3/4 of Catholics Rarely or Never Go to Confession

[Brooklyn]

Interesting article on Catholic News Service about Catholics going to confession:

catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0903530.htm

A 2008 study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington revealed three-quarters of Catholics reported they never participate in the sacrament of reconciliation or they do so less than once a year.

The article goes on to talk about dioceses where the priests are trying to be proactive and reaching out to Catholics by going to shopping malls, having 24 hours of confession, etc. And I think that’s great. Here in New York at the beginning of Lent this year we had 24 hours of confession spread throughout Manhattan, and it did produce results.

But I wonder if the results would be much greater and lasting if we just stopped preaching all these “feel good” sermons in the Church and started preaching about right and wrong, good and evil. I’m not talking fire and brimstone. I don’t think that just scaring people produces real lasting results, either. But I think people need to be made aware that apart from Christ’s sacrifice, we have no life within us, that we are born into a fallen world and need the grace of Christ’s sacrifice to spiritually heal us. We are all born with original sin, cutting us off from God, and living in a fallen world, we are all personally guilty of sin.

The only time I have heard this in Church was at the Latin Mass I go to each week, in which we have a very devout orthodox Jesuit priest. He really helped me understand this in a way I never did before. He helped me understand just how great Christ’s sacrifice is because he helped me understand how great a sinner I am, and how helpless I am to save myself. It didn’t produce fear in me, but a great love of our Lord, knowing all he had done for me.

I believe the reason people don’t go to Confession anymore is because they don’t believe in sin anymore. And by extension, they also don’t see the need for Christ’s sacrifice, which is the greatest tragedy of all. And yet, they all still receive Communion. How ironic is that.

Mary

 

[passus]

What you’re pointing out here is what has spurred the Vatican’s development of a new “handbook” for Confession. I’m very excited about the document, actually. I’m not sure if it will have any positive effect on those hard souls who haven’t been to confession in 40 years, but it certainly gives us liturgy buffs some new material to digest.

cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=14231

But I wonder if the results would be much greater and lasting if we just stopped preaching all these “feel good” sermons in the Church and started preaching about right and wrong, good and evil. I’m not talking fire and brimstone. I don’t think that just scaring people produces real lasting results, either. But I think people need to be made aware that apart from Christ’s sacrifice, we have no life within us, that we are born into a fallen world and need the grace of Christ’s sacrifice to spiritually heal us.

Yeah, no, people don’t want to hear that. If people go to Mass and feel like they’re being judged from the pulpit or yelled at, they’ll simply get up and head for the Catholic Church down the street or–worse–find themselves turned off to the Church entirely. Now both of those are bad, but both of those also mean a loss of money for the Church. Light attendance, light collection. It’s in the best interest of every parish to keep its attendance (and offertory) as high as it can and some priests have taken to, err, sugarcoating their homilies in order to do that.

 

[dashso40]

But I wonder if the results would be much greater and lasting if we just stopped preaching all these “feel good” sermons in the Church and started preaching about right and wrong, good and evil. I’m not talking fire and brimstone. I don’t think that just scaring people produces real lasting results, either. But I think people need to be made aware that apart from Christ’s sacrifice, we have no life within us, that we are born into a fallen world and need the grace of Christ’s sacrifice to spiritually heal us. We are all born with original sin, cutting us off from God, and living in a fallen world, we are all personally guilty of sin.

The only time I have heard this in Church was at the Latin Mass I go to each week, in which we have a very devout orthodox Jesuit priest. He really helped me understand this in a way I never did before. He helped me understand just how great Christ’s sacrifice is because he helped me understand how great a sinner I am, and how helpless I am to save myself. It didn’t produce fear in me, but a great love of our Lord, knowing all he had done for me.

I believe the reason people don’t go to Confession anymore is because they don’t believe in sin anymore. And by extension, they also don’t see the need for Christ’s sacrifice, which is the greatest tragedy of all. And yet, they all still receive Communion. How ironic is that.

Mary

I agree, I think many people forget how much Jesus has done for us…On this site, there is an article about the Passion and it brings to life how much Jesus suffered for us…

 

[allhers]

What you’re pointing out here is what has spurred the Vatican’s development of a new “handbook” for Confession. I’m very excited about the document, actually. I’m not sure if it will have any positive effect on those hard souls who haven’t been to confession in 40 years, but it certainly gives us liturgy buffs some new material to digest.

cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=14231

Yeah, no, people don’t want to hear that. If people go to Mass and feel like they’re being judged from the pulpit or yelled at, they’ll simply get up and head for the Catholic Church down the street or–worse–find themselves turned off to the Church entirely. Now both of those are bad, but both of those also mean a loss of money for the Church. Light attendance, light collection. It’s in the best interest of every parish to keep its attendance (and offertory) as high as it can and some priests have taken to, err, sugarcoating their homilies in order to do that.

