You can ask a pastor a question here without an account, without your legal name, and without knowing the correct word for the thing you are asking about. Every petition is read by the Office of the Ordinary and answered within two days. If tonight is dangerous, the numbers below come first.
If you are in danger tonight, these answer faster than we can, at any hour. Nothing on this page is more important than the four numbers below.
Most petitions arrive badly worded, and that has never once been a problem. People write asking about “the thing where you get the oil,” or ask whether a marriage counts, or ask something that turns out to be about a funeral eleven years ago. The Chancery reads for what is being asked, not for how well it is phrased.
You will not be handed to a volunteer, a chatbot, or a queue. The Office of the Ordinary reads every petition personally, and petitions to the Chancery are answered within two days.
Asking creates no obligation. A great many questions end with an answer and nothing else, and that is a complete and finished outcome.
On confidentiality, stated with its limits
What you write is read by the Office of the Ordinary and is not published, shared, or added to any list. The seal of confession is absolute and permanent, and correspondence is not confession. Oregon clergy are mandatory reporters of child abuse under ORS 419B.010, the clergy-penitent privilege at ORS 40.260 is narrow, and this church tells you that before you write rather than after.
Almost never. A valid baptism is permanent and no church could revoke yours by letter or by vote.
The answer → IINo. Your existence is not matter for confession, and no confessor here will treat it as such.
The answer → IIIHoly orders are open to every baptized person found fit, regardless of sex, gender identity, or gender history. Rome holds otherwise.
The answer → IVSupport groups, with named leaders and stated limits. Enrolment is open.
The answer → VGrief that includes a funeral you were not allowed to attend, or one where the name was wrong.
The answer → VIWhat was revoked was membership. What you have is something else, and it was never theirs to cancel.
The answer → VIIThe declaration, published in full rather than summarised into something safer.
The answer → VIIIStated positions, with the reasoning and the sources, including where this church differs from Rome.
The answer → IXThe reporting route is published and is non-dispensable even by the Ordinary. It does not go through the person complained of.
The answer → XNothing. Giving is separate from care, buys nothing, and is never a condition of anything.
The answer → XIThe catechumenate in four stages. Enrolment is open and the first cohort is being received now.
The answer → XIIYes. Send a name or a situation; it is carried in worship and never published.
The answer →Petitions land with the Office of the Ordinary. They are not routed to a volunteer, a committee, or an assistant.
The Ordinary reads every petition. If you ask to be answered directly by the Ordinary rather than by the Chancery, that request is honoured.
Answered within two daysIncluding when the answer is no, or “this church cannot do that,” or “what you need is not a priest but a lawyer.” Honesty first, comfort second.
No newsletter, no follow-up sequence, no appeal for money. Ask for the correspondence to be deleted and it is deleted.
Plain words, any length, no name required. If you want it answered directly by the Ordinary rather than by the Chancery, say so in the message and it will be.
One sentence is enough, and it has never once been the wrong first step. If the answer needs a different door, the Chancery will point you at it.
Nothing is saved to your name. Press Esc to close.
If you are in danger tonight, these answer faster than we can, at any hour. Nothing on this page is more important than the four numbers below.