Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-05
'INDULGENCES' THEME
OF BISHOPS SERMON
SPEAKER DESCRIBES MEANING
TO CHURCH
Spirit Of Brotherhood Enables the
Good to Help One Another and
Give Strength to the
Weak

'Indulgences" proved the topic Of an
interesting lecture delivered last even
ing by Bishop Conaty before the Bible
study class at the Woman's club house.
Bishop Conaty gave a history of in
dulgences and described their meaning
in the Catholic church. He said in
part:
According to the definition of the
catechism an indulgence is q remission
of the temporal punishment due to sin
after the sin and its eternal punish
ment have been remitted by the sacra-
ment of penance. Indulgence has no
effect until sin has been remitted.
Consequently 1t requires that the per-
son receiving its benefits be in the
state of grace; that is, to possess the
friendship of God either in innocence
of life or by reason of the pardon of
God for the sins which have been re-
mitted. According to the teaching of
the Catholic church every willful sin
has in it two things resulting from
mans offense against God. One Is guilt
and the other is punishment. If the
sin be a grievous one, the guilt On the
soul Is grievous and the punishment
deserved by 1t is both eternal and tenn
poral If the sin be but venial the
punishment due is but temporal. Eter-
nal punishment is RENTED with the
pardon of the guilt Of grievous, but
there frequently remains an obliga-
ton to satisfy by reparation for the
fault committed and consequently tenn
poral punishments follow in the wake
of sin and are satisfied for by the per-
sonal dispositions of the repentant
| sinner or by acts of penance to which
are attached snecial blessings which
stand in the way of satisfaction for
the temporal punishments. According
to the teaching of the Catholic church
the scope of indulgences is entirely
outside of sin and necessarily sup
poses the previous pardon of SIM"
Quotes from Old, Testament
Bishop Conaty quoted from the Old
Testament the many incidents of pun
ishments which remained to be en-
dured after the sin had been RENTED
by Almighty God. The many hard
ships and sufferings of Adams life,
the punishment of Moses and of David
after their sins had been forgiven. He
spoke of Gods willingness to pardon
the sins and grant indulgence to Sodom
provided ten just men could be found
in the wicked city.
Bishop Conaty said that the author
ity in the matters of indulgence by
the church was found in the commits
sion which Christ gave to the apostles
for the forgiveness of sins, and said
that as there was in the church the
ministry of reconciliation invested by
Christ with Christ's own power over
sin, so that authority was over the
punishments due to sin as well as to
sin itself. He cited the action of
Christ toward the adulterous woman
and that of st. Paul toward the in
cestuous Corinthian, and said that the
apostle was fulfilling the ministry of
forgiveness by not only remitting his
sin and then forcing him to acts of
penance, but also by remitting the part
of the penance which had been inn
posed
The bishop explained that an indulg-
ence was a share in the merits of
Christ, as also share in the merits
of the saints. 1t served as an encour-
agement to acts of penance and deeds
of goodness by being in the nature of
reward for special acts of devotion,
of mercy and of charity.
Indulgence stands as form OF
helpfulness to the individual who may
be spiritually unable to rise to the
heights of personal satisfaction due to
the justice of God and is a result of
that doctrine of the church known as
the communion of saints in which
the spirit of brotherhood enables the
good to help one another and thus give
strength to the weak and bear one for
the other the burden which justice de-
mands."