-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- >From www.boston.com/dailyglobe {{<Begin>}} Time has come once again to indulge yourself By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist, 2/2/2000 any of you are aware that this is a Jubilee year in the Roman Catholic calendar, which portends much hoopla. The Pope hopes to visit the Holy Land, and next month he has scheduled a celebratory Ash Wednesday Mass at the Circus Maximus in Rome. And, perhaps the best news of all for us sinners, the church is back in the indulgence business. Indulgences, as Pope John Paul II has correctly noted, are ''a sensitive subject, which has suffered historical misunderstandings that have had a negative impact on communion between Christians.'' The reckless trafficking in indulgences - cash-and-carry relief from the sufferings of Purgatory hawked by corrupt priests in the 14th and 15th centuries - prompted ''Luther's revolt,'' which is Catholicism's genteel euphemism for the creation o f the Protestant church. A Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel was trying a too hard to nail his alms quota for the construction of St. Peter's basilica, when Luther nailed his famous Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in protest. The rest, as they say, is history. Geoffrey Chaucer's unsavory Pardoner may be literature's most famous purveyor of ''Indulgences of pope and cardinal ... /these I do/Show, and in Latin speak some words, a few,/To spice therewith a b it my sermoning/And stir men to devotion, marvelling.'' The church would want you to understand that today's ''good'' indulgences have little to do with the ''bad'' indulgences of yore. Catholicism formally abandoned the sale of get-out-of-Purgatory cards in 1567. Strictly spe aking, it's no longer a cash-on-the-barrelhead transaction. The granting of an indulgence, however, is still intended to reduce a soul's suffering in purgatory. And it can require a ''significant contribution to religious and social works,'' along with the appropriate prayers and confession. The church has an elaborate, sophistic explanation for the quid-pro-quo arrangement. ''The Church has a `treasury,' then, which is `dispensed' as it were through indulgences,'' John Paul explained in a Sept. 29 audience last year. The Catholic Encylopedia offers a codification of who can and cannot shell out these treasures. The Pope can grant a plenary, or complete indulgence, and will grant a great many to Christian pilgrims who visit Rome this year. That is to be distinguished from a partial indulgence. What's the difference? The one priest brave enough to discuss this subject with me allowed that ''only God knows what this doctrine really means.'' According to the book, an indulgence from Cardinal Law would last 200 days; from an archbishop 100 days, and so on. I'm a big fan of the present Pope, and generally an admirer of the One True Church. But let's make one thing clear. Jesus Christ never sold or granted indulgences. Quite the opposite. They were an invention of the 14th-century church bureaucracy, which often used the proceeds to build cathedrals, hospitals - or just to line their pockets. The modern church claims it ''has received from Christ the power to grant indulgences.'' Communicants must accept this ''de fide,'' or on faith. This is the equivalent of a child asking ''Why?'' and the parent answering ''Because.'' Enough palaver. Let's get down to a more practical question: How can I get one? Traditionally, making a pilgrimage to Rome is a good start, and this Jubilee year is no exception. If you're pressed for time, the Wall Street Journal has revealed that indulgences are now available in a small chapel at Rome's Fiumicino airport, to save travelers the hassle of driving in to one of the city's major basilicas for the remission of sins. Can drive-through be far behind? But you don't have to hop on Alitalia to get time off from Purgatory. Last Sunday, the Globe's City Weekly section printed this list of local churches offering the special sacrament: Our Lady of Victories; St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine; the Cathedral of the Holy Cross; Madonna Queen National Shrine, the Mission Church on Tremont Street, and St. Theresa of Avila in West Roxbury. So what can I say? Indulge. Alex Beam's e-dress is [EMAIL PROTECTED] This story ran on page D01 of the Boston Globe on 2/2/2000. © Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company. {{<End>}} A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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