{"id":3740,"date":"2010-08-18T11:40:02","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T16:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=3740"},"modified":"2010-12-27T00:03:20","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T06:03:20","slug":"validity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/08\/18\/validity\/","title":{"rendered":"Validity"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been some discussion at PrayTell <\/em>about what \u2018validity\u2019 means. Perhaps this excerpt, \u201cValidity, sacramental,\u201d from the New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship<\/em> is helpful. The author is Fr. Peter Fink SJ, editor of the dictionary. Note that this article was written before the statement of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, itself not an infallible statement, making the claim that the invalidity of Anglican orders is an infallible teaching. The first paragraph of the excerpt below refers to the change in definition of matter for ordination by Pius XII and the change in the sacramental formula for confirmation under Paul VI.\u00a0 –\u00a0 Ed.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

\u2026 Since the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy<\/em> maintains that all liturgy \u201cexpressed the mystery of Christ\u201d (SC<\/em> 2), the church must determine the validity of sacraments to the extent that they truly express, or fail to express, this mystery. Yet, since the mystery itself can be variously understood at different periods of the church\u2019s life, its judgment of validity will always be subject to change. Witness, for just two examples, the redefinition of essentials in the current reform in regard to ordination (the laying on of hands rather than the assignment of instruments of office) and confirmation (the adoption of the Eastern form of prayer). \u2026<\/p>\n

It is probably the case that the sharp line drawn between valid<\/em> and invalid<\/em> is no longer the most helpful way to assess the truth or untruth of the sacraments. Both are minimalist judgments; either the essentials are there or not. They are also judgments which presume we can have a clear understanding of what the essentials are. That is in fact not as easy as might ordinarily be assumed. Nonetheless, even where the essentials are judged to be present, there is a large spectrum of sacramental truth that stretches between the \u201cbare necessities,\u201d and the full liturgical action envisioned by Vatican II. Minimalist judgments are not adequate to the Vatican II liturgical reform. \u2026<\/p>\n

[E]specially in this ecumenical era, the Roman Catholic judgment that Anglican orders are \u201cnull and void\u201d (Leo XIII), or the Orthodox judgment that Catholic confirmation is ineffective, rings more untrue than true. It may be proper for Roman Catholics to re-ordain priests who come to the Roman church from Anglicanism, and it may be proper for Orthodox to chrismate (confirm) Roman Catholics who enter Orthodoxy, but this could be done for reasons other than that the original ordination or confirmation was null and void. \u2026<\/p>\n

Vatican II did in fact retreat from the clear and harsh judgments of earlier days. With regard to the realities within other churches, and in its desire to promote Christian unity, rather than stall or hinder it, the council advised that every effort be taken \u201cto avoid expressions, judgments and actions which do not represent the conditions of our separated brethren with truth and fairness\u201d (UR<\/em> 4). \u2026<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the church does have both the right and the responsibility to make judgments, however historically conditioned they might be, that \u201cthis act\u201d is in conformity with the truth of Christ and \u201cthat act\u201d is not. \u2026 What is required, however, for this judgment to be made with gospel integrity, is that the church \u2026 pass such judgment softly and tentatively\u2026<\/p>\n

.
\n<\/em> <\/em>Peter Fink, \u201cSacramental Validity,\u201d New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship<\/em> (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990), 1298-1300.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the mystery of Christ can be variously understood at different periods of the church\u2019s life, its judgment of validity will always be subject to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[936,935],"class_list":["post-3740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sacramental-theology","tag-fr-peter-fink-sj","tag-new-dictionary-of-sacramental-worship"],"yoast_head":"\nValidity - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/08\/18\/validity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Validity - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since the mystery of Christ can be variously understood at different periods of the church\u2019s life, its judgment of validity will always be subject to change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/08\/18\/validity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-18T16:40:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-27T06:03:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Other Voices\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Other Voices\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/18\\\/validity\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/18\\\/validity\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Other Voices\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4eec536020900714d992552a4e06f913\"},\"headline\":\"Validity\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-18T16:40:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-27T06:03:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/18\\\/validity\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Fr. 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