Fr. Corapi would disagree with you on those souls that haven’t been to Confession in 40 years or so, he talks about how it was about 20 years, I believe, since he had gone when he finally went and I believe it had been over 30 when his own father finally went.

Like Mother Angelica said once, as long as your alive, its never too late.

Also, I believe that if Priest, like they do on EWTN, would preach the truth that more people would stay instead of leave. People need to hear the truth and they want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. Not sugarcoated homilies. What good do those do for anyone’s soul?

 

[Brooklyn]

What you’re pointing out here is what has spurred the Vatican’s development of a new “handbook” for Confession. I’m very excited about the document, actually. I’m not sure if it will have any positive effect on those hard souls who haven’t been to confession in 40 years, but it certainly gives us liturgy buffs some new material to digest.

cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=14231

Yeah, no, people don’t want to hear that. If people go to Mass and feel like they’re being judged from the pulpit or yelled at, they’ll simply get up and head for the Catholic Church down the street or–worse–find themselves turned off to the Church entirely. Now both of those are bad, but both of those also mean a loss of money for the Church. Light attendance, light collection. It’s in the best interest of every parish to keep its attendance (and offertory) as high as it can and some priests have taken to, err, sugarcoating their homilies in order to do that.

I have to disagree with you. First of all, it was 38 years between confessions for me, so as a later post says, it is never too late.

And are you saying that we should not preach the truth because it might offend people? I think that you are hurting people greatly by that and any priest who would feel that way is going to have a lot of souls to answer for. The reason I go to confession is because I am aware of my sinfulness. I believe the reason most Catholics don’t go to confession is because they don’t even know they are sinners. If they honestly understood the meaning of sin and the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice to wipe away that sin, they would be standing in line for confession like they did 40 and 50 years ago, and we wouldn’t be using confessionals as storage places now.

You are saying that we should sell out the truth for money. That would make us no better than spiritual prostitutes.

Mary

 

[Elizabeth502]

Brooklyn, like you, I am a passionate believer in ***the universal need ***for frequent confession. I.m.o., though, the fact that the universal need is not very universally perceived among Catholics is only partly due to the blurring of the lines between sin and accident, and among degrees of sin (“mortal,” “venial”). It is more comprehensively due, I believe, to the lack of passion for true union with Christ and a lack of understanding how to achieve that union. In other words: a deficiency in adult catechesis.

I have lifelong training in the faith. I was fortunate enough to receive that training in an environment bathed in classic Catholic education in Aquinas, and all the early Church fathers. I was also fortunate enough to be raised in an atmosphere which valued silence and regular prayer as important components of self-assessment, as well as – later – having opportunities to develop a deeper prayer life and a more keen spirituality (not equalling holiness necessarily, but certainly equalling greater awareness). My point being to all this is that even someone with such advantages needs ongoing personal catechesis in order even to maintain such awareness of what it takes to live a life in Christ, let alone to deepen that awareness.

The more aware we are, the more we desire to go to confession, and the more we do go. That’s why some of us harp on catechesis. To begin with, if poor catechesis was offered early on, there’s a lot of catching up to do by the time one reaches adulthood, and the repair mechanisms directed to adults are not that available in the church. Most adult catechesis is focused on RCIA efforts. There is some scant and token non-RCIA catechesis going on in some parishes, but it seems not well attended. Further, it is not mere intellectual education that is needed, but adult catechesis for the already confirmed should be focusing on spirituality, on prayer, and on lectio divina.

Couple those voids with the absence of silence in modern life, and too much noise and superficiality and “blandness” in many Catholic liturgies, and one has a recipe for disaster when it comes to the impulse toward confession. To me, the homily is only one ingredient, which with the best preacher may begin to encourage self-assessment, but it’s usually a constellation of factors which promotes an understanding of how often we sin and how avoiding the graces of confession keeps us only marginally in union with God.

Any homily themes I would like to hear would be to enlighten the faithful on the indissoluble relationship between Penance and Eucharist, but a “fire and brimstone” approach would not be likely to produce such enlightenment by itself, i.m.o. Remember that Fr. Wade Menezes says often in his homilies during EWTN Masses - with effective arm gestures – is that the way Jesus works is to lure people to himself.

