**So in the end, this Evangelical-gone-Catholic came to realize what a great pity it is (and one long overdue to be rectified) that many honest Protestants like myself have feared indulgences as nothing but a corrupt medieval money-making scheme. They are nothing of the kind originally and, though their good name was dragged through the mud by Tetzel and his ilk, they have been nothing of the kind since Trent. It is high time lay Catholics make clear, in Protestantese, that indulgences don’t make cents, they make sense!**
Excellent Mark Shea! Was this on a tape or on the internet?
It’s on the net. Not at his blog but on his site, under the “sheavings” section. There’s a motherload of excellent articles, I’m working through them myself.
http://www.mark-shea.com/archives.html
There’s also an excellent (and timely) essay on that other great stumbling block for protestants-the “no salvation outside the church” thing. I read Shea’s take on it and I finally feel I understand it enough to connect, in a positive way, with Protestants about this truth. Definitely worth a read as well.
“Just Exactly Where Is the Church? Unam Sanctam, Vatican II, and the Salvation of Non-Catholics” By Mark Shea
http://www.crisismagazine.com/may2007/shea.htm