Q. I understand that plenary indulgences are available during this Jubilee Year of Mercy if one passes through the “Holy Door of Mercy” in a Catholic cathedral and meets all the other conditions for an indulgence. But what if one has no opportunity to visit a cathedral? Can the plenary indulgence still be obtained? — P.D., via e-mail.
A. Yes. First of all, indulgences are always available to Catholics regardless of whether it’s a year of mercy or not. In the Manual of Indulgences issued in 2006, there are listed dozens of prayers, devotions, and good works that can obtain indulgences. These include adoration of the cross on Good Friday, teaching or studying Christian doctrine, attending a spiritual retreat of at least three days, praying the rosary, reading the Bible, devoutly making the Stations of the Cross, taking part in eucharistic adoration, and devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead.
The conditions necessary for a plenary indulgence, that is, the removal of all temporal punishment due to forgiven mortal sin, are that the person perform the indulgenced work as perfectly as possible, receive sacramental Confession and eucharistic Communion, offer prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, and be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin. The indulgence can be applied to the person performing it or to someone who is deceased. If each condition is not fulfilled perfectly, the indulgence will only be partial.
We were privileged recently to pass through the Holy Door at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., while attending the Mass that opened the National Prayer Vigil for Life. As an aside, it was most encouraging to see that perhaps 80 percent of the 5,000 people packed into the basilica were in their teens and twenties. They describe themselves as the “Pro-Life Generation,” and they will restore the right to life for the unborn in this nation.
But what about those who cannot pass through a Holy Door in a cathedral? In addition to the indulgenced works cited above, the Jubilee Indulgence is available to those who perform a corporal or spiritual work of mercy, to the sick or elderly who offer up their suffering, and to those imprisoned who visit the prison chapel and direct their thoughts and prayers to the Father of Mercy each time they cross the threshold of their cell, which signifies for them passage through a holy door.
Why do we need indulgences? Venerable Fulton J. Sheen once said that sins were like nails driven into a block of wood. Sacramental Confession removes the nails, but the holes in the wood remain. Prayers, acts of devotion, and works of charity help to fill in those holes. If they are not filled in during this life, the repair work will have to be done in Purgatory. Indulgences provide a repair kit or framework for making up now for our sins or for those of someone in Purgatory.
Q. My grandson is being offered a China internship via his college for a few months. China has a National Catholic Church which does not recognize the Pope and an Underground Church which is Catholic orthodox. I believe that it is dangerous to belong to the true Church in China and people have been persecuted who belong. First, are the National Church’s Masses authentic and, second, what should my grandson do regarding Mass attendance? — R.B.K., via email.
A. You are correct that there are two churches in Communist China — the Roman Catholic Church that became illegal under the Communists and was forced underground and the government-established Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, the Red Chinese regime recognizes only the priests and bishops of the CCPA, which is an agency of the Communist Party, and does not recognize the authority of the Pope. The CCPA has appointed its own bishops without a pontifical mandate, and this situation, said Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, “is incompatible with Catholic doctrine.”
The foundation just mentioned is named after Ignatius Kung, who was the bishop of Shanghai when he was arrested in 1955 and then put on trial in 1960. When the government prosecutor offered him a leadership post in the Communist-controlled church, Kung bravely responded: “I am a Catholic bishop. If I leave the Holy Father, not only would I not be a bishop, I would not even be a Catholic. You can cut off my head, but you can never take away my duty.”
The bishop spent the next 27 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, until his release in 1987. Two years prior to his release, Kung was allowed to participate in a dinner in honor of Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Philippines. The two prelates were kept away from each other, but at one point Cardinal Sin suggested that each attendee sing a song of celebration. When it came to his turn, Kung sang a Latin song that translated, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,” a sign that he had remained faithful to the Holy Father all during his years in prison.
Following his release from Communist captivity in 1987, Kung came to the United States and, when he was feeling well enough, he traveled to Rome in 1991 and was informed by Pope John Paul II that he had been secretly elevated to cardinal in 1979. Cardinal Kung died in 2000 at the age of 98.
The Underground Catholic Church (UCC) in China continues to be persecuted today, and those who attend secret Masses, catechism classes, Baptisms, and other religious activities, usually in private homes, do so at the risk of “reeducation” classes, exorbitant fines, house arrest, imprisonment, physical torture, and labor camp internment. The approximately 25 UCC bishops in the country are either in jail, under house arrest, under strict surveillance, or in hiding.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a 25-page letter “to the bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and lay faithful of the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China.” Among other things, the Holy Father said:
•“Communion and unity . . . are essential and integral elements of the Catholic Church: therefore, the proposal for a Church that is ‘independent’ of the Holy See, in the religious sphere, is incompatible with Catholic doctrine.”
• “Currently, all the bishops of the Catholic Church in China are sons of the Chinese people. Notwithstanding many grave difficulties, the Catholic Church in China, by a particular grace of the Holy Spirit, has never been deprived of the ministry of legitimate pastors who have preserved the apostolic succession intact.”
• There are three categories of Catholic bishops in China: 1) Those “who have received episcopal Ordination in conformity with Catholic tradition, that is to say, in communion with the Bishop of Rome.” 2) Those who have received episcopal Ordination without the pontifical mandate, but have subsequently asked to be received into communion with the Successor of Peter and have been granted by the Pope “full and legitimate exercise of episcopal jurisdiction.” 3) Those who have been ordained with the pontifical mandate and have not asked for or obtained “the necessary legitimation.”
• This latter group (“a very small number of them”), said Benedict, “are to be considered illegitimate, but validly ordained, as long as it is certain that they have received Ordination from validly ordained bishops and that the Catholic rite of episcopal Ordination has been respected. Therefore, although not in communion with the Pope, they exercise their ministry validly in the administration of the sacraments, even if they do so illegitimately.”
• “Therefore, the faithful, taking this into account, where the Eucharistic Celebration and the other sacraments are concerned, must, within the limits of the possible, seek bishops and priests who are in communion with the Pope; nevertheless, where this cannot be achieved without grave inconvenience, they may, for the sake of their spiritual good, turn also to those who are not in communion with the Pope.”
As you can see, this is a complex situation. You might be able to get a clearer answer to your question by contacting www.cardinalkungfoundation.org.
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