So far there has not been much notice taken of one of this year’s centenaries. Pope Francis of course mentioned it, stressing its positive value. Like the Bible , it is, of course not so much a book as a bookshelf, and it has always reminded us of those wonderful Newnes handbooks produced for every car ever heard of, in the days when normal human beings could service their own car, with instructions for everything from repairing the car cigarette lighter upwards,.
We are not cynical on this blog- now just imagine if we really were. Moreover, all we’re saying about conspiracy theories is that they can’t all be wrong. OK? But we are saying that given the enormous value of Canon Law to our bishops, both as an administrative instrument and and a removal of the necessity for thinking, we must ask one question,. Do they not want the general public to realise that Canon Law as it stands dates only back to 1917 ? Hell, we’ve got members not much younger than that. Is it possible that there are Catholics who believe it was put together on the Sunday after Pentecost in the upper room by the Apostles ? In passing, it is interesting how often the word ‘apostolic’ is misused. Wasn’t the word often used to describe Papal Delegates ? Maybe this is why Archbishop Mennini did not reply to Feed The Flock’s registered letter- I mean were there stamps and postmen then ? Sorry.
Ray Bradbury, in his short story ‘A Sound Of Thunder’, describing how a Tyrannus Rex is killed, mentiones how this process took quite a while, parts of it still clicking and whirring for possibly hours later. You may think it fanciful’ although we quite like the idea, to compare this to the slow death of the First Vatican Council before Vatican 2. Clicking and whirring , we put it to you, still goes on in two particular areas as the movement towards confining the provision of the Eucharist in general to the Tridentine priesthood grows stronger.
Two of the obstacles to this from Canon Law are of course the insistence on celibacy and the ban on general absolution. This blog has many reference to the celibacy thing and many wonderful quotations from clerics about its value to them which we hope you constantly refer to and enjoy, especially the parts about it being invaluable for the Church’s possession of so many buildings in the 12th century which are now mere heaps of ruins all over Europe.
The other obstacle is General Absolution, and the necessity of having sins forgiven twice by the recipient. We cannot hope to reach the heights of textual exegesis no doubt attained in our seminaries- remember them? –but we simply cannot find in the Gospels any reference to this at the Last Supper. It must be mentioned here, keeping in mind the number of convicted paedophile priests allowed to return to parish work, and therefore to hear confessions, that this may be an explanation of the moribund nature of the Sacrament of Reconciliation., another of course being a calcification of the Humane Vitae thing. But that is not for us to comment on just now.
What is really quite remarkable is the attachment of some priests to the actual process of giving absolution. We don’t imagine that this comes up much in conversation with priests, for those of us who undertake this, but the invaluable internet certainly tells us how they feel about it. The emphasis is very frequently on how wonderful an experience this is for the priest, one of them pointing out that he would rather hear confessions than provide the Eucharist. Google ‘general absolution’ and you’ll find them.
Lacking years of theological education we may do, but to be quite blunt, we do not think that providing wonderful experiences for priests is what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is for . And if the bizarre insistence of Canon Law on auricular confession of already forgiven sins is taking people away from the Eucharist, then Canon Law is acting against the Eucharistic imperative at the Last Supper.