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PDF versionWYD indulgences: Rome fiddles while we burn
by Eugene Cullen Kennedy on Aug. 12, 2011
The sex abuse crisis among priests and other church personnel has now exploded like napalm across the entire Catholic world. New revelations tell an old story almost every day: that of the suffering of its victims, often in secret and compounded by ecclesiastical ineptitude, inattention, or moral insolvency.
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Vatican announces indulgences for World Youth Day
By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To help encourage prayers for a spiritually fruitful World Youth Day in Madrid, the Vatican announced Aug. 11 that Pope Benedict XVI had authorized a special indulgence for anyone who, "with a contrite spirit," raises a "prayer to God, the Holy Spirit, so that young people are drawn to charity and given the strength to proclaim the Gospel with their life," a Vatican decree said. The decree included the offer of a plenary, or full, indulgence to all the young people who will gather with the pope in Madrid. World Youth Day runs Aug. 16-21 in the Spanish capital; the pope arrives Aug. 18. An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven. The conditions necessary for receiving a plenary indulgence include having recently gone to confession, receiving the Eucharist and offering prayers for the intentions of the pope. Pope Benedict decreed that World Youth Day participants can receive a plenary indulgence if they participate with prayerful devotion in any sacred event or "pious exercise" as well as attend the closing Mass, receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist and offer prayers for the pope's intentions. The decree, signed by Cardinal Fortunato Baldelli, head of the Vatican office that deals with indulgences, said a partial indulgence also is available to all Catholics who are contrite for their sins and offer their prayers with the pope for young Catholics. The cardinal also asked priests around the world to make themselves available to hear the confessions of those who want the indulgence and to encourage public prayers for the success of World Youth Day. In central Madrid's Buen Retiro Park, 200 portable confessionals will be set up for confessions that begin Aug. 14. The pope will hear confessions at the park Aug. 20. |
How Irish that the scandal has turned into a brawl between the Irish prime minister and the Roman authorities he has criticized for their handling of the crisis. That reveals that Ireland's green is really base metal beneath the phony gilt of its claims to be the land of saints and scholars.
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Things are even worse in Germany where the non-stop revelations of sex abuse have stunned the world and embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI who, while all this is going on, is busily promoting a return of the church to the pre-Vatican II period that served as the incubator for a tragedy that has brought immeasurable grief to innumerable people, including the priest sex abusers themselves whose lack of inner growth led them into lives of pseudo-celibacy that made them seem virtuous to their bishops when they were actually menaces to their people.
Now, while Catholics burn with the shame inflicted on them by this crisis, Rome seems so pre-occupied with re-entering the shadowed yesterday of clerical domination that it has no interest or enough spiritual energy to lead the church to a fresh dawn of self-examination and self-cleansing.
The latest example is found in promising plenary indulgences to those who fulfill certain conditions when they attend World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 18-21. BUT WAIT -- as they say on infomercials -- partial indulgences are also available to those who pray appropriately during this gathering even if they cannot attend in person.
As part of the Reform of the Reform, this unfortunately rings like a church bell with associations of selling such indulgences during medieval times when bartering for grace and time off from Purgatory with cash scandalized Catholics and helped bring on the Reformation.
It is worse now because it confounds the mystery of Time and Eternity in which Roman officials should have an interest even if they lack any understanding of them. These are also critical variables in the human experience of the sexual abuse crisis and confusing them can only increase the suffering of the victims of sex abuse.
Indulgences are airily explained as lessening the temporal, or in time, punishment for sin that actually takes place beyond the reach of time, or the application of its parameters, in eternity. Where there is time, as Joseph Campbell has expressed it, there is sorrow. That is a function of time not of eternity and indulgences make no sense, sold 500 years ago or promised now, as any kind of spiritual currency to bail us out of the timeless sphere of eternity.
Time, with its sorrows, has a meaning for sex abuse victims because there is no time in the human unconscious; it is always NOW. That means that a wound that was seemingly inflicted on a certain date breaks free of the calendar's grip and is always as fresh in the victim as the moment it was inflicted. There is not statute of limitations for victims and their suffering, no plenary or partial indulgences to relieve them of their wounds.
By turning back to the concept of giving "Get Out of Purgatory" cards to those who attend an event in time demonstrates how estranging to human experience this return to another age really is. The world's victims are burning with suffering that is not cured by the passage of time and Rome fiddles, neglecting to plumb the depths of the still continuing sex abuse crisis, while talking irrelevantly in the language of plenary and partial indulgences.
To promise to relieve the so called temporal punishment due to sin through indulgences while failing to understand the timeless nature of the suffering of the sexually abused makes one think that Nero may have had it right when he did the fiddling while letting Rome do the burning.
[Eugene Cullen Kennedy is emeritus professor of psychology at Loyola University, Chicago.]
