Year of St. Paul Special Indulgences
Following the decree announcing special indulgences for the jubilee year honoring the 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul the Apostle from the Holy See, Archbishop George Niederauer has recently announced opportunities to receive indulgences locally. While one hopes that such an announcement would be warmly received, the opposite is often the case. Connected to the doctrine and practice of indulgences are unfamiliar terminology, an often-misunderstood theology, a history of abuse, and a detailed set of conditions. At their core, however, indulgences are about a bountiful gift of God's mercy received because one has united himself or herself more closely to Jesus Christ and the communion of saints. This is most appropriate for a jubilee!
Terminology and theology
Is it easier to understand the phrase "lingering consequences" instead of "temporal punishments" or "perturbation in the universal order"? The terminology often used to explain indulgences is the most theologically accurate, but it is unfamiliar to many. So here's a quick glossary before we dive into the definition:
• Remission: relief or cancellation
• Expiation: making amends
• Temporal punishment: (see above)
• Plenary: full
The Church's authoritative definition of an indulgence is: "... a remission before God of the temporal punishment for sins, whose guilt is forgiven, which a properly disposed member of the Christian faithful obtains under certain and clearly defined conditions through the intervention of the Church, which, as the minister of Redemption, dispenses and applies authoritatively the treasury of the expiatory works of Christ and the saints." (Manual of Indulgences, norm 1).
A couple of key points: First, an indulgence is granted to one who is properly disposed to receive it, which eliminates me if I just think of it as a free pass because I go through the motions correctly. In the case of a plenary indulgence, not only does the proper disposition include having received absolution of sins through the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation), but one must be "truly repentant" and in a "spirit of total detachment from any inclination to sin."
We receive an indulgence through God's mercy when we are truly turning our lives around - away from sin and toward the Gospel. That's a great offer, but it's not like we're picking it up at the bargain bin. The Church, as steward of Christ's promises of mercy, extends the pledge of mercy through the indulgence granted, but ultimately it is God who judges each person's heart to determine true contrition.
Second, indulgences are about being freed from punishments that we may justly deserve either in this life or the next because of the sins we have committed up to the present. They are not a means of having sins forgiven, which requires repentance and confession. They also do not apply to punishment for sins we might commit in the future.
Abuse and correction
Indulgences can be difficult to explain because they bring to mind abuses in the Church's history. In the early centuries of Christianity, long penances could be imposed for those who had publicly sinned. But because, as Pope Benedict XVI has explained, "in the spiritual field, everything belongs to everyone," it was accepted that others could take on the penance of another through the traditional means of prayer, fasting or almsgiving. However, in the days of the early Renaissance, when Pope Julian II offered an indulgence to those who contributed alms for the restoration of St. Peter's Basilica, the corruption surrounding that particular offer and others like it was a contributing cause for Protestant reformers.
Ultimately, the Church has made two notable changes in the discipline of indulgences. These changes brought them away of the error of spiritual bean counting and toward true contrition, love for Christ, and concern for others' salvation. First, the Council of Trent prohibited any collection of money in connection with an indulgence. Second, the Church no longer assigns a determination of days or years to a partial indulgence.
Conditions
The detailed conditions that are attached to indulgences also make sound-bite explanations very difficult. The conditions are meant to ensure that superstition, ignorance and irreverence surrounding the discipline of indulgences are avoided. Connected to the Pauline Year plenary indulgence is a pilgrim visit to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls of Rome or one of the local churches named by our Archbishop for a public devotion or liturgy in honor of St. Paul.
Also required are the usual conditions of 1) reception of Holy Communion; 2) sacramental confession and absolution within a week of the pilgrim visit and 3) praying the Lord's Prayer and the Creed and offering prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father. Like a canopy over all of these concrete acts is the condition of total detachment from any inclination to sin, something that can judged by God alone.
Archbishop Niederauer has also announced that a partial indulgence may be gained for praying the Pauline Year Prayer for the intention of Christian unity in one of six designated churches in the Archdiocese. These plenary and partial indulgence grants last until the end of the Pauline Year on June 29, 2009.
Accommodation for the homebound
The indulgences offered on the occasion of the Jubilee Year of St. Paul are connected to pilgrim visits to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls of Rome or other local churches. But those who are unable to make these visits for good reasons are not excluded from the opportunity. If they have within their hearts the proper disposition (true contrition and detachment from any inclination to sin), if they join a jubilee celebration in honor of St. Paul in spirit and offer their prayers to God for Christian unity, and if they have the intention of fulfilling the usual conditions (sacramental confession and reception of Holy Communion) as soon as possible, then the plenary indulgence is also given to them.
(By Patrick Vallez-Kelly
Patrick Vallez-Kelly directs the archdiocesan Office of Worship)
