It doesn’t seem like a year since we visualised on this blog Easter Duties confessions being dispensed via General Absolution to thousands by an elderly priest, supported by two passkeepers, on one of the hills surrounding Glasgow. And of course it might come to that yet, if the megaparish is established as in the U.S. As we’ve already mentioned, the ban on General Absolution unless in certain circumstances is nothing but one of the interesting contributions made to the Church and therefore the provision of the Eucharist by the Canon Law Code of 1917. Try to Google a reason why it’s wrong, and the answer is usually because Canon Law says so. Oh well then, you would be foolish to say. And as we also pointed out earlier, via Fr Ladislas Orsy,SJ, why the insistence on confessing sins auricularly later? If it’s forgiven, it’s forgiven.
Some elderly- who else is there –Catholics will say.”There’s nothing like making a confession to a priest”
To which we will say, firstly, haven’t you been lucky or did you just choose your confessor carefully ? Secondly, since we’re not all saints, and for various human reasons some may find auricular confession uncomfortable. In fact, undoubtedly some would rather not go than do this. You’ll notice we didn’t say we were all sensible. Thirdly, it’s not meant to be a comfortable emotional experience , like a family birthday or a New Year’s Night party. It’s asking for forgiveness for our sins.
We live in a world in which that fairly recent invention, the confessional box, is now used to store the Hoover. People don’t go. (a statistic mentioned recently was 2% of Catholics in the US, but this may require more research) . What can be done to help the rest ask for forgiveness and therefore bring them to the Eucharist ? If General Absolution will do it , does it matter what the Code of Canon Law of 1917 says ? Can anyone say that General Absolution is “not as good” as auricular confession ? We are reminded again of the local headmaster who is reputed to have once said “As Our Lord says, and I must say I think He was right…”
Life goes on, and the world changes exponentially and almost daily in 2015.Not all change is bad. The difference between a contemporary change in the provision of the Eucharist and that found in the early training of our bishops and (some)priests, one which no longer functions , is something which they do not seem to be able to grasp. If this is intellectual, they disappoint us. If this is because of an archaic and self-centred vision of their importance in providing the Eucharist, we are far from being simply disappointed. A wide variety of intellectual and even emotional responses presents itself to us.
People may be being denied the Body and Blood of Christ . Even our respect for the Code of Canon Law (1917), yes, even that, must surely pale into insignificance.