# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Februar 1858_S60
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

60 Excerpts as Contributions to Pastoral Casuistry.

Finally, the third group comprises those whose sins are still hidden, that is, which are known only to the offender and the pastor. In this case a pastor can neither simply admit such a one who confesses it, nor publicly turn him away. That is, he should earnestly speak to the sinner and, on account of the harm to his soul, admonish him to abstain from the holy Sacrament until he lets true fruits of repentance be seen, so that he does not, against his conscience, fall into sin and become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Christ; and he should also show him the means and ways by which he may do true penance and free himself from sin. If the sinner promises to follow this faithful counsel, he shall rightly be absolved and admitted. But should he not keep such a promise, and cast the admonition to the wind and present himself among the other communicants, a pastor cannot publicly turn him away; for it is a hidden offense, and even though it has been disclosed to the pastor, he ought not to become a discloser of the confession, which would happen if he refused to admit him to communion and thereby made him suspect among his fellow members. As an example: if a young woman had sinned against the sixth commandment, but, being not with child and no one knowing of the deed, kept wearing her wreath, yet disclosed her fall to her pastor — he should indeed admonish her to lay aside the wreath, since she wishes to come to Christ's table, who knows her deed and cannot be deceived, but would surely punish her; it would therefore be better to bear temporal shame than to await eternal. But if she should nonetheless present herself wearing the wreath, the pastor cannot publicly turn her away, for everyone would thereby learn that she was guilty of a misdeed, and a pastor neither can nor should be a betrayer of his penitents.

From all this one also sees how far a pastor may excuse himself by the example of Christ and Judas. For although some are of the opinion that Judas had already left the fellowship of the apostles when the Lord instituted the holy Sacrament, and thereby do away with the application altogether, we nevertheless gladly grant that he partook of the holy Sacrament with the other apostles, since the evangelist Luke, chapter 22, plainly confirms this. Yet it is said: "One must stand not upon examples, but upon commandments." Since we do not know what reason the Lord Christ had for wishing to impart this precious treasure even to his betrayer, he has not thereby commanded us to do likewise with others, but rather forbidden it, as noted above. Yet because it is also said, "Every act of Christ is our instruction"*), there is no doubt that we too have, in this act of the Lord Christ toward the betrayer Judas, good instruction as to how to deal with his like (mark well, I say — with his like), for "examples must not be extended too far and to everything"**); rather, one must keep within limits, since otherwise one reads a general prohibition in Scripture. And it is necessary that we consider well the person of Judas in these points. 1. He was one of the apostles; he still held to the fellowship of the apostles as a disciple of Jesus who openly assented to his teaching. 2. The deed was known to Christ alone, hidden from the other apostles. For in the church of Christ no one knew anything of it, except

*) Omnis Christi actio est nostra institutio.
**) Exempla non sunt nimium et ad omnia extendenda.