Ok, I've seen this debate on other threads here, and don't quite feel this question fits into the original topics, so here goes.

In relation to the Seal of the Confessional, in which the priest must not change the course of his actions due to what he has heard, the debate comes up of the person poisoning wine in the sacristy. The options I've seen are a) break the seal, and dispose of the wine anyhow. b) Trust in the Lord to neutralize/destroy the poison. c) Trust that it is the Lord's will that the priest die at that time.

Now, when I go to Confession, the priest invariably assigns some penance. When I was very young (I'm only 22 now), the penance was usually to say some number of various prayers (The infamous, "Say 6000 Hail Marys." :) ) More recently, though, the penance has often been making reparations in some fashion to those directly hurt by my sins. Keeping this in mind -- Why can't the priest assign the confessor the penance of disposing of the tainted wine so that none might be harmed by it?

-- Troy Gundy (gund8234@kettering.edu), May 17, 2002

Answers

As I believe was mentioned before, I don't think throwing out the wine would breaking the seal of the confessional. It would be breaking the seal of the confessional if the priest told someone who did it.

-- Christina (introibo2000@yahoo.com), May 17, 2002.

Hello, Troy.

I think that your solution is absolutely wonderful, if indeed the priest is obliged not to take action himself!

I was the person who brought the case to the forum originally, because I had heard it mentioned by a priest on TV.
However, having recently looked at Canon Law on the subject of the seal of confession, I am almost persuaded to agree with Christina that it would not be a violation of the seal if the priest were to dump out the wine. The reason for my leaning this way is that, Canon Law seems to indicate that breaking the seal takes place only when the penitent is betrayed. I am not sure if breaking the seal also takes place when the priest uses a confession to his own "benefit," but without revealing the penitent's identity.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), May 18, 2002.