Thank you for your clarification, Father.  Although I didn’t read the earlier thread on indulgences, it sounds like there must have been a lot of confusion.  One thing that you implied here but which bears saying again, is that although belief in indulgences is required, actually trying to get indulgences is optional.

As a convert, this is still quite a fuzzy area for me. My mother died last year and my aunt (her sister) is not Catholic. She was asking why we were having masses said for her. I told her it was to help her in purgatory. My aunt dug her heels in and told me that my mom was in heaven and there was no need to have masses said for her. I told her that I could not say if mom was in heaven or purgatory or even hell for that matter. Only God can judge a soul. She was still adamant that mom is in heaven. I told her that God is not on our time. The prayers we say for a person who may already be in heaven could always apply to them when they were with us. The prayers we say now, may have helped them here on earth. God’s time is not linear and we should always pray for the ones we love. She accepted that. Was I wrong?

Thanks Father for your attempt to thoroughly and peacefully clarify many Catholic points directly pointed at the thoughts and concerns I raised. I know I am not the best internet communicator, especially at this point in my spiritual journey, but I believe for me asking questions and being honest is what God is asking of me.  Now I definately know I have room to grow in my ability to communicate.  I know I come across rough around the edges and need to be more careful about that.

From what you said, it is true that the numbers of days doctrine “was phased out not because it was false but because it was misunderstood”  That was helpful to know.  I got the impression that others felt that was not what the Church taught when in fact in had and the Church still maintains that it is not false teaching although it is not phrased that way anymore.  That did help to clear up some confusion.

“We must accept indulgences as part of our faith”  If we do not—I’m not sure what you are saying here?  I truly think all of the practices are wonderful and promote holiness and are valuable to souls. I can not agree that God leaves someone in purgatory because you didn’t complete something in the numbers of days specificied (God does not even operate on our time)  or do something in the right order.  Is this not what indulgences are saying?  You have left someone in purgatory because you missed your goal by a day (due to something God knows)  This somehow makes me less Catholic or a dissenter?  We really should not judge another’s heart—God does truly know the heart.  I think that God’s mercy is greater than the exercise in numbers indulgences create.  I am confused as to why others are upset about raising this as an issue or question.

Lastly, please let me clarify—If someone can say 100 rosaries a day with sincerity and thoughtfulness then I give them credit—God does know the heart.  It has been my experience in the Church that what is encouraged is that the higher numbers
(the more rosaries you say) the holier you are.  Others may have a different experience.  This sort of thinking is not correct.  You can say one rosary (or none) and have a deeper spiritual life than someone who says 100.  My understanding is the rosary is a meditation and if you are saying a Hail Mary so fast as a group no one can understand what you are saying then it is hard for me to understand how you are meditating on the mysteries in a meaningful way.  You are correct though—only God knows their heart and I do not attempt to make individual judgments—just an observation on what I understand to be the correct teaching of the Church.  I am not sure why this was taken as a judgment.

The last questions I asked in your previous post were sincere questions.  I didn’t check again but I don’t think they were answered.  I was asked these questions by a non-catholic friend and just acknowledged that we do not know when anyone gets out of purgatory—no matter if we completed 100 sets of indulgences for them.  We could spend a decade trying to get them out of purgatory and we still do not know if they are out.  If there is a different answer please let me know.

Father John,

As a courtesy in the future if you are going to right a reponse directly pointed at the issues I raised it would helpful to post it right here in the comments.  After giving it more thought today I felt your reponse could have been done differently.  Maybe you could respond yourself?  This is “Ask the Priest” I think it would benefit the column if you responded to comments yourself.  I felt like your post was just an indirect way for you to respond to what you perceive to be heretical and judgmental based on what you heard and took away from the comments.

