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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   3004 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 19, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Why do priests have on call rotations? Is this like a doctor where a priest can't go to the movies if they are on call because they would have to silence their phone?

At all the protestant churches I've been a member of (some 20 person congregations, some 2000), the pastors are basically always "on call" in the sense that if a member has an emergency they can call the pastor to (e.g.) visit them in the hospital. But the pastors are never expected to walk around with a phone all the time like an on-call doctor would.

The Catholic religion requires a sacramental priesthood- a priest going to the hospital is not just providing comfort to the dying. There is an actual sacramental function there.

I understand the importance of sacraments and that's partly the cause of my confusion. I'm just curious about the mechanical details of "on call" and if it's the same level of rigor as other on call professions like doctors. Can an on call priest not go to the movies? Maybe a priest wouldn't go to the movies anyways, but can they be "on call" while they are doing other priestly duties? (What if someone calls them while they are delivering the Eucharist? I assume they wouldn't interrupt a sacrament to take a phone call. But what if they are performing non-sacramental priestly duties like leading an AA meeting? Do they interrupt the AA meeting to take a phone call?) My understanding was always that places that were likely to need sacraments (like a hospital) had dedicated Catholic priests working at the hospital to provide them, and not that the local parish priest was on call in his bed and would be summoned if needed.

An in particular, cell phones did not exist 50 years ago, and the Catholic church survived 2000 years without them. So how did the idea of "on call" actually develop? It just seems like the sort of modernism that an ancient, slow moving tradition would be hesitant to adopt.

On call before cell phones worked off of pagers. I don’t know how it worked before then. Rushing to fetch a priest was an old timey trope, though.

Hospitals have Catholic chaplains, but even if those chaplains are priests they’re not on duty 24/7. Usually those chaplains are actually deacons who do not have the full range of sacramental powers. Priests who get a call to the hospital are expected to drop meetings, classes, etc to just go; they probably don’t have their phones on for mass or hearing confessions. Catholics are expected to receive unrepeatable sacraments(confirmation and anointing of the sick are the relevant ones here- sometimes baptisms in the NICU) from their parish priest, although during Covid this was changed a bit to have priests nearest the hospitals complying with whatever protocols.

Usually those chaplains are actually deacons who do not have the full range of sacramental powers.

Makes sense, in a hospital there's less reason to care if they don't have the full suite of healing spells. Do your part yourself if you're so great, science.

Thanks. I still have lots of questions, but I appreciate the response :)

I didn't know that deacons would work in hospitals; I've only ever met priests there before.

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