Archbishop Anthony Fisher has designated 12 churches around the city as Places of Pilgrimage for the 2025 Jubilee year of Hope, marking them as places parishioners and pilgrims can visit and gain plenary indulgences.
But what exactly are plenary indulgences and what do they do? Gymea parish priest Fr Greg Morgan says, in very basic terms, it is the “removal of any temporal punishment for sin.”
“In principle, we sin, we go to reconciliation, and our sins are forgiven but we still have to make restitution. Justice requires that we still endeavour to make reparation for the things that we have done wrong,” he told The Catholic Weekly.
“The grace of a plenary indulgence is that it even takes away what justice would expect we do in return for that gift of mercy.”
He said it was vital those receiving indulgences do not “take God’s mercy for granted” as there is still an expectation amends would be made.
He said a fuller understanding of what a plenary indulgence entails would require “a deeper catechesis around the nature of sin, forgiveness, and the mystery of our redemption.”
“I don’t think you can really give a simple answer without the catechesis to help people comprehend the wider spiritual significance,” he said.
“You have to start with topics like, what is mercy? How does mercy work? What is justice? Where do these things come from?”
Fr Morgan said indulgences, and the topic of the abuse of them, have come a long way from being the subject of Martin Luther’s ire in the 1500s.
“The Lord gives the power of ‘binding and loosing’ to the apostles and to their successors, the pope and the bishops” he said.
“Like anything that is good and holy, it can be abused or exploited for harmful ends.”
“Even if there have been misuses or misunderstandings, it still does not discount the fact that these things are of God and, thus, can be used for his glory and the sanctification of his people,” he said.
Fr Morgan said indulgences were not a “get out of jail free card” as there must be contrition when seeking one.
“This is why attending to the interior reality of our heart is so important,” he said. “The gift of divine mercy and the grace of a plenary indulgence are occasions for the Lord to create a new heart within us.”
He says, while those who make a good confession and receive a plenary indulgence have been forgiven, they cannot wish to repeat past sins but must be resolved to be faithful to the Lord’s commandments.
“I have a fresh start, which is a profound grace, but that’s not an excuse to repeat bad habits or to go back to old ways,” he said.
“The beauty of Lent, the beauty of the sacrament of God’s mercy, the beauty of a plenary indulgence is that they enthuse us and motivate us to ‘turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel’.”