APPENDICES

  1. Priestly Life and Ministry Board Documents
  2. Faculties
  3. Sacramental Assistance Compensation Guidelines
  4. Pastor Position Description
  5. Associate Pastor Position Description
  6. Temporary Administrator Position Description
  7. Retired Priest Policy
  8. Funeral Arrangements Form

APPENDIX 2


Faculties for Priests Archdiocese of Baltimore

The following faculties are granted to a priest within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. These faculties are granted by virtue of the universal law of the Church or of the authority of the Archbishop of Baltimore. They are valid from the present date until rescinded or otherwise limited or upon your leaving the Archdiocese. Faculties specifically granted to pastors are understood as also being given to parochial administrators (c. 540) and the members of a parish team (cc. 517, §1; 543, §1).

  1. No further expression of consent on the part of the Ordinary is needed for the lawful exercise in this Archdiocese of any faculty received from the Holy See (c. 68).
  2. Priests may baptize infants and children (cc. 861, §1; 867). Adults who intend to receive Baptism are to be admitted to the catechumenate and be led through the several stages to sacramental initiation (c. 851, 1º), Priests may baptize and confirm these adults (cc. 861, §1; 883, 2º). The baptism and confirmation of these adults is to take place in their parish church or in the church where they received instructions (c. 857, §2).
  3. Priests may validly confirm those adults already baptized in another Christian Church who now seek admission to full communion with the Catholic Church (c. 883, 2º).
    The priest must obtain specific delegation to confirm in the case of those validly baptized in the Catholic Church who now wish to be confirmed as they return to the full practice of their faith.
  4. Priests may validly confirm all of those who are in danger of death (c. 883, 3º).
  5. Priests may celebrate the Eucharist on any day and at any hour, except for those times excluded by liturgical norms (c. 931).
  6. The Eucharist should ordinarily be celebrated in a sacred place; however, in particular cases of necessity and pastoral need, priests may celebrate the Eucharist in some other fitting place. In the latter cases, a suitable table that is not dedicated or blessed may be used, always using a cloth and a corporal (c. 932, §1-§2).
  7. Pastors are to celebrate the Eucharist for the people entrusted to them on Sundays and holydays of obligation. They may celebrate this pro populo Mass on some other day as long as there is a good reason (c. 534, §1).
  8. For a good reason, priests may binate on weekdays and even trinate on Sundays and holy days if pastoral need requires it (c. 905, §2).
  9. Priests who binate or trinate may eat something before the second or third celebration even if the period of one hour of fasting does not intervene (c. 919, §1-§2).
  10. Priests who celebrate the Eucharist more than once on the same day may apply the individual Mass for the intention for which an offering was made, but, except on Christmas, they may retain the offering for only one Mass, giving the other offerings to their parish, to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Associated Catholic Charities, the Ecclesiastical Students Fund, or the Clergy Retirement Fund (c. 951, §1).
  11. Priests possess the faculty to preach everywhere in the world unless this faculty has been restricted or removed by the competent Ordinary or unless express permission is required by particular law. This faculty should always be exercised with at least the presumed consent of the rector or pastor of the church (c. 764).
  12. Priests may give to priests or deacons who have faculties from some other Ordinary the permission to preach in their church in this Archdiocese (c. 764).
  13. The habitual faculty to hear confessions is granted to priests (cc. 969, 973). Priests who are incardinated in or have domicile in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and who possess the faculty of hearing confessions from the local Ordinary of Baltimore can exercise this faculty everywhere in the world, unless some other local Ordinary denies it in a particular case within his own territory (cc. 967, §2; 974, §2).
  14. Priests may grant to any priest who has faculties for hearing confessions from his own Ordinary the permission to hear confessions in a church in this Archdiocese. However, priests from outside this Archdiocese who do not have faculties for hearing confessions from their own Ordinary must be referred to the Chancery Office (c. 966, §1-§2).
  15. Priests who possess the faculty of hearing confessions from the local Ordinary of Baltimore can remit in the internal forum a latae sententiae penalty established by the law but not yet declared, provided the remission is not reserved to the Apostolic See. This faculty may be exercised by the confessor only within the confines of this Archdiocese, and on behalf of any person regardless of the person’s residence or the place where the penalty was incurred(c. 1355, §2).
