Adsum

November 2005

Assistance at Mass in the “Crying Room”

Father Connell Answers Moral Questions
by Very Rev. Francis J. Connell, C.SS.R., S.T.D., L.L.D., L.H.D.

Question: In some churches nowadays a “crying room” is installed — that is, an enclosed room, with a window looking to the altar, in order that parents can keep their young children there during the Holy Sacrifice without disturbing the congregation. My difficulty is this: If the room is soundproof, so that the priest cannot be heard at all, can we say that these parents are truly hearing Mass?

Answer: The questioner need have no fear that those who are in the “crying room” do not fulfill their obligation of assisting at the Holy Sacrifice. It fully suffices for the observance of this precept if the faithful see what is taking place at the altar, even though they cannot hear it. It is more correct to say that we must assist at Mass on Sundays rather than that we must hear Mass. Of course, it would be advisable if a room of this kind were equipped with an acoustic system whereby the parents who come there with their little ones will be enabled to hear the voice of the priest and to derive benefit from the sermon.

Dispositions of Penitent

Question: May a confessor absolve a penitent who states that he is sure he is going to fall into mortal sin again?

Answer: Some theologians teach that even one who is certain that he will sin gravely in future may have the purpose of amendment required for the reception of sacramental absolution. For, they argue, the purpose of amendment is an act of the will based on the penitent’s present dispositions, (cf. Noldin, Summa Theologiae Moralis, III, 261). However, although this view seems theoretically correct, in practice a subjective conviction that one is going to sin gravely in future would seem to cast very grave doubt on the firmness of the purpose of amendment, so that a confessor would not be justified in absolving a penitent with such a conviction (excluding, of course, extraordinary circumstances, such as danger of death). Such is the solution given by St. Alphonsus (Theologia Moralis, LVI,n.452).

However, the confessor should remember that the firm purpose of amendment is not incompatible with a reasonable fear, or even probable judgment, of future fall into grave sin. In fact, it not infrequently happens that those who say they are sure they are going to relapse really mean that they fear this will happen. In such a case the confessor should encourage the penitent with the assurance that God’s grace will not fail him in time of temptation and impart absolution.

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