General Absolution

During the past decades, a third problem regarding

Penance has been the misuse of "General absolution". This
practice arose out of a misunderstanding or misapplication
of the norms for communal penance services. Some priests
and bishops assumed that simply because a large crowd
appeared for the Sacrament of Penance and an insufficient
number of priests were available, the conditions prevailed
for granting of general absolution without private
confession of sin (as has always been done in combat
situations).
This view was wrong on two scores. First, if General
absolution is granted, the congregation must be told that
the absolution is valid only if all mortal sins are
confessed within the year and, further, that another
General absolution may not be sought out until private
confession has taken place. Second, General absolution
was never envisioned as a normal alternative to private
confession. And, in fact, was intended to be most
exceptional, involving extreme circumstances
wherein penitence would have grave spiritual
need without access to the Sacrament for a
prolonged period of time (CCC 1483). Such a situation is
barely imaginable in the United States. Canon 961 of the
Code of Canon Law and statements by Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith lends her weight to the position I have
just outlined, as does the 1988 norm enacted by the
United States conference of Catholic Bishops.
Why did General absolution become so prevalent in
some places? The unfortunate laxity of some priests, the
desire of various liturgists and theologians to eliminate
auricular confession, and the inclination of some people
to take the easiest way out, all combine to make this
option so popular. For centuries Catholics have been
accused of seeking "cheap grace"; the swiftness with
which some Catholics responded to this deformation of
Penance gave an ironic credibility to the charge.
It is strange that in an era when the cult of the
individual is so strong, the Church should do away
with one of her strongest signs of commitment to
personalism and replace it with the anonymity of the
crowd. Throughout Lent, John Paul II stresses repeatedly
that the availability of private confession is a sign of
Christ's love for each one of us as individuals,
sacramentalized in the one-to-one encounter
between priest and penitent. This revolutionary good
news, so desperately needed today, is only obscured and
confused by countersigns such as the improper use of
general absolution.

First Penance
A final problem concerns the appropriate time for the
celebration of First Penance. In the United States,
experimentation with the delayed reception of Penance has
occurred, so that a child received First Holy Communion
in the second grade and then First Penance in perhaps
the fourth grade or even later. The reason given for this
change was that youngsters had great difficulty in
understanding sin and that a too-early reception of
Penance could be psychologically harmful.
No objective data were ever offered to substantiate
this approach, which was contrary to that practiced for
centuries, and the experience of parents and teachers
eventually bore out the validity of the traditional practice. If
the child cannot understand the very human experience of
sin, how can that same child comprehend the divine
mystery of the Eucharist? On the psychological level, it is
much less dramatic for a child of seven to confess their sin of
disobedience as his first experience of Penance than for a
high-schooler to have to confess fornication for a First
Penance, as has happened.

This experiment was terminated years ago by

direct order of the Holy See. Canon 914 of the revised
Code makes this point very explicitly and with no
qualifications. Thus, any parish that persists in delaying
First Penance does so against the expressed will of the
Church, God's people. Some observers have responded
by saying that this is "forcing" a child to receive a
sacrament, which is a violation of the child's rights and
conscience. But that is unpersuasive.
The church is the guardian of the sacraments, and she
has the absolute right to determine the order in which the
sacraments should be received. If a man decides he
wants to be confirmed without having been baptized, is the
church "forcing" a sacrament on him by insisting that
Baptism must precede Confirmation? Of course not.
And so it is with First Penance and First Communion.
The point is, children should never be pawns in
the process of theological debate, especially where
their salvation is concerned. And the Catholic Church
teaches, quite clearly, that Penance should precede
Eucharist.
Let us also remember one last point. Controversy
is not always a bad thing, especially when it enables us
to clarify our thinking on important issues. If we argue
the issues Penance raises, it is because this sacrament is so
important to us. And because we sense in it matters that
have eternal consequences.
Pope John Paul II Society of Evangelists
P.O. Box 5584, Bakersfield, California 93388
e-mail: [email protected] Phone: 661 393-3239

