General Sacramental Absolution
an historical, canonical and pastoral perspective
Scott M.P. Reid
| "In the life of the Church general absolution is not to be used as a normal pastoral option, or as a means of confronting any difficult pastoral situation … Other works, for lack of time, may have to be postponed or even abandoned, but not the Confessional."
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Pope Paul VI, 20 April 1978
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| "The abuse of general absolutions contrary to the regulations of the Church as clearly stated in the new Code of Canon Law is really a violation of the dignity of the Sacrament of Penance … Does not the personal and secret sense of sin require as a consequence the same secret and discreet form, the individually adapted and personalised form of individual confession?"
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Pope John Paul II, 2 December 1983
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General Sacramental Absolution, published in response to the Holy Father's recent call to look towards the Jubilee to be celebrated in the Year 2000 as "an occasion to help the faithful recover the true 'sense of sin' leading to a renewed appreciation of the beauty and joy of the Sacrament of Penance", traces the use and abuse of general absolution in history and in the law of the Church, arguing that general absolution as it is still used in many parishes during Lent and Advent, as well as at other times - such as in schools and on retreats - is illicit, if not invalid. The documentation and arguments advanced must be considered carefully by anyone still involved in the regular use of general absolution, as must the alternative pastoral strategies suggested.
Scott M.P. Reid, formerly a teacher of religious education, is now a monk of Farnborough Abbey, England. He is editor of Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, A Bitter Trial and The Early Papacy, published by The Saint Austin Press.
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General Sacramental Absolution, by Scott M.P. Reid.
40 pages, paperback. ISBN 1 901157 65 2.
£1.95 ; $4.50 in the U.S.A.
Published by The Saint Austin Press.
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This page last updated 18 March 2003