Let me put together a summary of my thoughts on the topics discussed so I can understand if you heard me correctly, The Church teaches:

1) that greater holiness is not found in the greater number of rosaries you pray but rather the state of your heart and your focus on the meaning of the rosary and the meditations.  I’ve have found it difficult in group rosaries to keep my focus when I could not understand what people were saying because they needed to say it so fast in order to get however many number was their goal for the night—that is an observation not a judgment.  God truly does know their heart.  Some may need to go fast to keep their rhythm—However, the Our Father should not need to be a rhythm and it would be good to be able to hear what is said.  (I do avoid group rosaries for this reason but I don’t believe I get an indulgence for saying it by myself-that is unfortunate as the meaning is so much deeper to me alone)

2)  If you do not complete an indulgence in the order or number of days you needed there is hope—if you read the fine print you can get an OK from a priest to wave it all and still give it to you—granted this is taken seriously and the priest would only be validating what God already knows—your heart and sacrifice were truly in it but something unforeseen happened and you were not able to complete it as the rules stated.  I believe God’s mercy can operate outside of our human boundaries, the numbers and the time—this does not make me any less Catholic than you or anyone else on this board and this is within Catholic teaching

3)  You do not have to participate in any indulgence to be a Catholic and in fact many of the works and sacrifice you do in your daily live would also provide (dare I say just as equal) benefits to other souls.  For some depending on their state life they are best to stick to their daily offerings @home.  For example a husband of 5 young kids under the age of 6 upon getting indulgence book in the mail should not be out everynight getting indulgences when he has never changed a diaper and his poor wife is suffering from post-partum depression and sleep deprivation and needs his support.  We all need to use common sense in our spiritual life with what God is calling us to do.

If there is something you disagree with or think is heretical please respond and let me clarify.  Remember we are talking thru the internet and it is often hard to hear what the other is saying.  Again, I would rather see you address it here and now then next week as the title of your next volume.  Also, it would be good to hear your answer to the questions I raised at the end of the post last week—referencing the fact that we do not know when someone is out of purgatory and could be doing indulgences for them for decades without knowing when we can stop.  I guess we could always tell God if so and so is out use it for someone else—but maybe God you could let me know if so and so is out?

Just a couple of comments here.  Whenever I don’t understand and have a hard time accepting something the church (magisterium) teaches, I first of all have to face the fact that my brain/mind cannot comprehend everything.  Then, I question and dig around/research if it’s an important enough issue to me.
These past few years I am reminded of two scripture passages which remind me and reinforce my faith in the infalliblity of the churches teachings on matters of faith and morals.  One of them is 1Tim 3:15 “.....the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”  So, if I firmly believe that the Catholic Church was established by Christ, then I must believe this scripture passage.  The church cannot teach error in regards to faith and morals.  Therefore, the teaching on indulgences is the truth.  Also, I’m not sure if it’s been clarified for you, Beth, but there is no longer any number of days attached to an indulgence. 
The other scripture passage is the words of Christ to Peter….Matt. 16: 19….”...what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”  How can I not believe everything the church teaches?  If it establishes something, it cannot be in error, because it is acting/speaking on behalf of Christ.  What is bound on earth is bound in heaven.  This teaching on indulgences is not easy at first and seems completely out of character at first glance with other church teachings.  I believe, however, that this is a great mercy the church has established, though, in looking into it further. 
I’m not saying our day to day sufferings, sacrifices and pains are not doing anything, for I believe God can do anything with the smallest suffering we offer to him.  And we will never know when a loved one is freed from purgatory into heaven.  That is not for us to know, though I wish it was, sometimes!  And, to top it off, our prayers for one particular soul go to God, and he puts them towards whomever he wills.  He is merciful and therefore will distribute our prayers/sacrifices to those most in need.  Perhaps there are faithful souls in purgatory who have nobody on earth who even believes in purgatory so noone is praying for them.  Maybe God in his mercy puts our prayers towards them.  I don’t know.  I used to think it wasn’t fair.  If I’m praying for this soul, don’t give my prayers to someone else!  But, alas, God is far more merciful than I am to the point I can’t understand it sometimes.  I hope this helps, somewhat.  Also, if you google the Catholic Answers website, it should have a really good explanation in there.