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Kennedy as ever is excellent
Kennedy as ever is excellent in writing this, including this keen observation: "It is worse now because it confounds the mystery of Time and Eternity in which Roman officials should have an interest even if they lack any understanding of them."
For clericalism led by a former theology professor whose first job by the good graces of Fr. Kung, their understanding of our FAith is horrifyingly shallow.
Let them all read Friar Boff's Passion of Christ; Passion of the World (1977), for starters, in prayer and contemplation and in a much welcomed silence.
Let's use it in a World Priest Day with indulgences for those who actually read it.
Why in Spain? The home of Franco's Opus Dei?
And not in the heart of our integral Liberation, Latin America . . .
Another window opened to the
Another window opened to the cold winds of a painful reality so many Catholics still refuse to face. Thank you Professor Kennedy for your wisdom, insight, and your courage.
It should come as no surprise that the Vatican factory so quick to churn out saints like gingerbread men rolling down the assembly line in time for Christmas would also stoop to grabbing more goodies from its seemingly bottomless sack of tricks intended to obfuscate, confuse, and deflect from widespread institutional sin, but indulgences?? LOL LOL. It's bad enough this papacy is so deaf and blind to the world around it, but to add a total lack of creativity to its long list of embarrassments and indignities really takes the cake. What a pathetic and destined-to-fail attempt to prop up the Vatican's sagging fortunes before an increasingly enlightened and informed Catholic laity demanding more and more answers from a Church more and more in a state of self-denial.
This corruption-riddled Church won't begin to repent and reverse a path toward perversion and perfidy until Benedict XVI has been forced into retirement by a great reform council which would have to be called by the bishops and College of Cardinals. Most probably against Benedict's will. He who can be judged by no man on earth and is beyond being tried before any court other than the Court of Heaven is being judged and found wanting. The pope should resign.
Dear Charles, You, among
Dear Charles,
You, among others, were my partners during my journey with NCR.
I'm just want to inform you (and the others) that I decided to live the Church today, after reading Mr. John Allen Jr report about the obnoxious Olympics of triumphalism and exaltation of the worse that you can find in secular/clerical politics.
I'm saying goodbye. I'll miss many of you. But I dont't find that is right to keep posting my comments after this decision.
Meanwhile, I'll count with my conscience to aid me to keep following Jesus, as always. I live an almost monastic life, and I have lot of ways to pray and to keep aiding the sane part of the Church that didn't betray the Gospel.
God bless you all
Manuel
Manuelito, no se vaya,
Manuelito, no se vaya, hermano
I really enjoy your comments here and have found your insight invaluable and a great relief. Don't let the SOB's cause us to leave Our Holy Mother Church; to whence can we leave, when she comes with us always, indelibly.
I have always fround great strength and wisdom in your comments and would miss them very much. Please continue to rage against the machine here, and for the Holy Spirit of God's equitable and transcendent Love.
yeah, hermit life is called for in this troubled time, and the desert, far from bishops, as in Egypt and Subiaco of old, but please, I need very much to hear your unique voice!
The next one will be in
The next one will be in Argentina, which is in Latin America.
home of the junta, and Evita
home of the junta, and Evita . . .
always with the wealthy right wing military dictators, like Franco.
Bring it the Cathedral in San Salvador, the home of our great Martyr of the Americas . . .
and Ita Ford too.
The Silence of the Kennedy
The Silence of the Kennedy leaves the next step to us as he wisely writes: "As part of the Reform of the Reform, this unfortunately rings like a church bell with associations of selling such indulgences during medieval times when bartering for grace and time off from Purgatory with cash scandalized Catholics and helped bring on the Reformation."
The ghosts of Marcial paying off Wojtyla for a lifetime of protection, empowerment, privilege and permission, with fullest, prideful indulgence, walks softly across these words, both dragging locks and chains more immeasurable than Marley's own.
Can a plenary indulgence card cut through such a heavy chain of molestation and concealment? These clerics hope and pray so, as they measure out their own.
The global church is in
The global church is in crisis, and the best this guy can think of is to tinker--counter-productively--with the liturgy and pass out "get out of purgatory" free cards. I remember how you looked on things with a mischievous sense of irony those many years ago at Glen Ellyn. We surely need that sense now. As Balzac said,"C'est a rire." As Lincoln said, "If I didn't laugh, I would cry."
Indulgences? Oh my gosh, what
Indulgences? Oh my gosh, what in the world is going on? Help!
What's going on? Another
What's going on? Another outflowing of the infinite mercy of Jesus Christ! That is, in the end, what indulgences are.
For a price, of course.
For a price, of course.
I'll take the 2 for 1 sale!
The "price" is to pray for
The "price" is to pray for the young people of the Church in general and those gathered at WYD in particular; to pray for the Holy Father, and to receive Holy Communion and make a good confession either before you pray or after.
