Penance and General Absolution

By Russell Shaw
HERALD Columnist
(From the issue of 5/30/02)

Among the troubling things that have happened in Catholic life over the last four decades — a period commonly, but not altogether persuasively, described as the years of "renewal" — few are more troubling than the great decline in reception of the sacrament of penance in the United States and some other countries.

Either Catholics in very large numbers stopped sinning during these years or something went seriously wrong in their spiritual lives. On the whole, I find the second explanation more plausible.

Neglect of penance is a problem Pope John Paul II often has addressed in word and deed, including his Holy Week custom, repeated again this year, of hearing confessions in St. Peter’s Basilica to underline the importance he attaches to the sacrament.

Now he has tackled this issue again in a document called Misericordia Dei (The Mercy of God). It expresses particular concern about abuse of general absolution—absolution granted to people in groups without first confessing their sins.

Among the reactions, one particularly caught my eye. The Washington Post quoted Father Richard McBrien, a theologian the media know they can count on to put down the pope, as saying John Paul’s attempt to draw Catholics back to private confession was "doomed to failure."

"The overwhelming majority of Catholics have made up their minds: private confession is no longer a part of their devotional life," Father McBrien said.

This was surprising in several ways. There was a time, after all, when one might reasonably have expected a Catholic theologian and priest to deplore the dropoff in confessions and express support for the pope. No more, it seems. That, of course, is part of the problem.

No less surprising was the comment that "the overwhelming majority of Catholics have made up their minds" on individual confession, as if that settled it.

Before the Civil War the overwhelming majority of American Catholics had no problem with slavery. Until the middle years of the 20th century the overwhelming majority were similarly comfortable with legally enforced racial segregation. To judge by the polls, overwhelming majorities now favor quite a few odious things. Would it surprise Father McBrien to learn that overwhelming majorities can be dead wrong?

In regard to general absolution Pope John Paul’s aim is not to abolish it but to tighten up the rules for celebrating penance this way. General absolution is possible in cases of real need, with the understanding that people will confess their sins privately and individually as soon as they can.

Last Sept. 11 brought a dramatic illustration of the kind of situation general absolution is rightly intended to cover. At least one highly orthodox priest reported giving general absolution to police and firefighters heading into the World Trade Center.

But when used simply for convenience, as sometimes happens, general absolution is a Catholic version of what the anti-Hitler Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer scathingly called "cheap grace." It raises serious questions about the genuineness of the sorrow and purpose of amendment of those who receive the sacrament this way merely because they find it easier.

John Henry Newman had something to say about that, too. In one of his sermons he spoke of non-practicing Christians whose behavior conveys the message that a Savior who delivers from sin is "not enough." He imagined such people saying "we want a Savior to deliver in sin."

Failure to use the sacrament of penance and routine use of general absolution are signs of sickness in Catholic souls. If that is how things stand with Father McBrien’s overwhelming majority, I’m underwhelmed.

Shaw is a freelance writer from Washington, D.C.

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