands in the way of someone other than the confessor being deputed, let this also be added so that the Bishop, if it pleases him, may depute the confessor, who, according as the Ordinary prefers, may receive the denunciation outside or in the confessional, but outside the act of confession.

  3. If the person about to denounce can neither approach the Ordinary nor write to him, let him or her do this through another person well-disposed toward him or her. The confessor of himself is not bound to this. But if nevertheless he does it, with the names both of the one to be denounced and of the one about to denounce kept back, let him inform the Ordinary of the fact of solicitation and of the inability of the solicited person to appear and to write. Let him add whether the solicited person can conveniently and is willing to present himself or herself to a delegate from the Bishop, at least if a confessor is delegated. I said that the confessor of himself is not bound to this; nevertheless, we do not deny "that in some case, for instance if public damage were threatening somewhere and no other way were open for avoiding it, the confessor could be bound by the law of charity to undertake a burden of this kind; but this will rarely happen" (St. Alphonsus, VI, 699). Indeed St. Alphonsus at the cited place, with others, observes that "in practice it is not expedient that the confessor take upon himself this burden of carrying the denunciation in place of the penitent or of receiving it."

  4. If the penitent can neither approach the Ordinary, nor write to him, nor find someone who would do either, he or she will be able to await an occasion.

  5. Religious Superiors are strictly prohibited from involving themselves in these causes (can. 501, § 2).

1 Instruction of the Holy Office, February 20, 1867, n. 6.

2 Cited Instruction, n. 8.

The Manner of Denouncing