Wow, what a price. Too bad prayer is so onerous to you.
Clint, does your copy of the
Clint, does your copy of the New Testament have exised the commandments of Jesus upon the Mount "Judge Not!"?
I only ask because the tone of most of your comments upn these pages might be read by the undiscerning as rather judgmental, while those of us who know and love you know this not to be so. I know that I myself too frequently type under the gun, sometimes nearly literally, and far too rushed, embarrassed later by my many typos and uncealr statements, with no means to correct, to revise, to amend.
Yet these words of yours: "Too bad prayer is so onerous to you." bear a judgment difficult to deny.
I shall continue to pray for you, my dear brother, as prayer enlightens and alleviates my troubled heart, the opposite of onerous, as "bearing one another's burdens, so we fulfill the Law of Christ."
Funny. . .I never read about
Funny. . .I never read about indulgences in the gospels or epistles.
Maybe it is time to start over.
You are correct about the
You are correct about the fact there is an eternal "outflowing of the infinite mercy of Jesus Christ," but the "Indulgences" of the Catholic Church have absolutely nothing to do with this sacred mystery. Like time and space, the outflowing of the infinite mercy of Jesus Christ just exists, not through legal, spiritual twists of the Catholic Church, but through the eternal, saving power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, our Messiah!
Pete the Greek, The world
Pete the Greek, The world cries out for answers and for accountability. Our Church is desperately in need of reform and a new direction--a refreshing of its iconic image. What isn't needed at the moment is passing out holy cards, publicity stunts in Spain completely out of place at this time of crisis, divulging incomplete evidence of Vatican wrongdoing to an American Federal judge, trinkets for the unquestioning pious supporters of Pope Benedict, and indulgences in place of repentence.
This entire Catholic "flash
This entire Catholic "flash mob" scene require a great deal of indulgence by so many people who actually recognize hype and nonsense when they see and hear it.
How sad! ... in too many way
How sad! ... in too many way to list!
I have a statue of the
I have a statue of the weeping Jesus; I believe I will be able to feel his tears tonight!
as usual by Dr. Kennedy, a
as usual by Dr. Kennedy, a well presented essay on the continuing 16th century approach to heaven...and.... "they" just don't get it ....I'm told that Ratzinger is a very intelligent man.... when did he lose it ?
And huge crowds of young
And huge crowds of young people will come to World Youth Day, while only old people read your columns anymore.
You mean B16 reads NCR? He
You mean B16 reads NCR? He should.
which is why you read it,
which is why you read it, Lourdes? Or do you comment without reading?
And then at some distant time
And then at some distant time in a different Church, the children of those lemmings who gleefully attended World Youth Day in Spain will ask: What in the world did you do with the Vatican Council?
Gene, in the a.m. when I read
Gene, in the a.m. when I read this CNS piece in US CATHOLIC I was actually stupified. I think I am still.
Today also John Allen mentioned how galling it is that we US catholics seem so much more concerned about internal issues than big concerns christianity vs a vs totalitarian regimes in the Middle East. Then this comes across the wires as important ....
Thanks for your blog. It helped me to see things a bit more sanely.
This pope gets worse and
This pope gets worse and worse with each passing day.
Indulgences?! They in fact make no sense and display a terrible lack of understanding of the nature of eternity from someone who purports to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. (Whatever that is supposed to mean).
Worse is coming soon.... Maryknoll Fr. Roy has got Tom Doyle to plead his case. He is going to argue primacy of conscience, which, indeed, does sadly need to be defended in this current atmosphere in the church and the fact that the ban on women's ordination is not an infallible teaching.
Ratsinger is going to do the unthinkable.... he will declare it an infallible teaching. And if priests throughout the world do not protest, I will with my feet, and get out of this sinking ship.
I klnew Ratsinger would do nothing but harm the moment I heard the sad news of his election.
God help us all......
I found a way to stop being
I found a way to stop being Roman and still be Catholic: http://toccusa.org/
I have to admit that Mass at the Basilica was glorious, but sharing a Eucharist where none are banned to support silly partisan politics is heavenly.
"The latest example is found
"The latest example is found in promising plenary indulgences to those who fulfill certain conditions when they attend World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 18-21. BUT WAIT -- as they say on infomercials -- partial indulgences are also available to those who pray appropriately during this gathering even if they cannot attend in person."
- I know Eugene is not an active priest now, but I now question if he ever really was.
I say this not out of malice, but his statement here is so lacking in understanding of not only Church history, but it also clings like a suckerfish on dirty fish tank glass to the idea that giving indulgences is somehow simony or, worse in his eyes, 'pre vatican II'.
I guess he never read INDULGENTIARUM DOCTRINA, published by Paul VI (you know, the guy that signed off on Vatican II).