www.pipiisoe.org
Pamphlet 422

Penance
Rev. Peter M. J. Stravinskas
Peace. Begins with Our Personal Desire to Repent
The first word uttered by the risen Christ was
his Easter gift to his Church: "Peace!"
It is significant that immediately following that
greeting is the Lord's commission to his apostles to
forgive sins in his name: "if you forgive men's sins,
they are forgiven; if you hold them bound, they are
held bound" (Jn 20:23). What is the connection
between the two statements?
Shalom, the Hebrew word Jesus would have used
that first Easter night, carries within itself so many
meanings that it cannot be adequately translated by a
single word. Shalom, connotes wholeness, harmony,
unity, peace, and right relationships. It harkens back
to the Genesis accounts that depict God and man in an
intimate union of friendship (CCC 399). From that day
on, sin has always obstructed the movement of man
towards God (CCC 409). For peace to be found, the
roadblock of sin must be removed. Hence the link
between the Resurrection gift of peace and the
Resurrection gift of forgiveness.
T hat link is maintained b y the Church in
the Sacrament of Penance (CCC 1468). Not without
reason did many of the Fathers of the Church refer to
Penance as the second "Baptism". They saw in the
Sacrament a consoling possibility of returning to
baptismal innocence, the ability to have a second
chance if one is only willing to repent and begin again.
How We Should Prepare to Receive the Sacrament
Before approaching the Sacrament of Penance, it is
important for the believer to prepare properly:
examination of conscience; sorrow for sin; firm purpose
of amendment (CCC 1450-54). These steps are essential
if our reception of the Sacrament is to be a true
encounter between the sinful self and the forgiving
Christ. Nothing less than a true desire to turn from sin, to
change one's life, to go through a conversion experience
is required.
Frequently,
other
Christians
have
the
misconception that our approach to sin is one of: "oh
well, I'll just go to confession on Saturday." But such an
attitude mocks God's justice and is a parody of Catholic

sacramental theology.
After preparing, the penitent is ready to receive the
sacrament by the confession of sins to a priest and the
performance of an appropriate work of satisfaction (CCC
1455-60). It is in these two areas that the celebration of the
Sacrament has so often changed it throughout history.
How the Practice of Penance has Changed in the Church
For many years in the early Church, Penance could be
received only once in a lifetime. As a result, most people
postponed its reception until they thought death was near.
Eventually the Church increased the number of times
Penance could be received to the point of our present
observance, under which it is almost "available on
demand".
Another interesting historical note is that in the early
Church, all penance given for sins was "public penance",
which meant that the entire Christian community was
aware of the sinfulness of one of its members. Sinners were
admitted to the "order of penitents" by the local bishop to
perform penances involving corporal mortification, which
often extended over months or even years; the mere recitation of a prayer was not sufficient.
In due time, the discipline of the Sacrament was again
relaxed as Church thinking about Penance developed.
Public penance was abolished, and a penitent could confess
his sins to any priest who had received the authority of his
Bishop to forgive sins in the name of the Church. This
practice became known as "private" or "auricular"
confession (CCC 1447).
The privacy gained under this system was most
welcome, but an important insight became obscured: Every
sin (no matter how personal) diminishes the other members
of the Body of Christ, the Church. However, the advantages
of this procedure far outweighed the disadvantages because
the entire approach could be individualized to correspond
to the penitents needs and also provide the guarantee of
complete confidentiality.
Is there a way to combine the best of Penance's
ancient tradition and the benefits of later developments? In
our own day there have been attempts to do exactly this.
The postconciliar rite of Penance provides for the option of
communal celebrations of the sacrament, which help to
recapture more vividly the communal sense of sin,
repentance, and reconciliation. In such services all hear the
Word of God proclaimed, acknowledge their sinfulness,
individually confess their sins to a priest, and then receive
the saving forgiveness of God (CCC 1482).
Our emotions in Penance should be genuine sorrow
and repentance, for we have sinned against God and one

another (CCC 1451-53). But we should also feel hope

because the Lord has given us the means to return to him.
As God's people, and with confidence in our merciful
father, we approach the Sacrament of the path to pardon,
consolation, and joy.
If Jesus inaugurated his Resurrection appearances with
the greeting of "Peace", we also know that he began his
public ministry with the command: "Repent" (Mk 1:15).
The Sacrament of Penance is the means by which
Catholics go through the process of repentance, so as to
experience Christ's peace (CCC 1431). Or, as the
confessor assures the penitent: "The Lord has freed you
from your sins. Go in peace."

