They shall have mercy shown them …

Pope Francis has announced a Jubilee Year centred on the theme of Mercy.
Surely this would be a good occasion for our Irish bishops to propose to Rome a relaxation of the Vatican veto on the use of the form of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which includes General Absolution?
We know, of course, that Pope Francis believes strongly in individual Confession. But at present in Ireland and some other countries the number of people going to Confession is so small that it is unlikely that having General Absolution would further diminish those going for individual Confession. Indeed, it could well lead to an increase in individual Confessions.
Members and friends of ACP and the ACI and other Church organizations might consider encouraging the bishops to take this initiative – and to authorize gifted liturgists to design meaningful rituals which would incorporate General Absolution.

Similar Posts

Presider’s Page for 1 January 2021 (New Year’s Day)

Editor's Choice, Liturgy, Presider's Page
0 Comments

Happy New Year! On this first day of the Year of Our Lord 2021, we acclaim Mary as Mother of God and ask her to mind us and those we love during this new year. We pray that the world may be freed from COVID-19 through a global programme of vaccination. And as this is also World Peace Day, we pray for peace.

“Sacred Language” or Trojan Horse?

Articles, Liturgy
17 Comments

Fr. P. John Mannion critically evaluates the ‘new missal’.
” The fact of the matter is that the Roman Congregation responsible for the current translation, completely ignored the directives of Vatican Two, and gave us instead the Mass we were using since Pope Paul VI laced with Tridentine insertions plus prayers rehashed in a supposedly “sacred language” and translated from the Latin according to Rome’s directive “in a most exact manner” thus giving us a translation that is ungrammatical and laced with pious, phoney verbiage.”

2 Comments

  2. Louie Macari says:

    A good idea! Many who have been away from the sacrament would be encouraged to return. In my diocese one of the parishes held these reconciliation services in Lent with general absolution until someone complained to the bishop or perhaps even to the nuncio. The reconciliation services were very popular
    I know many people who find personal confession extremely difficult and negative. Would it not be better for such individuals to spend an hour in a meaningful service of reconciliation and receive general absolution. I agree that those who gain from personal confession would not be affected by this.

    Reply

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.