Grace

Indulgences: relics of the past or still Church teaching?

John Young

Contents - Feb 2013 - Buy a copy now Editorial: AD2000 25 years on: the challenges remain - Michael Gilchrist Royal Commission: The Church in Australia faces moment of truth - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World Adoration: Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration embraced by Brisbane parish - Kate Hobbs Parish Renewal: New springtime for Catholic faith at St Mary's, South Brisbane - Jenny Davies Marriage: UK Family Court judge: why marriage is worth fighting for - Madonna Brosnan (ed.) Events: iWitness Retreat: a celebration of young adult Catholic faith - Br Barry Coldrey Religious freedom: The widows of Kandmahal: anti-Christian violence in India - Babette Francis Schools: Drawing pupils to God through the true, the good and the beautiful - Rosemary Anderson Grace: Indulgences: relics of the past or still Church teaching? - John Young History: Parish life in the Middle Ages (Part 2): living under canon law - Frank Mobbs Pilgrimage: Christus Rex Pilgrimage 2012: from Ballarat to Bendigo - Patrick Doyle Letters: Church unity? - Richard Congram Letters: Royal Commission - Arnold Jago Letters: Shared faith? - John Frey Letters: Secularist creed - Fr Bernard McGrath Books: THE PASSION OF PERPETUA AND FELICITY, by Thomas J. Heffernan - Peter Westmore (reviewer) Books: TAI CHI, REIKI: A Guide for all Christians, by Br Max Sculley FSC - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Fighting Fund: 2012 Fighting Fund update Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The cathedral: symbol of Christ's authoritative teaching - Bishop Michael Kennedy

Are indulgences a relic of the past, and rather an embarrassing one? Aren't they out of harmony with the post-Vatican II Church? Pope Paul VI didn't think so: in 1967 he published the Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina, in which he explained the practice of indulgences and showed its importance. He also made changes, particularly the abolition of the measure of days and years.

In this article I want to deal with the nature of indulgences, their importance, and the changes made by Paul VI.

What are indulgences?

When a sin is committed it is not enough just to be sorry. True sorrow certainly brings forgiveness, but it is also necessary to make reparation for the offence. That's why the priest gives a penance in confession but this may not be sufficient reparation. Paul VI recalls that sin is "a real and never adequately measured offence against God, an ungrateful rejection of God's love offered to us in Christ" ( Indulgentiarum doctrina, n. 2).

The Pope goes on to say it is necessary that "all the values, personal, social, and those forming part of the general order that sin has undermined or destroyed, be fully re-established, either through voluntary, punitive reparation or through the bearing of those punishments decreed by God's just and absolutely holy wisdom" (n. 3).

If we die without having made full reparation for our sins, we must make reparation in purgatory before we can enter heaven. Indulgences enable us to atone for our own sins, or those of the souls in purgatory.

The practice of indulgences is based on the solidarity existing between all the faithful, whether on earth, in purgatory or in heaven, with all forming part of the Mystical Body of Christ and mutually assisting each other.

Paul VI points out that this is the basis of the "treasury of the Church" - that is, "the limitless and inexhaustible value that the expiations and merits offered by Christ have in the eyes of God for the liberation of all humanity from sin and for the creation of communion with the Father �... Added to this treasure is also the vast, incalculable, ever increasing value in God's eyes of the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints" (n. 5).

Indulgences are attached by the Church to certain prayers and good works and are an application of the expiation offered by Christ and the saints.

In the case of plenary indulgences, those who gain them are thereby freed from all the punishment to which they are liable because of their sins. So if they were to die after gaining the indulgences, but without having committed any further sins, they would go straight to heaven, without any time in purgatory. A partial indulgence frees people from some of the punishment to which they would be liable.

In the past, a partial indulgence was reckoned in days or years and corresponded to the reparation made in the early centuries of Christianity by the penances imposed by the Church in those times - often severe penances. For example, the penitent may have had to do the prescribed works for a period of a hundred days, or of five years, etc. Later this was changed, with indulgenced prayers and practices having the same penitential value as the early more severe penances. So a particular indulgence would be equivalent to one hundred days of the earlier penances, another to five years, and so on.

Pope Paul VI changed that. A plenary indulgence is still the remission of all the punishment to which the person is liable, but partial indulgences are no longer measured in days or years. The Pope explains: "Any of the faithful who, being at least inwardly contrite, perform a work carrying with it a partial indulgence, receive through the Church the remission of temporal punishment equivalent to what their own act already receives."

In other words, if I would obtain a particular degree of reparation through doing some good act (even though no indulgence were attached to it), I will obtain double if there is a partial indulgence attached to that good act, and I gain the indulgence.

