Faculty Retreat

Finally, someone has done scientific research on a phenomenon we have all experienced. Recently, neuroscientists at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana published their findings on what they called “the doorway effect.” To give an example, let us suppose you’re sitting in the living room watching T.V. You decide you’d like to have a sandwich. So, you get up, walk through the living room door and enter the doorway to the kitchen. While you’re standing in the kitchen, you wonder why you are there. With some effortt, you finally remember – or not. The point of the study is that walking through a doorway purges what the researchers call “event models” and whatever happened in the old room is less relevant now that you have changed venues. You’re not losing your mind; on the contrary, by going through a doorway, it is necessary to leave other events behind. The mind can’t keep everything ready-to-hand. Walking through a doorway causes forgetting.

Extrapolate this phenomenon to the ritual of the Holy Door which inaugurates a Jubilee Year.

Following the ancient Roman architecture of a basilica, the Roman law courts, and churches, especially major buildings like St. Peter’s in Rome, usually have three doors. The middle door is reserved for extraordinary events. Inside the vestibule, the middle door is closed and sealed with brick so no one can walk through it. During a Jubilee Year, that middle door is opened and anyone who walks through it, under defined circumstances, receives complete forgiveness for all the temporal consequences of sin. This special experience of grace is called an indulgence, which I will discuss briefly.

Almost exactly 500 years ago, on the Eve of All Saints, a Catholic priest sent a manuscript to the local bishop of Wittenberg in what was then in the Holy Roman Empire. The document was entitled “Disputatio pro declaration virtutis indulgentiorum” (Disputation on the Power and efficacy of Indulgences). It contained 95 questions. It was intended to open a discussion – a common academic practice in the Universities of Medieval Europe. Contrary to popular legend, Martin Luther did not nail the document to the door of the local church. But he did open a Pandora’s Box which ultimately led to the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther did not question indulgences per se, but rather the selling of indulgences. He believed in indulgences himself.

Because of the controversy that resulted from his Disputation, the subject of indulgences has often been misunderstood. Not everyone is trained in Theological academic science.

To briefly summarize indulgences: sin has a double consequence. There are spiritual consequences, which alienate the sinner from God and from the Church. These consequences are removed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. However, there remains temporal consequence. For example, if I steal something from someone, then confess it, I am forgiven. But my theft may cause the owner grief, and then he becomes angry, mistreats others, kicks the dog and drinks too much. These are examples of temporal consequences. To remove them, indulgences are granted which require various prayers, works of mercy, and in this case restitution. If these are accomplished, all the consequences are forgiven. If it’s complete, it’s called a plenary – or complete – forgiveness.

When Pope Francis declared a Jubilee of Mercy last year, it came as a surprise. (Parenthetically, it’s not a Year of Mercy because it’s not quite a yearlong) The biblical Jubilee is a tradition that goes back to Ancient Times, as outlined in the Book of Leviticus. Every 50^th year – 7 x 7 + 1 – the Jewish People were required to wipe the slate clean, as it were. They were to forgive all debts, set prisoners and slaves free, let the land lay fallow, and to return property to their original owner, including mortgaged property. A kind of program Bernie Sanders would appreciate.

The Catholic Church has continued this practice by means of Jubilee – or; if one wishes – a Holy Year.

Pope Francis is obsessed with the subject of Mercy. His personal motto – which he has used since he became a bishop – is Miserando Atque Eligendo. It means “To be chosen to show Mercy.”

His constant emphasis on mercy is somewhat controversial. There are some who would prefer justice over mercy – revenge over forgiveness. But the Pope has said – and this is nothing new – that the Justice of God is his Mercy.

Back to the subject of the Holy Door – in case anyone has forgotten.

One innovation of this Extraordinary Jubilee is that the Pope has asked every diocese in the world, to have a Holy Door at their cathedral and other designated churches. In the diocese of Boise City, there are two holy doors, blessed by Bishop Peter. One is at the cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and the other is at the Chapel of St. Teresa of Jesus at Bishop Kelly.

Everyone who enters that holy door – Porta Sancta in Latin – leaves behind “event models”, purged of daily problems, anxieties, frustrations, and sin. They experience a neuro phenomenon of the “doorway effect.” They have forgotten their temporal consequences of sin.

The combination of a Papal proclamation and a Notre Dame University study is to be taken with the utmost gratitude for experiencing the Mercy of God.

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