So, for the last time everyone, please try to understand this.
VATICAN II DID NOT THORW OUT INDULGENCES.
Indulgences are granted for all sorts of things. For example:
- Through certain prayers ("The Enchiridion Indulgentiarium [collection of indulgenced prayers and works] is to be revised with a view to attaching indulgences only to the most important prayers and works of piety, charity and penance.")
- Going to Mass at the Church of a religious order on the feast day of a patron.
- Giving alms to the poor.
"As part of the Reform of the Reform ... By turning back to the concept of giving 'Get Out of Purgatory' cards to those who attend an event in time demonstrates how estranging to human experience this return to another age really is."
- Granting an indulgence for specific prayers, or preforming a specific act of charity, etc. IS NOT A REFORM OF THE REFORM. Doing so happened before Vatican II, DURING VATICAN II, and AFTER. It's not something old that they are trying to bring back. It never went away. Once again, NEVER, NOT AT ANY POINT has the 'post vatican II' church done away with Indulgences.
I would be able to take Eugene seriously if at some point he actually tried to KNOW what he was talking about before writing. Reading this is akin to reading some Fundamentalist Baptist preacher foaming that Catholics are cannibals who worship Mary as a god. His work displays what can only be described as extreme intellectual laziness.
You are th eone lacking any
You are th eone lacking any understanding if you question whether Eugene Kennedy was ever an active priest, and you show your complete ignorance of contemporary history in the Catholic Church and the great psycholgical reports prepared by Kennedy. He was very well known as an active priest. This is information you can not find on your blogs, do some real research. yes, we know the explaination of indulgences, that they were technically never "officially abrogated." Congratulations, you can use wikipedia. So can we. The reality is that they are absurd, as once we pass, we are no longer bound by time or constraints as we know them, the concept of "time off of purgatory" is absurd, because there is no time, as Kennedy said in this article. You will be hard pressed to find a priest who REALLY believes in these anachronisms, and I have never even met a seminarian beyond the level of college junior that takes these things seriously. Get off the internet, and into the real world. Read some theological journals or books (including some stuff Ratzinger wrote prior to his election as Pope...you will find that even he does not really believe in this nonsense.) Online blogs do not take the place of serious theological research.
Excellent points. Perhaps
Excellent points. Perhaps reading the Ratzinger before 1968 would give some people a much better idea of who this Pope actually is.
It's amazing how people are missing Kennedy's point about indulgences: selling time off from an eternal timeless reality is at best an oxymoron and at worst pure fraud.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I missed something. Where did
I missed something. Where did the Pope say one had to "pay" for the indulgences? I don't see any money changing hands here, just the Holy Father encouraging a gathering together in prayer with and for the the youth of the world. And, I'm a priest, and I do believe in this stuff. ("seminarian" must not have met too many priests) Are indulgences at the top of our belief system? Certainly not. However, there is a certain common sense that engaging in good works and prayer will certainly draw us closer to God and help us to come to a point of being "detached" from our sin and more "attached" to the Lord. It makes perfect sense to me.
"Where did the Pope say one
"Where did the Pope say one had to "pay" for the indulgences? I don't see any money changing hands here, just the Holy Father encouraging a gathering together in prayer with and for the the youth of the world."
For a supposedly educated 'priest' I wonder about your comment. 'Pay' can take many forms--it is an exchange, 'you give me this and I'll give you that' for example, "Pope Benedict decreed that World Youth Day participants can receive a plenary indulgence if they participate with prayerful devotion in any sacred event or "pious exercise" as well as attend the closing Mass, receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist and offer prayers for the pope's intentions." So the Pope wants, 'prayerful devotion' or 'pious exercise' 'attendance at the closing Mass' participation in the 'sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist' AND 'prayers for the pope's intentions' IN EXCHANGE FOR ' a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven'....which as Mr. Kennedy and other posters has pointed out is worse than useless. However the more distressing concern is the attempt by Uncle Benny to inculcate the youth with a mindset and image of God that that is utterly un-biblical. That somehow we can barter with God; that God is keeping score. Try reading some of the gospel stories where Jesus interacts with people; notice how many times he offers indulgences especially if they were really 'prayerful' and 'devout'!!
Read the story of the publican, who must have been really devout, and he goes home justified (Lk. 18:11). Try the Prodigal son in Lk. 15. Try the woman in last weeks readings--not even Jewish--Jesus should have had her convert to Judaism first and then to "Catholicism" so that she could get some indulgences!!!! Or maybe you are familiar with the 'good thief' story where scholars recently discovered a lost saying of Jesus, He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. Oh, wait, you have some Purgatory time due, let's see, you've got 643 days accumulated less your 'ingulgences'. (uh,shoot, I knew there was something I forgot to tell Peter) Uh, they haven't been 'invented' yet--oops, so bummer for you--see ya when I see ya"
Cheers,
Yes, it almost makes one
Yes, it almost makes one wonder what sinister forces twisted this once forward looking protege of Father Kung. Pray he has the courage to re-emerge.
