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Faculty · is more than capacity. In law, [canonical] faculties are the authority or capacity to perform an act or function. Some summarise it as a certain kind of power. Usually this is in reference to a sacramental ministry or the privileges of some pastoral responsibility; that is, they may regard some apostolic function (such as the mysteries handed on to the apostles from Christ) or else some ecclesiastical institutional conditions. They differ from permissions which concern civil or functional limitations (e.g. policies or legislation).
Some faculties are inherent, and some are granted. For example, a priest has faculties to celebrate Eucharist by virtue of ordination. On the other hand, a priest may not necessarily (though it is rare that they would not) have faculties for Penance or even to preach. The faculties to hear confessions or deliver homilies may be granted (as a license) to a priest in any appointment (and even, in the face of serious threat to life, to a priest who has resigned or been dispensed from active ministry) but are automatically granted to pastors.
Most faculties are universal as they can be exercised anywhere. However, some are limited to local permissions. For example, a priest may celebrate Mass anywhere and at any time (subject to the usual norms). However, they may not celebrate Mass publicly in the geographical region of another diocese without due permission. Faculties and permissions are primarily an internal organisational matter. They were first seen at the Council of Jerusalem (c. 48–50), but were set in the form we know them now at the Council of Chalcedon (451) to avoid rogue or vagrant bishops and presbyters.
Faculties are with regard some power of Christ for His Church (c.f. 2 Cor 12:9). No one has the right to make or exercise faculties unless they are granted by God directly (which can be difficult to prove) or through His Church (according to law).
Faith · “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1a). It may refer to the theological virtue along with hope and charity (c.f. 1 Corinthians 13:13). In its Hebrew origins (faithfulness), it does not necessarily contain the notion of belief but does presuppose it.
The traditional rote prayer ‘Act of Faith’ reads:
O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.
Father [style/title] · is often used to address priests (presbyters). Cultures and languages have their own variation, as: Italian ‘Don’ (lord) or ‘Padre’ (Father), French ‘Père’ or ‘Abbé’ (‘Father’), Tetum ‘Amu’ (a localised term specific for priests), and the Greek ‘Iereas’ (literally ‘priest’, from the ancient Greek) or Papas (from Abba – ‘father’). Depending again on culture, this either stands alone as a form of address, is followed by the minister’s Christian name, or, in rare cases, prefixes their family name.
Bishops were first given this title as they are publicly “resolved as a devoted father to sustain the people of God and to guide them on the way of salvation (Rite of Episcopal Ordination, rev. 1968). With close association between presbyterate and the order of bishops, the has extended often been applied as a title or mode of address to priests too.
This title also emerges from the religious orders. All men would be “Brothers”, and some were ordained priest for the service of the community. The title ‘Abbot’ (from the Latin and French ‘Abba/Abbé’) easily carried over to those ordained priests who presided. While remaining brothers, they took on a certain duty of care for souls which was often designated with the style “Father”.
A tradition of spiritual fatherhood has emerged either adjacent or as a result of this style of address. Nevertheless, technically the style is only that. The correct title remains ‘the Reverend’. In Australia, first name is often acceptable; but styles and titles ‘Reverend’, ‘Pastor’, or ‘Father’ are common, usually followed by their first or last name too.
Fathers of the Church · are the great men who were notable teachers of the faith in antiquity. S. Irenæus(c. 125–c. 203) says that a teacher is as a father and the disciple is as a son. Appeals to the Fathers have shifted through late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Initially, they were esteemed peer and recent predecessors; now such references are a subdivision of appeals to tradition and authority or primacy associated therewith.
Not all orthodox writers from early times are referred to with this title; nor are all with this title honoured as saints (e.g. Origin of Alexandria). Criteria for citation as a father include being quoted or referenced by a pope or council in an official teaching and having been read publicly in the ancient Church (e.g. John Chrysostom).
More recent scholarship has recognised the contribution of women from the period. So, many now speak more inclusively of the ‘Fathers and Mothers of the Church’. This acknowledges not only the writings — predominantly by the literate men of the time — but also the lived experiences and expertise of women and men who were critical to the development of the Church and Christian thought at the time.
Fasting · (including abstinence) is a noble discipline. However, it is never to be a debilitating denial of the subsistence necessary for functioning. To eat limited food and no meat on Wednesday and/or Friday, no snacks, reduce simple/fleeting pleasures, dropping some form of media are all common forms of fasting.
There are two ends (aims) to fasting:
1) Fasting is meant to help us see that for which we truly hunger. By denying an earthly food we can learn to long for the bread from heaven and word that comes from the mouth of God (c.f. Matthew 4:4); we learn to seek those things which are of God — righteousness and peace and joy and Holy Spirit (c.f. Romans 14:17).
