LETTERS

Indulgences and the Holy Souls

Thank you for Paul Czarnota's incredibly rich and well documented article on indulgences (September/ October, 1996). His statement that indulgences lead us closer to Our Lord is borne out by the flourishing spiritual life of the Church when these grants have been properly appreciated.

In his summary of Pope Paul VI's revision of indulgences (Indulgentiarum doctrina) Mr. Czarnota notes that the opportunities for plenary indulgences have been reduced so that they could be more valued. While the number of partially indulgenced prayers has also been decreased, the occasions for obtaining partial indulgences have been vastly increased. Performing the duties of everyday life and enduring difficulties while offering a short prayer, rendering acts of service or providing material goods to those in need, abstaining from a legitimate pleasure, and teaching or studying Christian doctrine are all enriched with partial indulgences. Thus a large portion of our activities can serve to effect our purification, lessen the debt of satisfaction for our sins, reduce-or, we can dare to hope-eliminate the need for purgatory, and deepen the life of Christ in us. And we have the opportunity to assist the Holy Souls in purgatory who cannot help themselves but who will remember us with gratitude in their prayers.

The Enchiridion of Indulgences cited by Mr. Czarnota is unfortunately out of print. The new version, The Handbook of Indulgences, also put out by the Catholic Book Publishing Company (1991), is marred by unfaithful ICEL translations, which at times recast prayers in accord with modernist tenets. A very good booklet, "New Regulations on Indulgences" by Father Winfrid Herbst (TAN, 1970), references all grants except for a very few recent additions and gives excellent teaching on the subject.

Inez Fitzgerald Storck,

Greenbelt, Maryland

Gratitude

I am grateful to you (Father Hardon) for having shared so much of your Catholic faith with me and others through your books and tapes. You are an excellent teacher who speaks in simple and direct terms. Please keep up the good work that our Lord has in store for you.

Joseph Martino

Lexington, Kentucky

More Thanks

Congratulations on the new periodical, The Catholic Faith! We have subscribed to it and consider it excellent. The authentic teaching of the Church which it provides is a God-send. It is most welcome!

Sister Miriam Therese of the
Mother of God, O.C.D.

Carmel of the Holy Cross

Iron Mountain, Michigan