I have met some people in the past week who do not understand that the Pope and the Vatican are in charge of indulgences. Indulgences are in the hands of the Church and can be and have been changed frequently.
There is a complete misunderstanding of what continuity in the Church means regarding such things as fasting, abstinence, indulgences connected to prayers and practices and so on.
One can become "more Catholic than Rome", as some of the Irish say, and actually not be getting any indulgences or blessings as some have been changed in the past 50 years.
On the Vatican website, one can find the information one needs for indulgences. Anything with an older date than the last individual changes are no longer indulgences. In other words, one must be in obedience to the Church on these details. Here is one link. There are others.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_doc_20020826_enchiridion-indulgentiarum_lt.html
This warning also holds true for the use of older catechisms. Some excellent home schoolers are actually teaching error by using books which are out of date. Now, some of these errors are small, but the main point is that we all need to be obedient to changes which, of course, are not doctrinal, but areas of practice.
Simply put, if one is using holy cards or old books regarding indulgences or the calendar year, one is not necessarily getting those indulgences or blessings, which are in the hands of the Pope to change. And, recent popes have changed some. In fact, Blessed John Paul II made it more difficult to gain a plenary indulgence for souls in purgatory. He rightly saw that it was too easy. http://www.the-pope.com/purg.html
In addition, when teaching children, one must not make one's child a Catholic who is living in the Catholic world of practices long ago. I do not mean, of course, the Tridentine Mass. But some Catholics err concerning older practices abrogated by Rome. For example, one parent I talked to did not know that there were no longer any ember days or rogation days as his priest taught that one had to follow the old calendar. No. When the Summorum Pontificum was promulgated, this did not change the calendar rules for fasting and abstinence, only the use of the Mass. Can one voluntarily fast and abstain? Absolutely, but one cannot expect others who are faithful to the Church to do so.
Such days have been abrogated and fasting or abstinence on those days may be done, but do not have to be done. One is not under the same laws of fasting if one chooses to follow older laws no longer enforced by either the Vatican or one's national bishops' conference.
A priest who is preaching such is simply wrong and in disobedience to Rome if he insists that his congregation follows older, obsolete rules. If he offers these as voluntary possibilities, fine.
Volunteer fasting and abstinence are goods, but one must be humble and realize that Rome alone has the power to set these rules, not old books.
In addition, many people are adding prayers to the rosary. Again, the Vatican alone has the right to add or subtract prayers connected with the rosary. A group of people cannot do this.
I have warned some followers of Medjugorje on this point, as they add songs not approved by the Vatican. But, some people who have attended SSPX parishes are just as guilty of adding prayers not approved by Rome for the rosary.
If one is disobedient on the liberal side, one can be disobedient on the conservative side of things. Both are errors of disobedience. One does not get indulgences for added prayers not approved by Rome.
Simply put, if we are not obedient in small things, we shall not be obedient in large ones.
The Church in Her wisdom does not want to create a group of people who think they are holier than others simply because they follow old, abrogated rules. If one has this attitude, one can be subtly moving outside the Church. Satan may appeal to one's spiritual pride in these matters.
The life of the Church depends on priests. And, if home schoolers especially are teaching that the Church can be overruled by one priest, this is teaching an attitude of disobedience which will interfere with true vocations.
A real vocation is found within the Church. Many Catholics cry out that the liberals have destroyed vocations, and yes, they have. But, there are also hot-house conservatives who have done the same by encouraging dissent in the home.
People asked me why my son did not go into the SSPX. I was shocked. To this day, there is a rupture between those good people and the Church and until that is healed, one must not encourage a vocation to a dissident group-even one which holds many truths of the Church. Either one is Catholic or not....and to be Catholic is to be with Rome.
If one decides not to follow the current laws and even minor rules of the Church, one will begin to decide not to follow the Church on larger issues. Like the liberals, a uber-conservative can start to interpret their own guidelines outside of the protection of Rome.
And, if someone answers with a phrase, "Well, God knows the heart", that person has put themselves in a protesting state of mind-Protestant, that is.
Either one is with Rome or not....
Teach your children well....
