Indulgences

 BASIC R.C.BELIEF

Dr. Ludwig Ott, in FUNDAMENTALS OF CATHOLIC DOGMA, page 441, states, "By an indulgence (indulgentia) is understood the extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment of sin remaining after the forgiveness of the guilt of sin. This remission is valid in the sight of God, and it is granted by the Church out of Her treasury of satisfaction.

"The remission in whole or in part of the temporal punishment due for sins which have been forgiven. The gaining of these and other credits is necessary because the Sacrament of Penance doesn't fully satisfy for punishment due.

"To gain an indulgence, one must be in a state of grace (free from mortal sin) and perform whatever work is required for the indulgence. "The remission is made by applying some of the Treasury of Merit which the Church possesses. The indulgence is a transfer of merit from one to another and offers a lessening of Purgatory."

Plenary indulgences remit all temporal punishment; partial indulgences remit a portion of this punishment.

The application of indulgences to departed souls is admitted by Catholic writers to be of recent date.

The misuse of indulgences to finance St. Peter's was one of the first Roman Catholic practices attacked by Martin Luther.

An indulgenced prayer is one which, when recited, gains an indulgence.

POST VATICAN II

More progressive Roman Catholics today are not so strictly bound to practice the gaining of indulgences, though many think it will help them on the road toward Heaven.

The encyclical INDULGENTARIUM DOCTRINA (1/1/67) gave new laws concerning indulgences. Determining the value of partial indulgences using days and years is abolished. The number of plenary indulgences has been reduced, and they are no longer to be attached to things and places. Paul VI admitted some misuse in the past, but re-affirmed the basic Roman Catholic concept of indulgences as outlined in the definition above.

From the Wanderer, Catholic Replies, 10/6/94. "Let's review the Church's teaching on indulgences, using as a guide paragraphs 1471- 1479 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due to sins that have already been forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance. This temporal punishment exists because every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in a state called Purgatory. Indulgences are obtained through he Church, which opens to us the treasury of merits of Christ and the saints. The remission can be plenary or partial, depending on whether it removes all or only some of the temporal punishment attached to sin. The indulgence can be applied to the person performing the works of devotion, penance, and charity or to a soul in Purgatory.

"According to Pope Paul VI's 1967 Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences, the conditions for obtaining a plenary indulgence are: the person must be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin; must perform the indulgenced work as perfectly as possible; and, within several days before or after doing so, must receive sacramental Confession and Eucharistic Holy Communion, and offer prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father. One Our Father and one Hail Mary would satisfy the latter requirement.

"A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day and, if each condition is not fulfilled perfectly, the indulgence gained will only be partial. The number of indulgenced works and prayers was reduced by Paul VI in his 1968 Enchiridion Indulgentiarum to about 70. Some of these are good works, such as acts of charity for those in need, but most of them are traditional prayers and devotions. The previous practice of attaching a certain number of days or years to a specific task is no longer in effect."

FROM THE INTERNET

http://www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/faq-cc.html

The so-called selling of indulgences positively did not involve any "selling" -- it involved the granting of the spiritual favor of an indulgence in return for the giving of alms to the Church for the building of Christendom's greatest house of prayer -- St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. One must understand with regard to indulgences that there are always two acts to be fulfilled by the one gaining the indulgence: 1) doing the deed, e.g., almsgiving and 2) saying of some prescribed prayers. In the case in point, the first act for gaining the indulgence was "giving alms." If the almsgiver thereafter failed to say the requisite prayers, he would not receive the indulgence because he had failed to fulfill both required acts. The indulgences therefore were not "sold"; the very giving of money was itself the first of two requisite acts for gaining the indulgence in question.

COMMENT:

Priest John Hardon, a respected conservative, in his CATHOLIC CATECHISM writes, "As the church extended the mitigation, i.e., indulgence, in the form of equivalent prayers and good works, abuses crept in, and by the sixteenth century they had become the focus of justifiable criticism. `Unfortunately,' admitted Paul VI, `the practice of indulgences has at times been improperly used either through "untimely and superfluous indulgences" by which the power of the keys was humiliated and penitential satisfaction weakened, or through the collection of "illicit profits" by which indulgences were blasphemously defamed.' The Pontiff was paraphrasing the Council of Trent in its own denunciation of the `traffic of indulgences' that helped provoke the Reformation."

