Apology must include intention to change behavior, says priest

By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

On March 12, Pope John Paul II apologized and asked forgiveness for the Church's treatment of Jews, different cultures and faiths, women, and others whose rights or dignity have not been respected by the Church over the past 2,000 years.

What does such an apology mean?

Canon lawyer Rev. Peter Sullivan of the diocesan Tribunal noted that the Pope's public apology for the sins of the Church is much different from the Sacrament of Reconciliation, during which people privately confess only their personal sins and must have the intention not to sin again in order to receive absolution.

Never again

Catholic teaching states that whenever you ask God's forgiveness, you must have the intention to change your behavior, Father Sullivan explained. That includes an apology like the Pope's.

The term used to describe this is "purpose of amendment." Intending not to sin again but doing so anyway "doesn't mean you didn't try or weren't sincere," said Father Sullivan. "It doesn't mean you won't fall down again. But there has to be the intention not to repeat the sin."

Since women were one group included in the apology, the question has arisen whether a change in behavior must mean a change in the Church's stance on women's ordination. Father Sullivan said he "assumes the Pope was sincerely stating that in the past, women were treated wrongly, and that needs to change." But that would not necessarily lead to their ordination, he added, since Pope John Paul "believes theologically it is not possible to ordain women."

More than apology

Is simply apologizing to the various groups hurt by the Church enough?

"No, I don't think so," Father Sullivan stated. "When someone says they're sorry, they have to stop doing what they're doing, or take responsibility for what they're not doing. You don't say, `I'm sorry I slapped you last night, but tonight I'm going to slap you again.'"

The canon lawyer believes that what is lacking in the papal apology was "contrition for in-house sins," including the Roman Curia's censure of many theologians who promote controversial views.

"Pope John Paul had to exonerate Galileo. That [type of censure] has happened to any number of very fine theologians, up to the present day," he explained.

In their times

Father Sullivan sees the Pope's apology as accomplishing two ends: atoning for things the Church did intentionally, and atoning for "stuff that was part and parcel of the day" back when the sins were committed.

For example, he said, a nun who cared for a priest of the Diocese years ago was responsible for turning down his bed every night. Today, such a task would be recognized as inappropriate, "because the Church was saying indirectly, `This is the role of women -- to be domestics.'" But at the time, that type of work was not seen as demeaning to women.

He quoted a fellow Tribunal member who concluded: "If nothing else, you've got the whole world talking about forgiveness."

"That is a very interesting phenomenon," Father Sullivan said. "That's kind of powerful. I like that." (03-23-00) [[In-content Ad]]