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Remembering sins?
Q. My mother has not gone to confession for a number of years as she has a poor memory and cannot remember her sins, except now and again. She frets about all this and is afraid that she might be in mortal sin without knowing it. She thinks that she may have committed mortal sins in the past, but does not know what they are. What do you suggest?
-- Name withheld, Clinton, Ohio
A. Here’s a reply from OSV columnist Msgr. M. Francis Mannion:
Since confession, like all the sacraments, is an occasion when Christ personally reaches out to us and embraces us with his loving grace, I recommend that you help your mother go to confession in the near future.
My best recommendation is that you bring your mother to confession. Go first to the sacrament yourself and explain your mother's situation to the priest. Then have her go to confession immediately after you. That way the priest will be prepared to assist your mother and he will hopefully understand any confusion or hesitation on her part.
Helping people with confession is an enormously important part of a priest's responsibility. If he knows what he is doing, he will try to calm your mother's fears and explain to her that God does not hold her responsible for sins that she cannot remember.
Private Monstrance?
Q. The question I have is about the body of Jesus we were given as Eucharistic ministers. We were to give it to a sick, elderly woman when she could not attend Mass. We never had the opportunity to give Jesus' body to her because each time we visited her, either she was too sick to eat anything or she was well enough to go to Mass.
I have kept His body in the special case and bag that was given to us, and I have felt very honored to carry Jesus with me every day in my purse. Is it allowed for a parishioner to have a monstrance in his or her home? Would we be able to place our body of Jesus in this and have a sacred adoration altar in our home? We will abide by whatever you say.
Dianna de Cordoba, via e-mail
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Francis Hoffman, J.C.D.:
Thank you for your question and for your care and concern for the elderly, as well as for your interest in treating the Most Blessed Sacrament with the greatest respect and veneration.
When anyone brings the holy Eucharist to the sick or shut-ins, they are to go directly to that place in a prayerful and recollected manner, without stopping to do errands along the way. In the event the homebound person cannot receive the Eucharist, then the minister (extraordinary or not) should return to Church as soon as possible and put the sacred Host back in the tabernacle. Outside of absolutely extraordinary circumstances, you should avoid carrying Our Lord around in your purse, even though you consider it an honor and His presence helps your connection to God and others.
I can well understand your desire to have a sacred adoration altar in your home. However, you would need the express permission of the bishop of your diocese for that, and such permission is rarely given.
Change in Dogma?
Q. Has the dogma of our religion ever changed? I thought that only the disciplines have.
Denise T. Riedl, via e-mail
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D:
You are correct. Disciplines -- that is, the laws and customs regulating the Church's moral and religious life -- do sometimes change, according to the Church's need. For example, the disciplines surrounding fasting and abstinence have changed over time.
On the other hand, dogma -- a truth directly proposed by the Church for our belief as an article of divine revelation -- never changes in the sense that something once affirmed could later be denied, or something denied could later be affirmed. For example, the Church has always proclaimed, and will always proclaim, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; she will never deny this truth of divine revelation.
The only way in which dogma may change is that it develops -- that is, the Holy Spirit continually deepens the Church's understanding of what God has revealed to her through His Son Jesus Christ. This is the carrying out of Jesus' promise: "When he comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth" (Jn 16:13). This Spirit-filled process is guided by the teaching authority of the Catholic Church.
For example, though the Church has always taught that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, her understanding of that truth has deepened through the years as she has come to penetrate more profoundly the reality of the Blessed Trinity. The development of this doctrine resulted in the carefully worded dogmatic definitions of the First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) and later ecumenical councils dealing with this subject.
Whatever Happened to CCD?
Q. At one time the religion classes were called "CCD" -- I think it meant "Confraternity of Christian Doctrine." People in our parish still refer to the religious education classes as "CCD," although they don't know what "CCD" means. Why are these classes no longer called "CCD"? When was this changed, who changed it and why?
Donna Lanoue, via e-mail
The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) was established by Pope Pius IV in 1562, in Rome, in order to promote a more regular and comprehensive instruction in the faith for youngsters. The Church of St. Appolinare in Rome was designated as its first central institution. (Today, the Palazzo of St. Appolinare houses the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross -- my alma mater.)
Later, in 1571, responding to the crisis of ignorance and the considerable challenge of the Protestant movement, St. Pius V recommended that bishops establish CCD in every parish. Today, the confraternity is loosely organized and has become a generic term for religious education/Sunday school for the youngsters of parishes, so that it is the lay teachers who make up the local "confraternity."
"CCD" and "religious education" basically mean the same thing: weekly classes in the faith for youngsters covering the creed, the sacraments, the commandments and prayer. (Religious education may also include classes for adults.)
The change in nomenclature has gradually evolved over the last several decades, and it has been initiated by directors of religious education and others in charge of directing the catechesis of the Church.
Why the change in name? To give greater emphasis to the multifaceted nature of our faith experience. "Evangelization" is more than teaching doctrine: It is teaching persons to seek Christ, find Christ, know Christ, and love Christ. Some thought that the goal of CCD was only to teach doctrine, so they prefer the broader term "religious education."
The Unforgiveable Sin?
Q. Could you please explain the unforgivable sin, "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit"? This question has come up at our Bible study group, and we still have questions with the explanation we received.
Paul Valancius, Falls Church, Va.
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.:
In three parallel passages in the Gospels, Jesus speaks of sin against the Holy Spirit: Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10. St. Luke's version is the most succinct: "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."
The first clause of this sentence reminds us that a person who is mistaken about Jesus, who does not know Jesus as the Son of God, can be forgiven for not acknowledging Him.
To understand the second clause, we must first note a basic truth: God limits himself with regard to human freedom. Though He always includes in His overall plan even our misuse of our freedom, He always respects that freedom and will not destroy it.
He therefore does not force himself on us, so to speak -- does not force us to accept His love and forgiveness. Our freedom gives us the frightful capacity to reject Him and to refuse to allow Him to forgive us.
The "unforgivable sin" is the sin of refusing to be forgiven. It is the determination to continue in sin at all costs.
In his encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem ("Lord and Giver of Life," 1986), Pope John Paul II taught: "If Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this 'non-forgiveness' is linked, as to its cause, to 'non-repentance,' in other words to the radical refusal to be converted" (no. 46).
Sometimes sincere Christians ask themselves whether in fact they have committed the unforgivable sin. If one asks that question in awe and even in fear, the very asking shows that a person has not committed the unforgivable sin.
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