"Holy Year" Indulgences

On November 29, 1998, pope John Paul II issued a document, "The Mystery of the Incarnation," with an appendix explaining how Catholics can obtain indulgences.

The church will offer a plenary (full) indulgence during the coming Holy Year (December 24, 1999 to January 6, 2001). The requirements are much simpler than ever before, and their simplicity provoked displeasure from Catholic liberals. They see in this decree a return to "a calculating, egocentric approach to Christian destiny, where an individual is concerned primarily with the accumulation of spiritual `credits' " (Richard McBrien, "Roman Catholicism").

While gaining a plenary indulgence during a Holy Year used to demand visiting one of the four major basilicas in Rome, this part of the penitential rite may be satisfied by visiting one of the cathedrals or other churches throughout the world designated by the local bishop.

It is always, as usual, necessary to have gone or to go to Confession and Communion during the last seven days or in the proceeding seven days. An act of penance was always demanded, but during this Holy Year this can be met by one of the following:

(1) Visiting people in need or in difficulty, and making a profession of faith and reciting the Lord's Prayer or a Marian prayer.

(2) Abstaining for at least a whole day from unnecessary consumption, such as drinking alcohol or smoking, and giving the money saved to the poor.

(3) Giving a "significant contribution" to religious or social works or

(4) Devoting time to activities benefiting the community

CHRISTIAN COMMENT: INDULGENCES

by Alex Dunlap

We oppose the R. C. doctrine of Indulgences for the following reasons:

1. It is utterly impossible for any person to make satisfaction to God for sin. Only the satisfaction rendered by Christ in His obedience and death satisfies the justice of God (Hebrews 7:24-28; I John 1:9; Isaiah 53:11.)

2. Indulgences are productive of evil in that they embolden men to sin, because they believe them to be an easy ways to escape from sin's consequences. It is commonly received by Catholics themselves that as long as they attend Mass, confess to a Priest, and perform the prescribed penance, that they can do anything they desire. This may not be the teaching concerning Indulgences, but it is the fruit of it.

3. Indulgences are nothing more than simony - selling the free mercy of God and making merchandise of the precious blood of Christ. Acts 8:18-24; Jude 11.

4. Peter, the first Pope according to Romanists, foretold this mark of apostasy, that "false teachers should bring in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them, who through covetousness should make merchandise of you; whose judgment now for a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." II Peter 2:1-3

5. Salvation, the forgiveness of sin, and the remission of sin cannot be earned by human merit, or bought or sold for money.

6. Christ never granted or sold Indulgences to any one.

7. The Scriptures no where teach that there is a treasury of human merit, which can be put to the account of another, like the transfer of a bank account.

8. Since no such treasury exists, it naturally follows that the granting of Indulgences by a Pope or anyone else is absurd, deceptive, and a vain delusion.

9. Indulgences blind the consciences of men to the "exceeding sinfulness of sin" and its dreadful consequences; causes them to ignore their responsibility to God, and the only way to escape from condemnation through true repentance toward God and faith in the perfect merits of Jesus Christ. Php 3:8-9

10. The Apostles and early churces never heard of Papal Indulgences, never granted any, and would have scoffed at the idea had it been suggested to them.

11. Whoever grants Indulgences usurps the place of Almighty God, who alone can pardon and forgive sin and remit the punishment due to sin.

12. Indulgences insult the Lord Jesus Christ by offering a counterfeit substitute for His eternal and perfect satisfaction.

13. Indulgences have caused untold scandal in the world, and have brought undeserved shame, ridicule, and contempt on true Christianity.

14. Indulgences have cruelly robbed and deceived the poor and left them, with a false hope, to die in their sins.

15. Indulgences are but another addition by the Papacy to the system of "Sacramental" salvation.

16. It is utterly impossible for any human being to remit the temporal punishment due to sin, all Catholic claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

17. Christians are not redeemed in whole or in part by the sufferings of holy men or Saints, but by the precious blood of Christ alone (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12; I Peter 1:18,19; Romans 5:9).

Every Christian should keep in mind forevermore that only God can forgive sin, or remit any part of the punishment due to sin. He alone is the Redeemer and Judge of His people.

See: ENCHIRIDION OF INDULGENCES. NORMS AND GRANTS, AUTHORIZED ENGLISH EDITION

Translated by William T. Barry C.SS.R. from the second revised Edition of the "Enchiridion Indulgentiarum" issued by the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, 1968"