Catholic Replies
Editor’s Note: Few commentators write more lucidly than William Kilpatrick on the abyss that exists between Islam and Christianity, despite wishful thinking by some Church leaders that both are similar in many respects. Here are comments that appeared some months ago on his Turning Point Project blog:
“Though Muslims believe in God, he is not the same God that Christians believe in. Rather, Allah is a willful God who is not bound by the laws of reason. Like an absolute and capricious tyrant, his laws are arbitrary and subject to change. The remarkable lack of scientific progress in the Muslim world is simply the logical consequence of belief in this erratic God.
“Because it borrows from Christianity and Judaism, Islam is an advance over most primitive religions, but in comparison to Christianity it is a decidedly primitive faith. It sanctions beheadings, amputations for theft, stoning for adultery, polygamy, subjugation of women, and even sex slavery. One might think that the new primitives would be appalled by Islam, especially because they consider the subjugation of women to be a great evil. But some taboos are more important than others, and one of the supreme taboos of our times is the injunction against judging other cultures
“The sins of Islam can be wiped away simply by repeating the incantory chant, ‘They have a different culture.’ The villager may now be part of a global village, but he still thinks like a villager. The village chiefs and elders have decided that Christianity is a thing of the past, and that Islam is a vital part of the coming multicultural future. The villager nods his assent because he has no other points of reference. He is willing to believe anything the authorities say.
“A society that elevates Islam over Christianity is a society that is taking a step back in time, yet that is the direction in which large parts of the West are headed. Churches in Europe are largely empty, but mosques are full. Many cultural observers predict that Islam will be the dominant religion in Europe well before mid-century. The ultimate irony of rejecting the Christian God is that you may end up with the God of Muhammad in his place.”
Q. I know the Church has said that Confession by cell phone is not permitted, but I think it is an excellent idea. I am a regular confessor to a number of Catholics who would love to confess over the phone, especially those who cannot otherwise get to Confession. If the Seal of Confession is the concern, just think how much more secure that seal would be if a priest could quietly hear someone’s Confession using an earplug receiver through which only he can hear. Compare that to the people in line outside the confessional trying not to listen to the person in the confessional ahead of them. Who hasn’t experienced that? — Name Withheld, Oregon.
A. While your arguments appear to have some merit, you know from your experience that there is a spiritual connection with those going to Confession in person that is not possible over the phone. Can’t you determine the sincerity of the penitent more easily having them sitting across from you or just on the other side of a screen than you could over the phone? It seems to us that phone-in Confessions would lack the personal contact that is essential for the best reception of this sacrament.
Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap, who has been a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, told Catholic News Agency that physical presence is needed for the validity of the sacrament. He said that “the sacrament is the action of Christ performed by the minister and, for that action to take place, the priest and the penitent must be in communion with one another, in a physical manner.”
Weinandy said that all sacraments involve a physical dimension, adding that “you can’t baptize someone who’s not actually present, you can’t participate in the sacrifice of the Mass — a priest can’t confect the Eucharist — without being physically present….The sacraments flow from the Incarnation and, because of that, there has to be a bodily presence of the one who is enacting the sacrament, and the one who is receiving the sacrament. They’re doing the sacraments together.”
As for phone Confessions being more secure than those where there are other people just outside the parish confessional, we doubt it. In our highly technological age, with surveillance by Big Brother much more intrusive than we would like to think, we would guess that there wouldn’t be much secrecy in confessing one’s sins by phone.
There is an increasing effort by legislators in various states to do away with the Seal of Confession, allegedly to uncover sexual abuse of children. Failing to accomplish that goal by law, perhaps it could be accomplished by surreptitiously monitoring Confessions by phone.
Confessing one’s sins in person to a priest has worked well for most of the Church’s existence. We don’t think it would be a good idea to change that practice in today’s world.
Q. I have heard that during the Year of St. Joseph there are plenary indulgences available on certain days. Do you know something about this? — F.A., via e-mail.
A. Yes, the year 2021 has been proclaimed the Year of St. Joseph to honor the man who was the Guardian of the Redeemer. This special year is being celebrated to mark the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s 1870 proclamation of St. Joseph as the “Patron of the Universal Church” and “to perpetuate the entrustment of the whole Church to the powerful patronage of the Custodian of Jesus.” In conjunction with this year, the Church is giving us the opportunity to engage in prayer and good works “to obtain, with the help of St. Joseph, head of the heavenly family of Nazareth, comfort and relief from the serious human and social tribulations that besiege the contemporary world today.”
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is “the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sin whose guilt has already been forgiven. A properly disposed member of the Christian faithful can obtain an indulgence under prescribed conditions through the help of the Church, which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. An indulgence is Partial if it removes part of the temporal punishment due to sin, or Plenary if it removes all punishment” (n. 1471).
The usual conditions for receiving a plenary indulgence are sacramental Confession within 20 days either before or after the indulgence is sought, reception of Holy Communion on the day the indulgence is sought, detachment from all sins, even venial ones, and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, usually understood to be an Our Father and Hail Mary, and one may also recite the Creed. Only one plenary indulgence can be granted each day, and it can be applied to the person seeking the indulgence or to a soul in Purgatory.
Some of the indulgenced prayers and works for the Year of St. Joseph include meditating for at least 30 minutes on the Our Father, taking part in a spiritual retreat of at least one day that includes a meditation on St. Joseph, performance of one of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy or one of the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy, prayerful recitation of the holy rosary in families or among engaged couples, entrusting one’s daily activity to the protection of St. Joseph, invoking the intercession of St. Joseph to help those out of work to find a job, reciting the Litany of St. Joseph for the relief of all Christians suffering some kind of persecution, and reciting any approved prayer or act of piety in honor of St. Joseph (for example, “To you, O Blessed Joseph”), especially on March 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, on May 1, the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, on the 19th of each month during the year, or on every Wednesday during the year, a day traditionally dedicated to the memory of St. Joseph.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, the gift of a plenary indulgence is also extended to the sick, the elderly, the dying, and to all those who for legitimate reasons are unable to leave their homes. If they are detached from all sin, and have the intention of fulfilling, as soon as possible, the usual conditions for a plenary indulgence, they can recite an act of piety in honor of St. Joseph, offering to God the pains and hardships of their lives.
