MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – A priest in Germany got more than he bargained for during confession when a man not only declared his sins, but also handed over a machine gun and a hand grenade, police in Bavaria said Tuesday.
" He also gave the priest a cardboard box with a clown’s face and the words ‘Red Nose Day March 26, 2004’ on it containing 34 cartridges of 7.65 mm caliber," police said in a statement.
The priest from the southern town of Pfarrkirchen turned in the weapons to police but told them church rules governing confession prevented him from revealing the man’s identity.
"It’s unclear as to whether the church has forgiven the sinner, but specialists in Bavaria’s regional crime agency who are bound to earthly laws are now investigating the matter in accordance with gun control laws," police said. [Source][Via Waffling Anglican]
5 comments
This presents an interesting dilemma: if the man’s fingerprints are on the gun, has the priest not violated the seal of the confessional by turning the gun over to police? Should he (the priest) not have wiped the gun down to remove potential fingerprints?
Please tell me that the priest also turned the clown mask over to police. If there’s one lying around the sacristy, it might just be too much of a temptation…
This presents an interesting dilemma: if the man’s fingerprints are on the gun, has the priest not violated the seal of the confessional by turning the gun over to police?
That’s an intriguing question. I’d guess that the priest was not obliged to wipe down the weapon to obliterate fingerprints. As I understand it, a priest is not allowed to tell what he has heard under the seal of confession, but is not required to frustrate the attempts of the police to follow up leads that might enable them to identify a lawbreaker. When one goes to confession one is entitled to hope for absolution, not for the services of an accomplice after the fact. I’d be interested to hear what a canon lawyer has to say about the matter. One of the things that has always annoyed me about Hitchcock’s I Confess (besides Montgomery Clift’s twitching and grimacing all over the place) is that the priest doesn’t defend himself even as far as to say, “Come on, think – don’t you have any idea why I can’t tell you what I know about the murder?”
It’s possible he asked the penitent if he could turn in the weapons. The priest would obviously not be able to keep weapons lying around. If the penitent would say it’s ok for the priest to turn them in, then no problem. I’m no expert, but yeah, you can’t manifest a penitent’s sins to anyone (Canon 983).
I guess they hired the wrong clown to say mass that week
I guess Father Moderator missed that picture!