Return to General Absolution

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glad2bhome

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Several years ago in a discussion with a family member, who has a far better memory than I do, she insisted that she was taught and experienced General Absolution at mass in the 1970’s. I insisted she was mistaken and we always had private confession.

After reading this article I may owe her an apology. Does anyone else remember a time when this was practiced?

Call for return to general absolution in Confession
 
Absolutely. It was common at several parishes in my diocese until a few years ago.
 
It was common in the parish we moved to in 1983. It was discontinued in 1990 when a new priest was assigned. The new priest was much disliked because he wouldn’t continue it. Never were they told that they had to go to individual confession if they had mortal sin. Another practices was communal penance where there was general absolution and then individual confession. We still have communal penance but not longer general absolution but individual absolution.
 
Yes. Unfortunately, it was being practiced a lot in many dioceses across the US and Canada. I say unfortunately, becuase all the times it happened it was invalid.
 
Thus sounds a bit like an abuse to me. I was under the impression that general absolution is intended only for emergencies and that Catholics are still obligated to confess individually any sins that were covered by the general absolution. Some examples would be giving general absolution to soldiers before a big battle or to passengers on a sinking ship who aren’t sure of survival.
 
I remember the topic came up around 2007ish. I was speaking to her on the phone and told her I had to run as I was off to confession (Limited morning hours while kids were in Catholic school), and she made a comment like, you still do that?. We later discussed it and she believed the general penance at mass (I confess to…) replaced it or covered everything now. And that’s how we got to talking about memories of General Absolution at mass in the 70/80s.

Neither of us had attended mass often after Catholic High School. We’d both returned for a time when our kids were born. A reflection of poor teaching, the 70/80s changes, and assuming nothing has changed back. It makes me realize that we are most likely not alone on mixed messages and confusion.
 
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semper_catholicus said:
Yes. Unfortunately, it was being practiced a lot in many dioceses across the US and Canada. I say unfortunately, becuase all the times it happened it was invalid.
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Certainly illicit but I would not think invalid.

I think it may be a potential way to get around pressure to break the seal like is happening in Australia.
 
I found this in another article on the history of confession. Apparently it was valid and ended by Pope John Paul the second.
IDEAS: Can you imagine a revival of confession, maybe again as public act?


CORNWELL:** That’s the big question. Hundreds of people wrote to me while I was writing the book to say that they favor a return to general absolution [the public and communal absolution of sin without private confession to a priest, an ancient practice revived in the 1970s, under Paul VI]. But John Paul II put a stop to that. If Francis were to make a change there, I think you’d find a lot of people coming back to Church. It could happen—but people have got to ask for it.
 
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“All the times it happened it was invalid” seems like an exaggeration. I’m sure there were a few legitimate instances.

My understanding is that it’s only proper where there is an immediate need and a large group, and circumstances require speed. For example, a priest could properly do it for a group of firefighters about to enter a burning building or a unit of soldiers about to go into battle.
 
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Yes those are proper circumstances.

What I’m referring to is the organized events where everyone gathered in a church when there was no emergency or anything and conducted general absolution.
 
glad2bhome said:
Does anyone else remember a time when this was practiced?
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Yes , @glad2bhome , when the new rites for the Sacrament of Reconciliation were introduced in 1973 the bishops in England and Wales did not do their homework very well .

They thought that the rite of the Sacrament with general absolution was permissible outside of the bounds we understand today .

In particular they encouraged the sacrament with general absolution during Lent with the idea that those who had distanced themselves from the sacraments would find it easier to return in this way to the practice of receiving the sacraments on a regular basis .

It would not be long before the bishops found that what they were allowing was not allowed , and the practice was stopped .
 
Oh, yeah, I agree that’s improper.

Interestingly, I think the Bishop of Honolulu did it for a bunch of people at the cathedral during that false alarm when people thought a North Korean missile had been fired at Hawaii.
 
That’s interesting.

I believe if any of them were in mortal sin, they would have to seek a reconfession ASAP.
 
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The Sacrament of Confession has taken different forms over the centuries .

But for many , probably for most Catholics the sacrament is no longer part of their lives .

A review of the sacrament by the bishops is long overdue .

It is in danger of going the way of the dodo .
 
Rob2 said:
It is in danger of going the way of the dodo .
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Depends where you are. Our cathedral has scheduled confessions three times a day (Monday to Saturday) and there are often lines. Another local parish has confession before and after EACH of the seven Sunday Masses (so like 14 times each Sunday), and there are always lines…I’ve had to wait a half hour sometimes at that parish.
 
In my experience, general absolution was relatively rare and reserved for very large gatherings or war/ disaster situations where it would not have been physically possible to hear individual confessions.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a few parishes were making a habit of it but I would also expect that they would have been told to stop and go back to individual confession.

In the 1970s I went to a number of communal penance services, but they generally involved everybody getting together, saying some prayers and then having individual confessions and then perhaps saying some more prayers/ getting a blessing at the end. I do not remember any communal penance service without individual confessions happening either before, after, or during the service.
 
twf said:
Depends where you are. Our cathedral has scheduled confessions three times a day (Monday to Saturday) and there are often lines. Another local parish has confession before and after EACH of the seven Sunday Masses (so like 14 times each Sunday), and there are always lines…I’ve had to wait a half hour sometimes at that parish.
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I agree with this. Most of the parishes I have attended have lines for confession. Even when it is not a big parish and isn’t a First Saturday (which tends to draw a crowd) I have rarely been to confession and not had at least three people in line and often more like 10 people. The places where I don’t see lines tend to be the ones scheduling confession on weekday noons or afternoons when there are just not that many people at church because most of them are at work. Saturday is generally the big confession day and you get the lines on that day.
 
There is one priest who is very traditional and has confession before the 5 pm Mass about three weekdays per week as well as a time on the weekend as usual. The thing is, he only has about 10 people going to the 5 pm Mass anyway so maybe 2 of them at most will need to go to confession right then. I admire him for continuing to offer it so often and I have gone to him twice now when I had some urgent need to get there and didn’t want to wait till Saturday or had some other plans for Saturday.
 
Here I think its the local Dominican friars who “log” more hours in the confessional than any other priests…real troopers with this sacrament.
 
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