Reformation Sunday & Slogans

Posted on October 28, 2022 
Filed under History, Sydney Diocese, Theology

“Friends in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate Reformation Sunday (including Bach’s cantata 79, written for the occasion, as part of the 10:30am service).

The Reformation began as a series of protests (hence ‘Protestant’) against abuses of the mediaeval Roman Catholic Church, perhaps most notably the sale of indulgences. By the way, in this context, an indulgence is not something to do with giving into luxury, one too many chocolates or wines. Nor is it the collective noun for grandparents, as in an ‘indulgence of grandparents’!

The word had and still has a special meaning for Roman Catholics. That Church taught that God forgives believers the eternal punishment for our sins. But we must also purify ourselves from the ‘temporal punishment’ due to every sin, either in this life, or after death in Purgatory. Purification takes place through prayer, acts of charity, patiently bearing suffering, and so on – or via gaining an indulgence. …”

– At the Cathedral website, Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant explains why Reformation Sunday is worth celebrating.