I have started to wonder again how it is possible to say "you must pay a tax or you will be denied sacraments"; it makes perfect sense for someone who has apostatized in public to be denied communion, or the sacrament of matrimony, or a Mass of Christian Burial in a cathedral unless they have made some sign of repentance prior to death, …
I have started to wonder again how it is possible to say "you must pay a tax or you will be denied sacraments"; it makes perfect sense for someone who has apostatized in public to be denied communion, or the sacrament of matrimony, or a Mass of Christian Burial in a cathedral unless they have made some sign of repentance prior to death, and it would make sense to deny their child baptism until they promise to raise him in the faith; and it is also reasonable to assign a penance (historically even a public penance) to someone who repents of public apostasy, such as a barefoot pilgrimage or whatever, but to directly connect absolution to money alone rather than penance more generally (your public penance is to resume paying the church tax and then we will admit you to the confessional) seems like a regrettable innovation even if it were not the case that centuries ago the Church (in Ireland, I think) flipped the script and opted to absolve first and expect penance to be completed after. Perhaps I am overlooking something.
I have started to wonder again how it is possible to say "you must pay a tax or you will be denied sacraments"; it makes perfect sense for someone who has apostatized in public to be denied communion, or the sacrament of matrimony, or a Mass of Christian Burial in a cathedral unless they have made some sign of repentance prior to death, and it would make sense to deny their child baptism until they promise to raise him in the faith; and it is also reasonable to assign a penance (historically even a public penance) to someone who repents of public apostasy, such as a barefoot pilgrimage or whatever, but to directly connect absolution to money alone rather than penance more generally (your public penance is to resume paying the church tax and then we will admit you to the confessional) seems like a regrettable innovation even if it were not the case that centuries ago the Church (in Ireland, I think) flipped the script and opted to absolve first and expect penance to be completed after. Perhaps I am overlooking something.