Their importance

Nonetheless, there is widespread apathy towards indulgences, and even open hostility. This is partly because of past abuses, especially those that shocked Martin Luther in the sixteenth century and helped provoke the Protestant Reformation. Some preachers of indulgences at that time claimed that all people had to do was pay a prescribed sum of money and they would automatically achieve the release of a soul from purgatory. This was contrary to Church teaching, but was widely propagated, despite being denounced by orthodox theologians.

As a popular jingle expressed it: "When the money in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory's fire springs."

Another reason why indulgences are viewed with suspicion by some Catholics is the impression that they involve a kind of spiritual avarice: a greed to gain as many indulgences as possible. It was not unknown for people to choose those indulgences with years attached to them, rather than those with a short period. (This calculating attitude is no longer possible with the abolition of periods of time).

Actually indulgences are very important for a number of reasons. One reason is that they give a greater appreciation of the Communion of Saints: the bond between the faithful on earth, the souls in purgatory and the blessed in heaven. All are spiritually united, with those in heaven and purgatory helping us pilgrims on earth, and with us aiding the souls in purgatory.

Indulgences also bring home the truth that salvation comes through the Church founded by Christ. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," he declared. This includes the power to dispense graces gained by Jesus when he suffered and died for our salvation, and one way in which this "power of the keys" is exercised is in the granting of indulgences. We acknowledge this God-given power possessed by the Church and show our faith and obedience by seeking to gain indulgences.

Purgatory

Our attention is also directed to the need to make reparation for sin. Until full reparation is made it is impossible for the person to enter heaven, so if full reparation has not been made before death it will have to be made in purgatory.

The practice of indulgences helps us remember to pray for the dead, an important duty that can easily be forgotten in a materialistic world. We can offer indulgences for them. Scripture praises Judas Maccabeus for "a holy and pious thought" in praying for the dead soldiers. "Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin" (II Maccabees 12:45).

Indulgences also encourage the doing of good deeds, because the actions to which they are attached are things we should do, but which may be neglected. The attachment of an indulgence to these things helps to highlight their importance.

Many prayers and practices have indulgences attached to them; they are listed in the Handbook of Indulgences issued by Rome. First let us look at three "general concessions" for which partial indulgences can be gained.

The first general concession is this: "A partial indulgence is granted to one of the faithful who, in the performance of his duties and the bearing of the burdens of life, raises his mind to God in humble trust, adding - even if only mentally - some pious invocation."

The second concession is: "A partial indulgence is granted to one of the faithful who, animated by a spirit of faith and with a merciful heart, gives himself or his goods to the service of the brethren who are in need."

The third general concession grants a partial indulgence to "one of the faithful who in a penitential spirit of his own accord abstains from something permitted and pleasing to him."

If we do any of these things with the intention of gaining an indulgence, and we are in the state of grace, we will gain the indulgence. That is, the atonement made through these acts will be double what we would have made without the indulgence.

In addition to these general concessions there are also many prayers and practices for which indulgences can be gained, and these are given in the Handbook of Indulgences.

As regards plenary indulgences, in addition to the prescribed work one must go to confession, receive Holy Communion and pray for the Pope's intentions. An Our Father and a Hail Mary would fulfill the requirement of praying for the Pope's intentions. These three requirements may be performed within some days before or after the prescribed work. It is also necessary to be free not only from sin but also from attachment to sin: otherwise the indulgence will only be partial, not plenary.

The following are four of the practices for which a plenary indulgence can be gained. 1. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for at least half an hour. 2. The devotional reading of Sacred Scripture for at least half an hour. 3. Making the Stations of the Cross. 4. Saying five decades of the rosary, in continuity, with meditation on the mysteries, in a church, in a public oratory, in the family or in some pious Association.

Punishment for sin

The opportunity to gain indulgences is a gift from Christ through his Church, and should not be dismissed as unimportant. We need all the help we can get! We should constantly strive to be so pure in God's sight that were we to die we would go straight to heaven. Indulgences aid in this, and can make all the difference between the soul being burdened with a debt of punishment for sin, or being free from this.

Above all things we should give glory to God, and glory is given him when we repair the damage done by our sins. Indulgences help in this.

Not only that. Charity for the souls in purgatory is shown by striving to gain indulgences for them. We can help them in this way, and shouldn't ignore the opportunity. They are in purgatory because they have not made full atonement for their sins, and they suffer greatly as they yearn for the vision of God. We can make some of that atonement through the indulgences we offer for them - full atonement if we gain a plenary indulgence. We should not neglect them in their need.

A helpful practice is to resolve each morning to gain whatever indulgences we can that day, whether for ourselves or for souls in purgatory.

A booklet explaining indulgences and giving the prayers and works required is available from Freedom Publishing and the John XXIII Co-op, price $4: New Regulations on Indulgences, by Winfrid Herbst, SDS. The John XXIII Co-op also has The Handbook of Indulgences, hardcover, 128pp, issued by the Vatican, which contains the new regulations, the indulgenced prayers and exercises, and Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina, price: $22.)

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 26 No 1 (February 2013), p. 12