I've read just yesterday some
I've read just yesterday some quotes from Ratzinger, the Vatican II theologian, and I was amazed: It's like Dr Jekill before transforming into Mr Hyde. Nowadays, he will deny himself the right to teach theology.
I'd have to say Pete the
I'd have to say Pete the Greek is pretty much on the money in his last paragraph. Unfortunately, Mr. Kennedy does give a strong impression that he doesn't understand what he is criticizing. His being a priest (now laicized) makes it disturbing; invincible ignorance can’t be invoked in this case.
After you get past the unchecked, overt racism in Mr. Kennedy’s second paragraph, it becomes quite clear that he doesn’t understand the basics of what an indulgence actually is. As is evident in your own reply, you both fall into projecting on others what YOU ‘think’ they believe, not what they actually do.
Much of Mr. Kennedy’s article reads like something between “The Trail of Blood” and a Chick tract with a sprinkle of urban myth. It is brimming with the falsehood and superstitious belief of people that credulously passed on ideas that were never actually taught. More troubling than this actually being true is that Mr. Kennedy seems to believe that others adhere to what he supposes they do, particularly the pope himself!
It’s quite clear who is in reality and who is not.
You are all essentially participating in the continuation of a false belief instead of the valid teaching itself! The biggest blunder is the incorrect association of indulgences being intrinsically tied to the state of purgation (Purgatory). Once acknowledging that correction, nothing much holds up in the rest of the article.
Indulgences are first and foremost related to our earthly penance. We can freely give our indulgences to the Holy Souls through prayer if we wish. But this is applied to the alleviation of their suffering and has nothing to do with any measure of time (never has).
Although Mr. Kennedy can’t seem to purge himself of the superstitious and pretend believe of indulgences and Purgatory as conjoined twins, Pete, obviously aware of correct teaching, only mentions indulgences and never insinuates Purgatory; this is because he knows that if Mr. Kennedy truly understood his subject matter, he too would never have acquainted the two to deviously insinuate silly folk belief is perpetuated by Pope Benedict.
Your attack Pete stating “we know the explaination [sic] of indulgences, that they were technically never "ʽofficially abrogated.ʼ" [sic] (‘technically never’? How about just ‘never’). But it is very clear Mr. Kennedy does not know this. He specifically writes as if indulgences were a false abandoned teaching being revived as some type of diversionary tactic. Your own post is also clear in your ignorance of indulgences, what they are, and their history. Instead, your post is predominantly about Purgatory, not indulgences. What you mention is hardly anything new or modern in what the Church has always believed. In his writings, the former Cardinal Ratzinger simply reiterated what can be traced all the way back to the “Summa” of St. Thomas Aquinas (and touched on much further back than that).
Most puzzling is the perceived lack of attention being paid, particularly by many who often think they’re “more in tune and aware.” Not only have indulgences, plenary and partial, consistently remained part of Church teaching and practice, they’ve been freely and publicly given by all modern popes (except for probably John Paul I, I think). This is third time a plenary has been granted for WYD. It was also granted for WYD 2005 and 2008.
Pete the Greek stated,
Pete the Greek stated, "VATICAN II DID NOT THROW OUT INDULGENCES." But Pete, the PEOPLE OF GOD DID THROW OUT INDULGENCES, as being just so much nonsense! Pete, we all know the position of Vatican II, but we also see that position as irrelevant. We simply DO NOT CARE!
Now back to clericalism, and the failure of the Church to properly control pedophile priests, and those popes and bishops who covered for them. Let the Church focus totally on the sexual corruption problem; and when they solve it, we'll have leisure time for abstract academic theological puzzle contests.
we all know the position of
we all know the position of Vatican II, but we also see that position as irrelevant. We simply DO NOT CARE!
Exactly, and herein lies my major difficulty with Prof. Cullen Kennedy's writings. He attributes some great importance to Vatican II, constantly citing it and misinterpreting its statements, when, in actual fact, the Council achieved little in the way of positive change. A complete misunderstanding of its documents on liturgy resulted in the vandalisation of beautiful churches, and the abolition of a majestic liturgy, which opened the doors to a transcendental experience of the supernatural. The real changes that the faithful sought, a re-examination of the misguided teachings on sex and sexuality, never happened, and the whole Catholic Woodstock was a waste of time and a betrayal of the depth and breadth of vision of the only twentieth century pope who deserves the title of 'The Great', John XXIII, a conservative but kind and holy man for whom, despite his personal views, no topic was off limits for discussion.
