“Why are we bringing it back?” asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. “Because there is sin in the world.”
The sale of indulgences has been outright banned since the 16th century. However, the article indicates that the church will be more likely to grant an indulgence to those who make donations to the church - which isn't technically selling, I suppose...but...well...ya' know.
There are, however, other ways ot be granted an indulgence.
Anyway, I have a love for the concept of indulgences (I'm not being sarcastic, I actually do like the idea), as it introduces a weird form of accountancy to the practice of religion. A particular indulgence will reduce post-death punishment (AKA Purgatory) by a particular number of days. So, you could conceivably try to calculate how long you will spend in Purgatory, and then try to balance this out by indulgences, to come out with a sum of zero.
And, well, that notion kind of appeals to me.
4 comments:
" ‘Father, I haven’t been to confession in 20 years, but this’ ” — the availability of an indulgence — “ ‘made me think maybe it wasn’t too late.’ ”"
Wow... all I can think of is how downright silly the whole idea is.
What the F**k?! I thought you found some rogue Bishop from some liberal part of the world. This is real. Pope John Paul II authorized it in 2000 and Benedict is pushing it more.
Wow, forgiveness for the rich. We already have that in America. We forgive those with money because they must be a better person and worked harder to get their dough. So why not?
I'm stunned.
I can't even balance a checkbook! I just now my priest would have a heyday with me...
"Hey, Father Jonathan? You doing confession today? Yeah? Goood, good, good. Here's the thing, the votive candle fund's a little low this week and uh, well, if you could squeeze an extra five dollars out of Armstrong over there, it would, ah, be helpful. No, no... don't worry about what she's done or how much she's paid already. She never keeps track of it all and, uh, well so she's pretty much good for at least a ten spot every week..."
You know, Steph, there's an awful lot of unemployed financial folks right now...maybe there's an untapped market for them...
Post a Comment