Even some priests admit that the rules are hard to grasp.
“It’s not that easy to explain to people who have never heard of it,” said the Rev. Gilbert Martinez, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Manhattan, the designated site in the New York Archdiocese for obtaining indulgences. “But it was interesting: I had a number of people come in and say, ‘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.’ ”
Getting Catholics back into confession, in fact, was one of the motivations for reintroducing the indulgence. In a 2001 speech, Pope John Paul described the newly reborn tradition as “a happy incentive” for confession. (source)
Interestingly, something very similar to indulgences exist in Tibetan Buddhism. If you do certain practises than you get a certain amount of time taken off your next reincarnation in the Hell Realms, etc. (Oh, you didn't know they had hell in Buddhism?) Of course, this kind of quid pro quo with God drives many theologians nuts--but I agree that it seems like this doctrine is at least not very harmful.
Among liberal Catholic theologians, the return of the indulgence seems to be more of a curiosity than a cause for alarm. “Personally, I think we’re beyond the time when indulgences mean very much,” said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at Notre Dame who supports the ordination of women and the right of priests to marry. “It’s like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube of original thought. Most Catholics in this country, if you tell them they can get a plenary indulgence, will shrug their shoulders.” (source)
Again, it seems like a generational thing. There are some people for whom the notion of discounting their time in Purgatory by doing certain practises is very compelling. But for others this seems like a rather simplistic answer to the problem of sin in their lives.
-t
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