General Sacramental Absolution: An Historical, Canonical and Pastoral Perspective

General Sacramental Absolution, published in response to the Pope's recent call to look toward the jubilee to be celebrated in the year 2000 as "an occasion to help the faithful recover the true 'sense of sin' leading to a renewed appreciation of the beauty and joy of the sacrament of penance," traces the use and abuse of general absolution in history and in the law of the church, arguing that general absolution as it is still used in many parishes during lent and advent, as well as at other times - such as in schools and on retreats - is illicit, if not invalid. The documentation and arguments advanced must be considered carefully by anyone still involved in the regular use of general absolution, as must the alternative pastoral strategies suggested.