For Catholics, Heaven Moves a Step Closer (from today's NY Times)
The announcement in church bulletins and on Web sites has been greeted with
enthusiasm by some and wariness by others. But mainly, it has gone over the
heads of a
vast generation of Roman Catholics who have no idea what it means: Bishop
Announces
Plenary Indulgences.
In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a
spiritual
benefit that fell out of favor decades ago the indulgence, a sort of amnesty
from
punishment in the afterlife and reminding them of the church's clout in
mitigating the
wages of sin.
The fact that many Catholics under 50 have never sought one, and never heard of
indulgences except in high school European history (where Martin Luther
denounces the
selling of them in 1517 and ignites the Protestant Reformation) simply makes
their
reintroduction more urgent among church leaders bent on restoring fading
traditions of
penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10indulgence.html?_r=1hp
This took me by surprise. Sin, karma, the concept of ritual amoral (ethically
neutral) acts
as antidote for immoral acts. Intercession by the priestly class on behalf of
the laity. If we
were playing Jeopardy, the question might be what is a yagya? The parallels
are
intriguing to say the least. Sometimes we see less flattering aspects of
ourselves more
easily through analogy.
