{"id":555,"date":"2023-11-19T01:49:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T01:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/?p=555"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:31:20","slug":"precepts-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/19\/precepts-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Precepts Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bulletin Q&A Article, published 11-19-23:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about the sixth precept of the Church?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or the seventh, or the tenth? In researching my recent article on the precepts of the Church, I ran across references to various lists of precepts from the past. One had six precepts, one had seven, and one even listed ten. I decided to focus on the list of five currently found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ten Commandments are God\u2019s law; the precepts are the Church\u2019s law. God\u2019s laws cannot change, but the Church\u2019s law can, and does, change to accommodate the current state of affairs in the Church and in the world. For example, the list of ten, which dates back to 1439, has one precept that states: \u201cnot to attend Mass or other religious functions celebrated by a priest living in open concubinage\u201d.<\/em> Apparently, that was a big issue back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that until fairly recently, there were seven precepts. The two additional ones were: #6 To obey the laws of the Church concerning Matrimony, and #7 To participate in the Church’s mission of Evangelization of Souls.\u201d<\/em> The 1949 Baltimore Catechism has a list that keeps this #6, but drops #7. Fr. Hardon\u2019s Modern Catholic Dictionary also contains a list of seven precepts. His list is different, however. He combines a couple of the original seven and adds a new one: \u201cTo study Catholic teaching in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be confirmed, then to continue to study and advance the cause of Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sixth precept, the one that seems to have been most recently dropped, probably needs a little more discussion. The 1891 version of the Baltimore Catechism has a different version of the sixth precept: \u201cNot to marry persons who are not Catholics, or who are related to us within the third degree of kindred, nor privately without witnesses, nor to solemnize marriage at forbidden times.\u201d <\/em>I remember as a child that we were forbidden from attending weddings of non-Catholics. So what changed and when?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the reason for the change was the gradual increase in the prevalence of Catholics marrying non- Catholics in our society. In his 1979 moto proprio, On Mixed Marriages<\/em>, Pope Paul VI points to some of the reasons and many of the concerns. He writes: \u201cIn the past Catholics were separated from members of other Christian confessions and from non-Christians by their situation in their community or even by physical boundaries. In more recent times, however, not only has this separation been reduced, but communication between men of different regions and religions has greatly developed and, as a result, there has been a great increase in the number of mixed marriages.\u201d <\/em>He goes on to write: \u201cThere are many difficulties inherent in a mixed marriage, since a certain division is introduced into the living cell of the Church, as the Christian family is rightly called. And in the family itself the fulfillment of the Gospel teachings is more difficult because of diversities in matters of religion, especially with regard to those matters which concern Christian worship and the education of the children.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last point made by Pope Paul VI regards the concern for the education of the children in the Catholic faith. But even this issue has seen some relaxation in canon law. The U.S. Bishops state at their foryourmarriage.org<\/a> website: \u201cThe church requires the Catholic party to be faithful to his or her faith and to \u2018make a sincere promise to do all in his or her power\u2019 to have their children baptized and raised in the Catholic faith. This provision of the 1983 Code of Canon Law is a change from the 1917 version, which required an absolute promise to have the children raised Catholic. Likewise, the non-Catholic spouse is no longer required to promise to take an active role in raising the children in the Catholic faith, but instead \u2018to be informed at an appropriate time of these promises which the Catholic party has to make, so that it is clear that the other party is truly aware of the promise and obligation of the Catholic party\u2019 the code states.\u201d <\/em>I have known many mixed marriages that have worked well and sometimes have resulted in the non-Catholic entering the Church. But I have also known of many others that have not worked well and resulted in ongoing friction between the parties, and the loss of the faith of the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo obey the laws of the Church concerning Matrimony\u201d<\/em> is no longer stated as an explicit precept of the Church, but it is still a requirement. For a Catholic, following the Church\u2019s canonical laws concerning marriage is required for their marriage to be valid. A Catholic who is living in an invalid marriage is not permitted to receive Holy Communion, nor serve as a sponsor for Baptism or Confirmation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulletin Q&A Article, published 11-19-23: What about the sixth precept of the Church? Or the seventh, or the tenth? In researching my recent article on the precepts of the Church, I ran across references to various lists of precepts from the past. One had six precepts, one had seven, and one even listed ten. I… Continue reading Precepts Revisited<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-articles","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":556,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions\/556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthoscopy.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}