    Therefore, for example, the confessor may absolve from the penalty of excommunication apostates, heretics, and schismatics (cc. 1354, §1; 1364, §1), as well as those who have procured an actual abortion (c. 1398).
  16. Priests who possess the faculty of hearing confessions from the local Ordinary of Baltimore can dispense from irregularities for the exercise of orders already received, provided the dispensation is not reserved to the Apostolic See (c. 1047, §4). This faculty can be exercised in the internal or external forum within the confines of the Archdiocese, and on behalf of any cleric regardless of his residence or the place where the irregularity was incurred. Examples of such irregularities from which confessors can dispense are: the irregularity incurred by one who has attempted an occult marriage while impeded by an existing matrimonial bond, sacred orders, or a public perpetual vow of chastity; the irregularity incurred by one who has publicly committed the offense of apostasy, heresy, or schism (cc. 1041; 1044).
  17. Pastors and associate pastors may validly assist at all marriages within the territory of the parish to which they are assigned. The pastor may also grant to other priests and deacons the faculty of assisting at all marriages within the territory of his parish. Otherwise, a pastor or associate pastor can delegate a specific priest or deacon to assist at a specific marriage within the territory of the parish to which he is assigned; Any general delegation must be granted in writing (c. 1111, §1-§2).
  18. Priests in residence, campus ministers, and military chaplains enjoy general delegation for assisting at marriages within the territory of the parish within which they are assigned (c. 1111, §1).
  19. In the case of danger of death and only when the local Ordinary cannot be reached, priests may dispense from the form prescribed for the celebration of matrimony and from all impediments of ecclesiastical law, except the impediment arising from the sacred order of the presbyterate (c. 1079, §§1-2). In these cases the priest is to inform the local Ordinary of a dispensation granted for the external forum and this dispensation is to be recorded in the marriage register (c. 1081).
  20. Whenever an impediment to marriage is discovered and all the wedding preparations have been made and the marriage cannot be deferred without probable danger of serious harm until a dispensation can be obtained from competent authority, a priest may dispense from all impediments of ecclesiastical law, except the impediment of crime and the impediments arising from sacred orders or from a public perpetual vow of chastity (cc. 1080, §1; 1078, §2). In these cases the priest is to inform the local Ordinary of a dispensation granted for the external forum and this dispensation is to be recorded in the marriage register (c. 1081).
  21. In the administration of sacraments in which sacred oils are to be used, the oils should be those that have been recently consecrated or blessed by the bishop.
    However, in the case of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, priests may bless the oil but only in the celebration of the Sacrament. The oil must come from olives or from other plants (cc. 847, §1; 999).
  22. Priests may keep the oil of the sick, for any good reason, in the rectory, in their automobile, or in some other appropriate place (c. 847, §2).
  23. Priests may allow Church funeral rites for an unbaptized child, if the parents had intended to have the child baptized. Priests may also allow Church funeral rites for a baptized person belonging to a non-Catholic church or ecclesial community, provided this is not clearly contrary to the wishes of the deceased, and provided that a minister of the faith of the deceased is not available (c. 1183, §2-§3).
  24. Priests may impart all blessings, except those which are reserved to the Roman Pontiff or to bishops (c. 1169, §2).
  25. In particular cases and for a good reason, pastors and associate pastors may dispense from the common law concerning the observance of Sundays and holydays and concerning fast and abstinence (cc. 919; 1245; 1247; 1250; 1251). Pastors and associate pastors may exercise this faculty for individuals and families of their parishes, whether they are actually present within the territory or not. They may also exercise this faculty for travelers who are actually present in this territory (cc. 89; 91; 137, §1).
  26. Priests may dispense or commute private vows if there is a just reason, and provided that the acquired rights of others are not injured (cc. 1196, §1, 3°; 1197).
  27. For priests participating in special observances, the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours of a given day is commuted to:

    a.          any archdiocesan or inter- parochial Mass celebrated with some solemnity, including nuptial and funeral Masses.

    b.          closing of the solemn Eucharistic Exposition.

    c.          public Confirmation (c. 276, §2, 3º; Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, ch. 4, #97).