A greatly admired priest and theologian, the late Hugh Lavery, repeatedly used to make the point that the primary form of the Sacrament of Reconciliation was that involving General Confession and Absolution. He argued this on the grounds that sin is predominantly social, rather than something purely individual. We sin precisely as members of the one Body of Christ. Our sins have an impact on the whole body. Since Vatican II, we are much more conscious of the social dimensions of sin. Hence, our reconciliation should be with the whole community. This is brought out much more powerfully in a General Absolution Service.
A beautiful idea! But it will be objected that such General Absolution is forbidden by Church Law. The eminent canon lawyer, Ladislas Orsy SJ, examines this point in a very thorough article he wrote in Theological Studies, 1984, pp. 676-689. He points out that the rules laid down in the Code of Canon Law on integrity and confession of individual sins all start from one fundamental principle, namely, that they only apply to those who are ‘conscious of being guilty of mortal sin’ (p. 678). That being the case, he implies that for penitents approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a kind of ‘growth sacrament’ e.g. for deepening our lifelong ongoing conversion at times like Lent and Advent, the law does not forbid the use of General Absolution. It is worth quoting the whole of the passage from which that implication can be legitimately drawn:
The Code explicitly states that individual confession and absolution is the only ordinary means of forgiveness for those who know themselves to be guilty of mortal sin. It follows that if there is a group of penitents among whom, for all intent and purposes, no mortal sin can be assumed, there is no prohibition against the general absolution as the ordinary form of the sacrament (p.685).
John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Misericordia Dei, (7 April 2002) does not nullify Orsy’s conclusion. Misercirdia Dei is not changing the law. It is simply repeating even more forcefully the legal requirement that Orsy has emphasised, i.e. ‘The Code explicitly states that individual confession and absolution is the only ordinary means of forgiveness for those who know themselves to be guilty of mortal sin.’
From my own pastoral experience in three different parishes, I am convinced that General Absolution Services fulfil a deep pastoral need felt by many Catholics. Orsy’s article has reassured me that my instinct – and that of so many other priests – is sound and that this practice is based on solid pastoral theology and fully in line with the spirit of Vatican II. The following is a short piece I wrote in the Skelmersdale Deanery Newsletter to reassure parishioners that the practice was fully in order.
The people of Skelmersdale are great, but we are not perfect. That is why Lent is an important time for us. We may be trying to be loving and caring to each other – but we all know how often we fail. So we have to be continually looking for new ways of caring and loving. This makes us aware of opportunities we have missed in the past and stirs us on to improve things for the future. We all need to listen to the Lord’s personal call to conversion to each of us this Lent. We all need to try to understand what kind of change God is calling for in us and in our way of living. Conversion is an ongoing process of growth out of the influence of sin in our lives.
Although we are not perfect, neither are we so totally self-centred that we have turned away completely from God coming to us in the needs of other people. Probably, in the lives of many of us there may have been occasions in the past, hopefully rare, when we felt we had wandered away radically from the straight and narrow. Yet when we think of most people we know, we would not presume, if their lives are anything to go by, that that is their normal position before God. Most seem to be trying, with more or less success, to be generous and caring. Perhaps quite a few are not regular Church-goers but the Gospel does not suggest that Church attendance is the prime criterion for Christian living. If real love and generosity are active in their lives, God’s Spirit is there and it would be untrue to describe them as radically turned away from God – in other words, in a state of mortal sin.
So Lent is a time for growth and most Lenten Confessions are growth experiences rather than basic conversions from radical sin. On a very unique occasion (e.g. time of radical personal conversion of life) individuals may find that they need to make a deeply personal confession. That is a very different experience to the regular individual confession. Few in Skelmersdale these days seem to find individual confession a helpful way of celebrating the sacrament. For most folk here a communal service of Reconciliation is the most meaningful way of celebrating the sacrament of God’s forgiveness.
Some might complain that this is simply providing people with an easy way out! In a General Absolution Service we communally focus our minds for nearly an hour on the wonder of God’s gratuitous and forgiving love of us and the implications of that for our family and social relationships – and beyond. It is far from obvious how that is an ‘easy option’ in comparison with an anonymous individual confession lasting little more than a few minutes! Others might say that General Absolution provides a get-out from the shame of personal acknowledgement of sin to someone else. In the Gospels a warm welcome and loving acceptance seem to be more central features of experiencing God’s forgiveness than the sinner’s sense of shame.
Maybe the reason why people come in such numbers to communal services of reconciliation, especially with general absolution, is that they find this a much more helpful way of celebrating and experiencing God loving forgiveness. Perhaps they also find the communal exercise a great stimulus to growth, tuning in with their instinct that sin, though personal, always affects other people.
There is a misconception that General Absolution is forbidden by Church law except in some very rare cases. As the eminent canonist, Ladislas Orsy SJ, has pointed out, the requirement of individual confession applies only to a penitent ‘conscious of being guilty of mortal sin’ (canon 960). Consequently, the other laws prohibiting General Absolution are to be interpreted as applying only to such penitents. They do not apply to the devotional use of the sacrament.
Sessions of General Absolution are popular with many Catholics as part of their preparation for Christmas and Easter. They find such celebrations very meaningful in the way they foster an awareness of God’s gracious and forgiving love which lies at the heart of these two feasts. These celebrations would certainly qualify as devotional celebrations of the sacrament. They are ‘growth experiences’ rather than occasions of radical conversion from serious sin.
Many of us were brought up thinking that mortal sin was commonplace, almost as though the normal state for most of us was one of rejection of God and by God. Vatican II has called us back to our Gospel roots of a God inviting each of us to share in the life and love of God. That is our vocation, the journey or pilgrimage we are making together. Our personal stories are part of the love story of God’s own self. To gather as fellow pilgrims to celebrate the forgiving and healing love of God communally with General Absolution is a very moving and grace-filled experience. Thank God, the law of the Church has the pastoral wisdom not to forbid such celebrations, despite mistaken ideas on this point. Sadly, a law designed to be pastorally helpful in the exceptional case where a person’s radical conversion experience needs individual care is often misinterpreted as applying to the more normal situation where people’s celebration of the sacrament is about their continuing to grow out of sin and selfishness into a deeper love of God and neighbour.