[PugetSoundSoldier]

If he pays enough I will let him off the hook for his good works. I call this invention an “indulgence”. Money is a great way to buy yourself out of trouble... After all, God is all about the money - cathedrals and monasteries aren’t cheap to maintain!

[Marysecretary]

Don’t forget annulments of your marriage either.

[bdeaner]

If he pays enough I will let him off the hook for his good works. I call this invention an “indulgence”. Money is a great way to buy yourself out of trouble... After all, God is all about the money - cathedrals and monasteries aren’t cheap to maintain!

This statement is a gross distortion of the Catholic conception of indulgences. It may describe abuses that were happening among individuals within the Church at certain points in history (we are all sinners), but DOES NOT reflect the infallible teaching on indulgences in the Deposit of Faith. Satan loves to take what is Good and corrupt it into Evil, which is how Satan used the Good and infallible doctrine of indulgences to undermine Christ working through the people of His Church. Satan plays similar tricks with sexuality. Satan takes what is essentially Good -- sex within marriage is for procreation and the expression of love that represents the Unity of the married couple -- and perverts it into Evil, e.g. objectification of women's bodies, pornography, adultery, etc.

To clarify for the moment, indulgences, as I have said earlier in this thread, are about remediation of temporal punishment -- reversing natural consequences that result from habitual sin. They do not save a person from mortal sin that results in Eternal punishment (nor any sin for that matter) and with them, a person cannot "work" themselves to Heaven. But they can 'work' to reverse the suffering that can result from the natural consequences of habitual sin.

Granted, this is a difficult concept that even a lot of Catholics don't understand, unfortunately.