But the council docs
But the council docs basically follow Bl John XXIII's vision, as he articulated it. Read his encyclicals. You can even read his correspondence, speeches etc on the Vatican website. They are pretty much all in either Italian or Latin, but you can wash them through the Google translator. This results in some stilted language, but the text will still be totally understandable.
Truly a wise and holy pontiff.
If you read what I wrote, you
If you read what I wrote, you will find that I share your admiration for John XXIII. Again I ask, however, what did Vatican II really achieve?
Yes, there were a lot of theological niceties, and the misguided vandalisation of beautiful churches and liturgies, but did it tackle any real issues of importance to real people? I say it didn't.
Actually, I think I misread
Actually, I think I misread your post and somehow combined yours and the one you were responding to.
Pete pronounces: "Truly a
Pete pronounces: "Truly a wise and holy pontiff."
especially in Pacem in Terris, declaring our Faith pacifist, absolutely.
You obviously didn't read
You obviously didn't read that one. That's not what it says at all.
Further, nowhere in any encyclical does it say that absolutist pacifism is necessary for eternal salvation.
Try again. Or rather, read first before you claim that a document says what you claim it says.
My dearest Greek brother, I
My dearest Greek brother, I have studied PACEM IN TERRIS carefully since our Blessed pontiff John XXIII proclaimed his pacifist treatise, particularly from the beginning with the aid of our highly skilled and insightful commentators in the then published version of our beloved National Catholic Reporter whose birth falls nearly contemporary with this glorious and true pacifist document, sane, safe and saintly.
Thank you very much for your encouragement to touch once more this cornerstone of our Faith in practice through peaceful nonviolence in our modern world. I believe it is indeed some months, unfortunately that I have examined PACEM IN TERRIS carefully for lectio divina, and perhaps this is what I shall once more select, lacking who selects for me, for Advent reading this year. Thank you very much for selecting this pacifist document for me, in fact, as preparation of the coming of the Prince of Peace, declaring again this Christmas PEACE ON EARTH!
PAX TECUM
and DEO GRATIAS for once more unfolding so clearly our Gospel of Peace and the absolute necessity for us to walk in peace and to practice peace at all times and in every occasion absolutely on our pilgrim journey to the REign of God.
If no one cares about
If no one cares about indulgences why did this Kennedy chap get so worked up about the pope offering some new ones?
And why are there now two pages of comments following an blog post about a subject no one cares about?
I know, I know, old people like to moan so you'll moan about anything the pope does, but all this hot air about him attaching an indulgences to prayer and a pilgrimage is ridiculous, even by NCR standards.
Sorry, that should be some
Sorry, that should be some old people moan all the time. Most are actually quite pleasant.
How do you define the 'people
How do you define the 'people of God'?
actually pete writes:
actually pete writes: "VATICAN II DID NOT THORW OUT INDULGENCES" and left me wondering whether Odin heard of this . . .
or had VII failed to thaw out the frozen indulgences . . .
Nobody - not the men in Rome,
Nobody - not the men in Rome, not the pope, not any human being nor any human institution - has the right to arrogantly try to usurp that which belongs to God alone.
How dare they?
The arrogance and pridefulness of a human church pretending that it can shorten "temporal" punishment time through granting indulgences for various rituals and rote prayers is borderline idolatry. Vatican II did not "get rid" of indulgences as you noted--unfortunately. But, they weren't mentioned in "polite" company either until the turn back to midaevil thinking and superstition began under John Paul II, accelerating under the current pope. It's time these prideful men remember that THEY are not God.
Nobody - not the men in Rome,
Nobody - not the men in Rome, not the pope, not any human being nor any human institution - has the right to arrogantly try to usurp that which belongs to God alone. How dare they? The arrogance and pridefulness of a human church pretending that it can shorten "temporal" punishment time through granting indulgences for various rituals and rote prayers is borderline idolatry.
I have grave misgivings about the whole idea of Purgatory, let alone indulgences, but I would beware of making dogmatic statements like the above. Let's remember Christ's alleged words to Peter in Matthew 16:19:
"I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven."
Now if we accept that the pope is the successor of Peter, and the veracity of the above quotation, the pope has some pretty awesome powers both on earth and in heaven.
That is assuming it was meant
That is assuming it was meant to be "passed on".
Note what Christ said:
To you Peter I give...
Christ DIDN'T say:
To you Peter and your decendents I give...
Most Eastern Orthodox Churches feel this way, given to Peter ONLY.
So, and forgive me if I
So, and forgive me if I misunderstand you, what you appear to be saying is that the whole church (assuming Jesus intended to found one in the first place) was to come to an end with the death of Peter?
Just while I'm here, and please bear in mind that, as I have stated already, I have grave misgivings about the whole indulgence thing, there seems to be a lot of misinformation about the idea behind indulgences being promulgated in a lot of posts. Indulgences were never supposed to buy you out of Hell; they were to shorten your time in Purgatory, a temporary state, and Purgatory is something I have serious doubts about also.
