Pope Benedict XVI has recently authorized special indulgences to be granted and several dioceses around the U.S. are promoting the granting of indulgences. The last time most folks heard about indulgences was in their Western Civ. section on Renaissance and Reformation, and they are wondering if indulgences are anything like the Scouts giving merit badges, or a "get out of jail free" card in Monopoly.
Nor are indulgences like the T-shirts fired from a cannon during Gonzaga basketball game time outs, the prize possession of those who yell and grab with great skill. The matter of indulgence carries much greater seriousness. It's no board game. The resurfacing of this spiritual practice, however, has been getting some press these days. Handsomely scripted, indulgences are granted to repentant sinners, who receive the graced guarantee that their afterlife will see a reduction or elimination of suffering after they have done certain good deeds. Could it be that the Catholic Church is giving into that part in us that loves a merit badge, or to avarice of a spiritual nature? In the words of the cast of Seinfeld: "What's up with indulgences?"
Indulgences are a part of the devotional life of the Catholic Church, with complicated roots in tradition and Scripture. One can receive an indulgence for receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation and for doing some deeds that communicate the effects of reconciliation, like praying, participating in Eucharistic adoration or making a pilgrimage. Indulgences are the Church's public or official way of recognizing that a person has confessed their sins and performed certain actions attached to an indulgence. There are partial indulgences, which reduce the penalty of sin in the afterlife and plenary indulgences, which eliminate the penalty of sin. In days of old, clerics tabulated how many days out of purgatory your indulgence would get you out of the penalty box.
Nearly five hundred years ago, indulgences were likened to a redemption certificate turned in by a hockey player who, on his way to the afterlife's penalty box, could knock minutes off his time in the penalty box. Martin Luther protested against indulgences and a widespread abuse of the Church selling indulgences. He argued rightly. Too many were preoccupied with two things: 1, a privatized notion of what grace could do for them; 2, a messed up notion that a believer could buy one's way into heaven and not pay attention to how one lived on earth.
The Church no longer sells indulgences, but some of the excesses, misunderstandings and historical abuses related to indulgences paint this practice of the Church as an act of spiritual greed: "Look what I get - time out of purgatory." The Church of this model is more of a spiritual scoutmaster or penalty box timekeeper and less of a community of disciples. This is not what this Church needs nor what most young people I know want. However, there is a hunger by many Catholic for Catholic traditions that strengthen their religious identity.
Why did Pope Benedict revive this practice? The presenting reason is that 2008-09 is the Pauline Year. The Church is celebrating 2,000 years since the birth of St. Paul and the Vatican decided to award a special indulgence for those who purify their inner life, honor St. Paul and are moved to do good for others. Some Church officials are taking the Pauline Year indulgence to address their concern that Catholics don't avail themselves of the Sacrament of reconciliation. Indulgences are expressions of the Church efforts to affirm and promote that reconciliation calls for faith and good works - not faith OR good works.
The Church may want its members to confess more regularly, but indulgences seem far from the spiritual frame of reference for most people today. Resurrecting the practice of granting indulgences does raise the genuinely good question, "how can the Church connect believers to a regular and healthy practice of purifying themselves, so as to make more room for God and neighbor?" Does the kind of certainty that indulgences carry help believers mature in their faith? If people are more concerned about the Church getting them out of the penalty box in the afterlife than with being closer to God and neighbor in this life, then they have already missed Jesus' message about forgiveness.
Here's a link about indulgences from the US Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccbpublishing.org/client/client_pdfs/07-001BI.pdf
Fr. Mark McGregor is a Gonzaga University Jesuit priest.
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