Do You Indulge in Indulgences?

A recent article in the New York Times opinion section talks about the recent re-introduction of the Catholic penance tradition of the plenary indulgence. This is an interesting development.

I am Catholic, albeit a lazy one. I haven't attended Mass regularly, although I try to be careful about attending confession once a year. Yes, I'm not a great example of good Catholic practice for my children. It sounds lame, but life tends to get in the way of going to church. All God asks of me is an hour of my time once a week - that really isn't a lot.

Now we have this indulgence thing. I'm not too sure what it is, but my mother (a fallen-away Catholic) gets angry any time the subject is brought up, so I don't ask her. I looked to the St. Louis Archdiocesan web site for a definition and found a letter dating back to 2005 from then Archbishop Raymond Burke defining indulgences. I'm still confused.

Since I'm really a Catholic convert (both my parents fell away from the Church before I was born, therefore, my Catholic education didn't begin until later in my life), I am really having trouble understanding why our sins aren't just forgiven when we ask in the confessional. I sometimes wonder if this plenary indulgence is a man-made thing that some bored bishop came up with just to complicate things. I really don't know.

Since Lent begins next week, I'm going to try to do better about reciting my rosary, read my Bible a little better, and make a better effort to get to Mass. As for this plenary indulgence thing, I hope God will forgive me if I just don't get it. I don't understand how the mechanics of my car work, but I can still operate the vehicle.