 

[Brooklyn]

Brooklyn, like you, I am a passionate believer in ***the universal need ***for frequent confession. I.m.o., though, the fact that the universal need is not very universally perceived among Catholics is only partly due to the blurring of the lines between sin and accident, and among degrees of sin (“mortal,” “venial”). It is more comprehensively due, I believe, to the lack of passion for true union with Christ and a lack of understanding how to achieve that union. In other words: a deficiency in adult catechesis.

I have lifelong training in the faith. I was fortunate enough to receive that training in an environment bathed in classic Catholic education in Aquinas, and all the early Church fathers. I was also fortunate enough to be raised in an atmosphere which valued silence and regular prayer as important components of self-assessment, as well as – later – having opportunities to develop a deeper prayer life and a more keen spirituality (not equalling holiness necessarily, but certainly equalling greater awareness). My point being to all this is that even someone with such advantages needs ongoing personal catechesis in order even to maintain such awareness of what it takes to live a life in Christ, let alone to deepen that awareness.

The more aware we are, the more we desire to go to confession, and the more we do go. That’s why some of us harp on catechesis. To begin with, if poor catechesis was offered early on, there’s a lot of catching up to do by the time one reaches adulthood, and the repair mechanisms directed to adults are not that available in the church. Most adult catechesis is focused on RCIA efforts. There is some scant and token non-RCIA catechesis going on in some parishes, but it seems not well attended. Further, it is not mere intellectual education that is needed, but adult catechesis for the already confirmed should be focusing on spirituality, on prayer, and on lectio divina.

Couple those voids with the absence of silence in modern life, and too much noise and superficiality and “blandness” in many Catholic liturgies, and one has a recipe for disaster when it comes to the impulse toward confession. To me, the homily is only one ingredient, which with the best preacher may begin to encourage self-assessment, but it’s usually a constellation of factors which promotes an understanding of how often we sin and how avoiding the graces of confession keeps us only marginally in union with God.

Any homily themes I would like to hear would be to enlighten the faithful on the indissoluble relationship between Penance and Eucharist, but a “fire and brimstone” approach would not be likely to produce such enlightenment by itself, i.m.o. Remember that Fr. Wade Menezes says often in his homilies during EWTN Masses - with effective arm gestures – is that the way Jesus works is to lure people to himself.

I agree that catechesis is vital, but as stated in your post, even when it is offered, people aren’t interested. There has to be something to motivate them. The main place most people are going to get the Word of God is at Mass, and as stated in my first post, I don’t believe in scaring people into going to Church and confession. I can only look at myself and why I go, and the reason is because I realized my own sinfulness and the great sacrifice of Christ, and it is my love for what he has done for me that motivates me to go.

You also bring up an interesting point in my mind that I’ve been thinking about for a while. St. Faustina taught us that Divine Mercy says God’s grace is all around us, and as Rom 5:20 says: “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”. I believe that Christ is calling out to us at all times, but it is up to us whether we hear and answer. In our time, with all the technology that we have and access to so many spiritual resources, we have more “access to grace” if you will, than any people have at any time in history. I have an Ipod that is completely full of Catholic resources that I carry with me everywhere, including the Bible and the Catechism. Saints in past ages would have done anything to have access to such resources.

I am believing more and more that if people are spiritually ignorant, they will have to take some culpability for it. They are allowing themselves to become spiritually drunk, as you said in your post, on “too much noise and superficiality and ‘blandness’”. Satan is always tempting us, and I for one have to constantly fight myself to say no to him, and because I fail, I have to go to confession. But God’s grace is always right there for me, and I believe it is for anyone and everyone else if they will only answer and say yes. We can’t place complete blame on the Churches, no matter how bad they may seem. We will all have to stand individually before our Maker.

Mary

 

[JPUSC]

I believe the reason people don’t go to Confession anymore is because they don’t believe in sin anymore. And by extension, they also don’t see the need for Christ’s sacrifice, which is the greatest tragedy of all. And yet, they all still receive Communion. How ironic is that.

Nope, that’s not it. They don’t want some priest scolding them. It’s already hard enough as it is. A Redemptorist gave a talk at a parish mission and told us parishioners not to be afraid of Confession and that a priest who speaks too harshly in the Confessional isn’t doing it right.

I used to go every week when I was a young altar server until I encountered a priest who kept me in there for twenty minutes with a huge line of questioning and a tone that made me sweat bullets, haha! Jeez, it was like an interrogation! He did the same for everyone else in line.

