Canada to draw up guidelines on general absolution

By ART BABYCH
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

"It will probably cause a certain amount of re-thinking in several areas, especially in French Canada," said Msgr. Peter Schonenbach, the general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"There has been a tendency to use (general absolution) perhaps a little bit more there than in some other areas but I don't really think there's a real great exaggeration in Canada."

Some northern parishes that have few priests also use general absolution but the practice falls under the Church's "grave-necessity" condition for general absolution, Schonenbach said in a CCN interview. "Many dioceses in the North fall into a very special category."

He said in some northern dioceses, one priest serves several parishes. It is "dreaming in technicolour" to think the priest has time for individual confessions, said Schonenbach. "He just breezes in to say Mass and then he has to go off to the next place."

Schonenbach said the directive will be examined by the executive of the CCCB and likely be sent to some of the episcopal commissions for study and consultation. The preparation of a national standard for the use of general absolution "won't happen overnight, but will be done with due dispatch," he said.

"The main point we want to bring across is that we're obviously going to follow that directive and as a conference put ourselves to work on it."

Some Canadian bishops have already tightened up on the use of general absolution. Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Halifax told all parishes that the practice must only be used in extraordinary circumstances.

"In a departure from recent practice in the archdiocese, I have asked that these (communal reconciliation) celebrations not conclude with general absolution," he said in a message to all parishes.

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