Some Difficulties in Regard to the

Sacrament of Penance
In spite of the many positive values so apparent in the
renewed rite and theology of Penance, one must admit that
we have also come upon some difficulties with the
sacrament over the past few decades. Theological
questions, practical problems, are not unique to the 20th
century; they are as old as the Church herself. Handled
correctly, difficulties have always launched the Church
on a much deeper understanding of the matter under
scrutiny. Four such concerns have developed in
regard to the Sacrament of Penance.
Confessing to a Priest
The first issue is really perennial: "Why confess to a
priest?" And what is at stake here is probably not so much
the Sacrament of Penance as the Sacrament of Holy
Orders. Divine forgiveness is not being questioned, but the
need for a ministerial priesthood clearly is.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, forgiveness has
always been mediated. On Yom Kippur, the Hebrew high
priest spoke words of sorrow to the Lord on behalf of the
whole people and then symbolically placed the year's sins
on the head of a goat, driving him out of the community
into the desert. Jesus consistently presented himself as an
agent of divine forgiveness, so much so that some charged
him with blasphemy (Lk 5:21). Nor did this mediatory role
end with Christ; he clearly intended his apostles to stand in
his stead vis-~-vis the Church and the world (cf. in 20:23;
Lk 9:1; Mt 16:19; CCC 1461).
Christians are not rugged individualists; they come
before the throne of mercy in the company of all the
redeemed. Our relationship with God is personal, of
coursebut it is also communal. From a Catholic
perspective, our personal relationship with God is

enhanced by the communal and not diminished by it. The

presence of a priest, as the ordained representative of
Christ and the Church, is a concrete sign of both the
communal and individual dimensions of the Christian's
salvation. His presence is also a reminder that our sins,
not only offend the Lord but also his Mystical Body,
the Church (CCC 1462).
On the level of human psychology, one can easily see
the value of confessing to another person (CCC
1455). Every human being needs to "unload", to come
to grips wi th p erson al gu il t, an d to recei ve
gu idan ce and encouragement. Most importantly, all
people need to hear that they are indeed forgiven and to
have that forgiveness celebrated in concrete, sacramental
form.
Surely this insight is why other Christian bodies (for
example, Episcopalians and Lutherans) have recently
taken a second look at the Sacrament of Penance and
decided to reintroduce this rite into their official
liturgical life. Ecumenism can teach us to esteem more
highly what we already possess by noticing what
others are trying to rediscover.
Declining +umbers of Catholics go to Confession
A second modern problem in regard to Penance is the
decline in the numbers of people who use it. The
usual response to this observation is: "I don't commit any
mortal sins, Father; I don't have to go to confession."
While it is true that the law of the Church requires
sacramental confession once a year only if a Christian is
conscious of having committed grave sin, this is a
minimalist view of reality. The enthusiastic believer
seeks to do the maximum, not the minimum.
Having heard confessions for many years now, I
might agree that few people are guilty of truly grave
sins, but I can also say with deep conviction that the
best confessions I have heard have been those by people
who are attentive to the "small" sins that offend our Lord.
I am not speaking of scrupulosity but of sensitivity.
As the saying goes, the greatest saints see themselves
as the greatest sinners. We regard ourselves as good only
because we tend to measure ourselves against some of the
pagans among whom we live (and t his i s
s elf -ri ght eousn es s as wel l as a fals e comparison).
We need to measure ourselves against the standard of
Jesus Christ. When Peter saw himself in that light, he
asked the Lord to leave him because he was such a sinful
man (Lk 5:8). Frequent confession provides the
impetus for perfection and offers the penitent the support
needed for growth and holiness (CCC 1458).