The best way to attract people to Confession is to assure them that it will be a pleasant experience.

Our Lady of Laus

For many people, there is nothing harder than going to Confession. Rather than admit their sins to priests in order to receive pardon, many souls stop practicing their religion and sink even more deeply into sin. Out of compassion for Her sinful children, the Virgin Mary gave Benoite the exceptional privilege of reading into souls. Later, Saint John Mary Vianney, and more recently Saint Padre Pio, received the same charism in favor of the conversion of sinners.

Inspired by Heaven, Benoite urged sinners to set their conscience in order; she enlightened those who could not see and, if necessary, revealed forgotten or hidden sins. She could “see consciences the way we see in a mirror, all at once,” she said. She revealed faults, grievous and lesser sins, hidden motives, hypocrisy, and errors often committed unconsciously. She required simplicity and purity of soul, humility and a firm will to improve. She would even take away from the Communion rail people who were not in the state of grace. Benoite often had to make painful observations and say things that were not easy to hear, but she was so kind and compassionate that people were generally very grateful to her. After speaking with her they were resolved to purify every aspect of their consciences in order to amend their lives. Her hardest task was to reprimand or warn certain souls at Our Lady’s behest. When she would put of this duty, the Blessed Virgin would defer a visit. It was not that the sainty seer was defying Our Lady in pride, but that she was so humble and simple in that humility that she considered herself unworthy of the task. One day a priest asked her why she acted as she did.

“The Mother of God commands me to do it in such a mild manner that I don’t believe She absolutely wants it. And when I fail, my good Mother corrects me without getting angry. So because of the shame I feel on admonishing others, I often wait for a second command, and then I obey.” If it were only a question of sinners! . . . ----but she also had to guide their, confessors.

To priests, she revealed their indiscretion, their lack of prudence in their manner of questioning penitents, their neglectful behavior, their grudges. Concerning a religious brother who was always on the move, she said, “Let him stay where he is. That is where he will work out his salvation, but he must be faithful to grace.”

**The apparitions were recognized by the diocese of the Roman Catholic Church on September 18, 1665. They were approved by the Vatican on May 5, 2008. *

catholictradition.org/Mary/laus.htm

 

[Elizabeth502]

Haha, replying to myself, , I would say that if I were to develop a strategy to encourage more frequent confession, I would concentrate on the prayer life of the parish and the liturgical life of the parish. About 10 years ago in my area, there seemed to be a groundswell of passion for what are sometimes called “small Christian communiites.” LOL, these aren’t Protestant break-away groups, or heterodox groups, but rather groups of Catholics interested in meeting regularly for guided prayer, for scripture study, and for spiritual support. I have both participated in and led those. What I found in them is a deep hunger for genuine spirituality in the church that our group members were not finding within parish celebrations or other parish-organized opportunities. There was also a deep hunger for education in scripture, which I usually facilitated since I was the scripture scholar in these groups.

Fast forward several years later (today), and I continue to observe that hunger that is not being filled, overall, within the parishes. But previously, anyway (and sometimes still now), I did read and do read announcements in parish bulletins about such small groups. The announcements of resources are unfortunately not as frequent as they were 10 years ago, but I doubt that the hunger has vanished.

So for anybody that this does affect, who would like to see more commitment to adult spirituality, resulting in more frequent confession and opportunities for that, I recommend approaching the pastor for a bulletin announcement naming oneself as the contact point for anyone wanting to join such a small group. (When there’s a lot of interest, no one is excluded, but the bigger groups just eventually break down into manageable groups.) Then, when a pastor sees that there is “fire” radiating outside the pews, he sometimes responds by offering other opportunities, such as a more reverent Mass during one of the Sunday Masses – such as a candlelight Mass or a Gregorian Mass, a liturgy with much more silence, for example. The laity can drive some changes by their own visible interest.

I would also not hesitate to ask a pastor for Days of Reconciliation, perhaps jointly with other parishes, so that priests from nearby parishes could all participate in a single-location Day. We also have that in our area, at a parish which also has a Spiritual Life center with some of the kinds of opportunities I previously named, for adults.

 

[Deacon_Ed_B]

Thank heavens I have a pastor who tells it like it is. I have heard too much feel good in many parishes. I am seeing a trend away from that at present,and hope and pray that it picks up steam.

 

[Elizabeth502]

I agree that catechesis is vital, but as stated in your post, even when it is offered, people aren’t interested. There has to be something to motivate them.

