Wednesday Liturgy: Follow-up: General Absolution at a Nursing Home
ROME, MARCH 7, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Following our commentary on general absolution in a nursing home (Feb. 21) a reader asked if it were possible or wise to give general absolution to young people with special needs.
He writes: "The first question I have is: If these young people (or adults) have severe learning difficulties, can they sin if they do not know what sin is? And then if they can't sin they surely do not need absolution. The second question is (I would not think that just because they have special needs they qualify for general absolution): If they can sin, they must have some level of communication, however basic, and therefore a priest working with them should be able, with pastoral sensitivity, to give them some form of individual confession."
I am reminded of what Cardinal John Wright once said when it was suggested that first confession should be postponed until after first Communion so as to be carried out with fuller comprehension: "What is easier for kids to understand: transubstantiation, or saying, 'I'm sorry'?"
I am in broad agreement with our correspondent. If these people are in such a severe condition as to be considered on a par with infants, then evidently they are incapable of sin and the practice of general absolution serves no purpose.
It does not even seem to make much pastoral sense, since general absolution is not a magical rite. It implies that those who receive it are sufficiently literate in catechesis to grasp the necessary conditions, such as the requirement to confess individually before receiving another general absolution (unless in imminent danger of death).
If, on the other hand, they are capable of developing some notion of sin, as well as some notion of repentance and of the priest's being able to forgive sins, then some form of individual confession is to be preferred.
Besides the priest's absolution, the three acts of the penitent -- repentance, confession and acceptance of the satisfaction -- are essential to the validity of the sacrament, except in extraordinary circumstances such as when a person receives absolution in an unconscious state while in danger of death.
Following our commentary on general absolution in a nursing home (Feb. 21) a reader asked if it were possible or wise to give general absolution to young people with special needs.
He writes: "The first question I have is: If these young people (or adults) have severe learning difficulties, can they sin if they do not know what sin is? And then if they can't sin they surely do not need absolution. The second question is (I would not think that just because they have special needs they qualify for general absolution): If they can sin, they must have some level of communication, however basic, and therefore a priest working with them should be able, with pastoral sensitivity, to give them some form of individual confession."
I am reminded of what Cardinal John Wright once said when it was suggested that first confession should be postponed until after first Communion so as to be carried out with fuller comprehension: "What is easier for kids to understand: transubstantiation, or saying, 'I'm sorry'?"
I am in broad agreement with our correspondent. If these people are in such a severe condition as to be considered on a par with infants, then evidently they are incapable of sin and the practice of general absolution serves no purpose.
It does not even seem to make much pastoral sense, since general absolution is not a magical rite. It implies that those who receive it are sufficiently literate in catechesis to grasp the necessary conditions, such as the requirement to confess individually before receiving another general absolution (unless in imminent danger of death).
If, on the other hand, they are capable of developing some notion of sin, as well as some notion of repentance and of the priest's being able to forgive sins, then some form of individual confession is to be preferred.
Besides the priest's absolution, the three acts of the penitent -- repentance, confession and acceptance of the satisfaction -- are essential to the validity of the sacrament, except in extraordinary circumstances such as when a person receives absolution in an unconscious state while in danger of death.
posted by Chipi Buenafe at
9:03 PM
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