There is a significant
There is a significant difference between retaining indulgences for specific reasons or actions, and pushing them.
It is only recently that I have experienced anyone actively pushing them, and the example cited is one. Since the end of VII, if one wished to take advantage of certain indulgences, one was certainly welcome to do that. They were not marketed aggressively
Andy Jo
"VATICAN II DID NOT THORW OUT
"VATICAN II DID NOT THORW OUT INDULGENCES" However, the system of indulgences was de-emphasized. Good works, service and prayer is done because it is right, certainly not to "get" something in return. Doing what Jesus asked us to do, out of love, is what it is all about. That is what was taught to us and our children these 40 plus years.
Thanks for your comment,
Thanks for your comment, Barbie. For a long time I have, actually, found it very troubling just how the marketing of doing good works is promoted by promising gaining something for oneself. It, at best, discourages and, at worst, destroys the true nature of what it means to be "good". It, actually, make it more difficult to nature the unselfish charity that lies within our own souls that we are called to cultivate.
Pete the Greek, Indulgences
Pete the Greek, Indulgences never made sense and they make even less sense to a theologically educated Catholic community despite what the Church pretends.So you go line up for your indulgence card and I will go out and minister to the homeless, feed the hungry and visit the imprisoned to serve the God who loves all people.
"So you go line up for your
"So you go line up for your indulgence card and I will go out and minister to the homeless"
- Why do you think it is 'either/or'? Why not both? Do you know that you can gain an indulgence by visiting the Blessed Sacrament and spending time in prayer?
"I know Eugene is not an
"I know Eugene is not an active priest now, but I now question if he ever really was. I say this not out of malice . . ." but compare him to fish bait?
As I, my dear Peter, doubt you have ever been a practicing Roman Catholic, as you are obviously unaware of this excellent series from the Reverend Father Eugene Kennedy, MM for the Saint Anthony Messenger Press, recently reprinted:
Would You Like to Be a Catholic?
and his several other inspiring treatises for the Saint Anthony Messenger Press, recently reprinted (and can you get any more mainstream even in our deeply polarized church, than the Saint Anthony Messenger Press?)
Obviously Saint Anthony considers Kennedy an excellent gate keeper on this matter.
Here is the product description:
"Well-known author on the Catholic faith and spiritual topics, Eugene Kennedy offers a resource ideal for parishes or individuals to give to people who have expressed interest in becoming a Catholic. Kennedy follows the inner experience of the interested person and expresses that faith without slighting it in terms of the family that Catholicism is. He explores Catholicism as a people and a mystery more than as an organization with answers. Being a Catholic means being responsible for knowing, living by and sharing freely the family s beliefs, teachings and traditions. Eucharist is feeding the family. Sacraments are family feasts and feats. Kennedy invites seekers to join the family called the Catholic church"
See also from 1985 the prophetic: Re-Imagining American Catholicism, The American Bishops and their Pastoral Letters.
Clearly you, and Clint, need to reflect deeply upon The Challenge of Peace from that time . . .
pete arrogantly, ignorantly
pete arrogantly, ignorantly opines: "I would be able to take Eugene seriously if at some point he actually tried to KNOW what he was talking about before writing."
Kindly do a quick search of titles written in fact by this authority on our Catholicism dating back to the Sixties, and the respect his writing over these many decades was earned for him, before so facilely and ignorantly dismissing his fruitful, Grace-filled, wise opus.
For instance, see the amazon.com page for
The Now and Future Church:The Psychology of Being an American Catholic
Would You Like to Be a Catholic?
Tomorrow's Catholics Yesterday's Church: The Two Cultures of American Catholicism
Cardinal Bernardin's Stations of the Cross: How His Dying Reflects the Mysteries of Loss and Grief
What A Modern Catholic Believes About Marriage
Blogging Towards Bethlehem: Discovering the Eternal in the Seasons of Ordinary Time
9-11: Meditations at the Center of the World
Cardinal Bernardin: Easing Conflicts - And Battling for the Soul of American Catholicism
Re-Imagining American Catholicism
and countless others too numerous to list.
Restore your Faith
Read his books.
Bizarre. What if I can't
Bizarre. What if I can't participate but I make a donation...
If I would believe in
If I would believe in indulgences -which I don't- I already had redeemed me centuries of plenary indulgences if they are cumulative. I received hundreds of times thousands of them during my childhood, while attending Catholic school. It was more than half a century ago; I had almost forgotten even the word. I remember we used to laugh about indulgences and sins, and going to the next event to avoid Purgatory. (Very pious!)