People aren’t interested in superficial catechesis, or in dry catechesis. (I should have clarified) People are interested in passionate spirituality, in committed prayer, in moving liturgies, and in deepening their encounter with Christ in his sacraments. They just don’t know, necessarily, how to get there, so they need the structures to assist them. When I see token attendance in adult catechesis in parishes, it’s because the catechesis itself is token in nature.

 

[Brooklyn]

Nope, that’s not it. They don’t want some priest scolding them. It’s already hard enough as it is. A Redemptorist gave a talk at a parish mission and told us parishioners not to be afraid of Confession and that a priest who speaks too harshly in the Confessional isn’t doing it right.

I used to go every week when I was a young altar server until I encountered a priest who kept me in there for twenty minutes with a huge line of questioning and a tone that made me sweat bullets, haha! Jeez, it was like an interrogation! He did the same for everyone else in line.

The best way to attract people to Confession is to assure them that it will be a pleasant experience.

I don’t think you’re reading my posts correctly. I’m not talking about scolding anyone. I don’t think scaring people or yelling at them will ever help anyone.

But I am saying that we need to help people see that that they are sinners in need of a Saviour. There is no way to make that “pleasant.” Those are the facts of eternal life. We have to face ourselves for what we are. I personally hate going to confession, just as much as I hate going to the dentist. But I know how vitally important both things are, and I do both on a regular basis.

I am trying to see that we have lost the concept of sin, and it is very seldom that we hear about it from the pulpits. How many people do a daily examination, reviewing the day and confessing to their sins. We need to start doing that.

Confession is our path to grace. I can’t imagine never taking a shower or bath. That is what confession is for us, to wipe away the dirt of sin. People need to understand that.

Since I’ve been back in the church, I have not had any “unpleasant” experiences in the confessional. My complaint, in fact, is that sometimes priests don’t take my confession serious enough because I often don’t have any “big” sins to confess.

Mary

 

[Alindawyl]

Thank heavens I have a pastor who tells it like it is. I have heard too much feel good in many parishes. I am seeing a trend away from that at present,and hope and pray that it picks up steam.

Amen to that. We had one family leave our parish last year because our priest dared to mention how evil abortion was in a homily. That generated the politely-worded response from him in the next bulletin that he does not have the authority to go against the magisterium, the truth doesn’t bow to opinion polls, and if every family in the parish threatened to leave he’d just have to celebrate the Mass in an empty building

But that’s far outweighed by the good feedback. Visitors are always commenting on the reverence of the altar servers, respect shown to the Blessed Sacrament before, during and after the liturgy (the homily this past weekend was about the Eucharist and Real Presence), the tabernacle being located directly behind the altar with a giant crucifix above it instead of some figure of the “Risen Lord” or modern art or nothing at all, and how they wished their parish “back home” was like that. When things are done right most people notice and want to be a part of it, and I always hope they return home with a desire to help their parish change if it’s not what it should be. Most people really want to hear and see the truth once they’re presented with it.

 

[PattiDay]

A short time (maybe ten minutes) is provided for confession prior to mass on Sunday mornings at my parish (the other scheduled time is Saturday evening before mass). I generally make my confession about once a month on Sunday, but I always feel like the clock is ticking. I try to keep my confession concise and to the point in case there is someone else who wants to confess, but it leaves me feeling unsatisfied sometimes. Maybe I’m being scrupulous, because I believe I’ve received God’s absolution, but I wish the experience were less rushed. Our pastor is not to blame because he does the work of ten. It’s just what happens is a small parish I guess.

This past Good Friday, I attended confession at a University about 35 miles away. It was wonderful to see the numbers of people, families with children, university students, individuals, all sitting on folding chairs, moving one chair at a time closer to the half dozen or more priests who were stationed throughout the hugh church. It took nearly an hour to reach the priest, but there was Gregorian Chant being piped throughout the church, so any anxiety I may have had about waiting in line was totally alleviated by the sacred chant and just being among so many people who wanted reconciliation with Our Lord. I came away feeling cleansed spiritually and physically.

About Catholics not wanting to hear about sin, I think there are as many types of Catholics to hear as their are priests to preach. I enjoy hearing Father Corapi preach. His message is tough, earthy, and often scary, but he never fails to speak of the merciful promise of compassion, the softer side, to lift ourselves up to Jesus through his Holy Mother. I can be brought to tears by Father Leo, even though I’ve heard each of his televised messages half a dozen times or more. His message is so warm and uplifting. He always discusses sin, but I am always left with hope that I can improve. I need both the boot in the backside and the boost.