2) By fasting, we will save money and affection to be redirected to the poor and forgotten. For example, one might give up buying coffee for Lent (resorting to the instant form, if palatable). By the end of Lent, one might donate the funds to some charity or spend the money in a gesture of kindness and charity.
Two rules should be kept in mind: Firstly, Fasting is never meant to cause harm, only hunger — so excess aught to be avoided; and secondly, no one should undertake a server discipline such as a strict fast without taking counsel from their pastor or a spiritual director. “Whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. … they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face” (Matt 6:16–18).
Feast Day · is the designated class of occasion between a memorial and a solemnity. They are celebrated in commemoration of the sacred mysteries and events of salvation history, or in memory of the Blessed Mother or one of the saints. Essentially, a feast is an anniversary to be celebrated in a moderate way.
Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X (The Priestly Society/Fraternity of St Pius X) [FSSPX/SSPX] · is a Society previously of the Catholic Church. It originated as a group of priests with provisional recognition; their main objectives were and remain the formation of holy priests according to an expression of the Tridentine model. Due to moments of rebellion and rejection of Vatican II, the late Archbishop Lefebvre and members have had a shaky relationship with the Church.
The Church recognizes the devotion to liturgical life, commitment to priestly formation, apostolic zeal and desire for fidelity to Tradition that characterize many people and communities connected to the SSPX (Pope Leo XIV). Their Masses are valid but illicit; marriages and confessions are invalid. No Catholic should receive Holy Communion at their Masses and might only attend as a matter of necessity. A member of the society wishing to return to communion with the Church should approach their local pastor.
Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri (Priestly Society/Fraternity of Saint Peter) [FSSP] · conduct a two-fold mission: the formation and sanctification of priests; and the care of souls with pastoral service. The (Con)Fraternity of St. Peter accomplishes this mission using the liturgical books in force in 1962 (a form of the ‘Latin Mass’). Many would consider the FSSP something like the Catholic-kosher FSSPX/SSPX.
Free will · is the problem of human liberty that has stumped philosophers for all time. It separates humanity from all other known life. It is understood that we possess genuine moral freedom, that is a power of real choice and the ability to determine in some way the course of our thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, there are some thoughts and deeds or marks of character and external actions which can seem in the hands of ‘fate’ or the ballot of life. Are we truly free if also subject to merely the inevitable outcome of some circumstances?
Among those who have written on the subject, S. Thomas Aquinas is often cited. Our moral liberty, like other mental and physical powers, is strengthened by exercise. Christians have a duty to form and inform their conscience to be fitting stewards of their freedom.
Freedom of Religion · is supported and advocated by the Church. This religious liberty extends from the freedom of will discuss above. All have a right to choose religion and practice it according to their own conscience. The Church will never endorse missionary endeavours or civil regimes that compromise the freedom of persons.
Freemasonry · has had an extended history which this short entry could not justly serve. It suffices to say that it has maintained a level of distrust from the Church. Theologically, there are issues with membership due to strong strains of Gnosticism and secularisation. Ecclesial, a long history of strife and cultic disputes renders association at best questionable.
The peculiar naturalistic character of Freemasonry has been recognised to theoretically and practically undermine the Catholic and Christian values. By many accounts, its members have contributed to religious indifferentism and contempt for orthodoxy and ecclesiastical authority throughout the world. The stance of the Church has been strong and un-altered in pronouncements against the movement and membership thereto since Pope Clement XII in 1738. Previous (now abrogated) laws of the Church held membership of the freemasons as grounds for automatic excommunication from the Church.
Friar · (from the Latin frater — brother) denotes a genre of mendicant (wandering) religious life as distinct from a monk. Friars are those who live a contemplative life but are also active in service or ministry outside the cloister walls; monks will be dealt with (in seven weeks) but are essentially those men for whom contemplation and solitude are undisturbed by public ministry. The orders whose male members are friars are the Dominicans (‘Friars Preachers’), Franciscans (‘Friars Minor’ / ‘Grey Friars’), Carmelites (‘White Friars’) [despite being originally founded as a purely contemplative order], the hermit-come-mendicant Augustinians (‘Austin Friars’), and reforms/derivatives of the same.
This word was used in the early Church by all Christians who spoke of each other as brothers and sisters (think to St Paul’s wirings and more recently Fratelli Tutti by Pope Francis). It remains the liturgical greeting to the congregation: “Orate, fratres…” “Pray brethren (brothers and sisters)…” and common colloquial greeting among Christians.