Are the Vatican officials and the Pope himself, resurrecting the concept of forgiving time in purgatory? Which is their concept of eternity? Does God have watches and calendars in Heaven, meaning that time will exist as it is on earth? Absurd, as many unbelievable sins of the church in recent decades…
"As part of the Reform of the Reform, this unfortunately rings like a church bell with associations of selling such indulgences during medieval times when bartering for grace and time off from Purgatory with cash scandalized Catholics and helped bring on the Reformation", said the article’s author.
They promise what no one on earth, -not even the Pope- can guarantee. Eternity is an intangible reality. We believe in it by faith. Yes, the Pope and the entire Hierarchy also believe it by faith. Time in eternity can not be sold or granted by any clerical prerogative.
Or is this an infallible ex-cathedra dogma we forgot? Are we supposed to believe in indulgences if hoping to see God in glory?
I'll pray for the youth and their future in a humble, inclusive, loving and pastoral Church.
There is a certain validation
There is a certain validation for the idea of purgatory as a state or place if we consider the question of justice. I would not spend much time bothering with this, but it is a notable idea and I do not think the question will evern be solved. That is as long as we believe in an afterlife.
Purgatory, however like hell implies that not all is equal on the other side of death. That is one of the reasons why both hell and purgatory are not in vogue in our time.
Let us take a question. Let us say that Princess Diana and Mother Theresa both died in grace, and I suspect and hope that both did. Is it unreasonable to suspect that their remaining consciousness situations may be somewhat different after death?
Kennedy usually has a
Kennedy usually has a thought-provoking point to make but, all too often (as in this this case),his one sided irritation weakens his case. Sure, we can all stand and howl at the bishops, that's easy. How about constructive criticism? You might find that the message begins to get through.
Nemo dat quod non habet.
Nemo dat quod non habet.
"200 portable confessionals
"200 portable confessionals will be set up for confessions that begin Aug. 14" ?
I can't even post a comment to this...!!
All I can think of is: how many innocent kids will be vulnerable to this..?
btw.. how much do these indulgences cost?
What, pray tell, is wrong
What, pray tell, is wrong with confessionals? As I'm sure you already know, sins both mortal and venial separate us from God. Confession, and absolution, restore us to a state of grace and bring us closer to Christ. Last time I checked, growing closer to Jesus is a good thing.
Given the distressing decline in numbers of those attending the sacrament of reconciliation in recent years, I think that a return to the confessional—particularly amongst youth that are enthusiastic about their faith—is a most excellent and holy thing. Perhaps it can serve as a reminder to us all.
GB
PORT-A-FESS? http://www.euron
PORT-A-FESS?
http://www.euronews.net/2011/08/17/priests-to-forgive-abortion-at-pope-y...
PORT-A-CON?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/world/europe/16madrid.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/09/spain-priest-oppose-pope-visit
200 port-o-potties would be
200 port-o-potties would be far more useful, as discovered at Woodstock.
This is after all merely an Opus Dei rockathon with all the fixings.
and all the profits to the "right" pockets.
As a victim of sexual abuse
As a victim of sexual abuse by a priest,thank you for getting it.
Thank you Dr. Kennedy, for
Thank you Dr. Kennedy, for your comments. Among other things you wrote: "Time, with its sorrows, has a meaning for sex abuse victims because there is no time in the human unconscious; it is always NOW. That means that a wound that was seemingly inflicted on a certain date breaks free of the calendar's grip and is always as fresh in the victim as the moment it was inflicted. There is not statute of limitations for victims and their suffering, no plenary or partial indulgences to relieve them of their wounds."
.
This is a key concept of human personhood and the complexity of the human mind, soul and body (much of which is outside of the conscious control of the will), that is entirely lost on the Vatican and its prelates. There is no statutory limit or "ancient history" for multifaceted injury done to the immortal soul of the victim — there is no way to 'un-ring' that bell — a part of the victim will never be the same or "good as new" no matter how much 'healing' progress they make. There is no absolution or indulgence or any other ecclesial "fix-it" or "undo". The arrogance of clericalism presumes "binding and loosing" to give license to all manner of privilege and exceptionalism, including abuse and/or enabling abuse, and then attempting to erase the sordid mess like so much chalk from a chalk board as if it never happened... just because these men said so. They continue to minimize their culpability and outright lie to cover their tracks. Read another update from Kansas City-St. Joseph which shows the duplicity of Finn's "apologies" — it's the same old pattern of enabling and obfuscation around the globe. It's not over — it's NOW — and for the victims it will always be now.
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/09/3067899/federal-child-porn-charges-...
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/11/3071599/another-suit-accuses-ratiga...
.
Given hierarchical criminal malfeasance and institutional self-protectionism, WYD and associated indulgences appear to be little more than bribery — 'look at the goodies we will bestow for the next life if laity will fall in line, applaud our love of youth, and ignore the atrocities being committed in this life'.
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