Confession: A shadow of its former self

[spiritblows]

Here is a facinating article worth reading and maybe discussing here.

Confession: A shadow of its former self

 

[asquared]

having just read this article as a link on the other site, my reaction is that first it is based on anecdotal evidence of the experience of a handful of Catholics, most of them parents of children in sacramental preparation programs, and most of them who seem to have a very positive attitude toward the sacrament, and reason to celebrate it more often. Yet the end of the article draws conclusions that are not evident from the testimony in the article, nor from any hard research, that “confession as we knew it” is doomed. Lousy journalism.

 

[spiritblows]

I thought the article was intelligently and sensitively written, and examined the issue from many different angles, offering multifaceted examination of the subject of confession.

 

[Pentecost2005]

Quotes from the article:

Lane says that during the time when she was away from the sacrament she relied on her own personal prayers and scriptural reflection for spiritual sustenance. In addition, confiding in her best friend and husband took the place of sacramental Reconciliation.

“As a conscientious adult I felt that I was capable of telling people I’m sorry and acknowledging my wrongdoings,” she says.

In other words, “I don’t have a clue about what confessing my sins really means, nor do I have the slightest notion of what an examination of conscience is.”

Though Going appreciated his parish’s presentation on Reconciliation, he has no plans to make it a regular part of his life.

“I am so comfortable with my relationship with God that I don’t believe I need an intermediary,” he says. “I’m a big fan of Eastern philosophies that focus more on self-examination or meditation. It’s not that I don’t like talking to priests; I just don’t feel the need to do that. But I think it’s great to have as an option.”

Going has discussed this approach with his 7-year-old son and plans to teach his 5-year-old daughter in the same manner.

“I want them to have that option,” he says. “I tell them that it is a way of communicating with God while having a priest there to focus that communication.”

In other words, “I want to make sure that they know that they have the option of ignoring the authority of the Church to bind and loose, and they don’t have to feel bad about it! Hey! I’m ALL about the options!”

Diane Boyhan, 52, of Worthington, Ohio says that a communal penance service followed by individual Confession best meets her spiritual needs.

“Before, you went into a dark cubbyhole, didn’t see the priest, and had a list of sins to read,” Boyhan says. “The Reconciliation services they have now help you to meditate and to get to the point where you really know what to ask forgiveness for. And when you share with the priest, it’s more meaningful and personal.”

Right on, sister! Let’s not have any of that hard work of studying the Catechism and examining our actions. Let’s just all get together in one big group and see what we feel bad about.

Though both a convenience-oriented society and a lack of cultural predisposition play a role in diminishing participation in Reconciliation, the most common reason Catholics say they don’t participate is that they feel uncomfortable confessing their sins to a priest.

Hello? That’s one of the reasons it’s so valuable. Sooner or later we all stand before the judgement seat of God. Better to practice now.

For some, this reticence stems from a preference for a private, one-on-one conversation with God. Michelle Edwards, 45, of St. Louis says she tends to eschew the idea of relying on a priest as an intermediary.

Yeah, that’s called Protestantism.

Michelle Edwards, 45, of St. Louis says she tends to eschew the idea of relying on a priest as an intermediary. When her son acted up recently at home, this mother of five took him to church for a time out.

“I told him I would say some prayers there and that he should, too,” she says. “We didn’t formally get a priest and go to Reconciliation. It’s not that I don’t believe in the sacrament, but I feel very comforted in having a conversation with God, and that’s what I try to teach my kids.

When someone says “It’s not A, it’s just that B,” you can be sure. It’s A.

“As much as I love my faith and believe in my priest, I think, ‘Can that one man really absolve me of my sins in the act of Reconciliation formally done versus me directly talking to God?’”

If you actually took that question SERIOUSLY, you would answer it by looking in the Catechism. And you would understand that the priest is acting in persona Christi. (“Huh?”)

For some Catholics, finding a priest they are comfortable enough to talk to can present a challenge.

No, the challenge is finding a priest who takes sin seriously.

Yvonne Garcia of Los Angeles was just getting comfortable talking to her parish priest when he was transferred to another parish. That’s the main reason she no longer celebrates Reconciliation.

Not a good reason, though.

OK, that’s more than enough for me. This is making me ill.

 

[Pentecost2005]

This is insane:

Maggie Darett, 32, of Los Angeles, has not received Eucharist since she moved in with her fiancé a year ago, though it doesn’t prevent her from attending Sunday Mass.

“I go to church every Sunday—I’ve never missed,” she says. “But I don’t take Communion because I’m living in sin.”

In other words, “I’m living in sin, and I know it, but it’s OK because I’m not receiving the Eucharist.”

Which is one reason you’re indifferent to your sin, because you have no supernatural life within you!

Apparently my parish is not the only one with inadequate preaching.

There seems to be way too much emphasis on how God is a nice guy, but little or no emphasis on the fact that it is our OBLIGATION to know and love God, and our neighbor as ourselves.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism,
he said to them,
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham as our father’;
for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees;
every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance,
but he who is coming after me is mightier than I,
whose sandals I am not worthy to carry;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

These days John the Baptist might say something like, “Have you forgotten of the wrath that is to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance. Do not presume to say, “we are basically good people,” for I tell you, even now the axe is laid to the root of trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.”

We will be judged on God’s terms, not ours.

 

[spiritblows]

Dear Pentecost,
I’m sorry but your posts are so negative and scathing I just don’t know how to respond. I thought the article gave a lot of different interesting points of view that revealed the perceptions of many good people and what motivates them. You sound awfully condemning of these people based on a few words read in a journalistic interview. Are you really that much holier than these people who you are critical of?

 

[Shoshana]

spiritblows:

Dear Pentecost,
I’m sorry but your posts are so negative and scathing I just don’t know how to respond. I thought the article gave a lot of different interesting points of view that revealed the perceptions of many good people and what motivates them. You sound awfully condemning of these people based on a few words read in a journalistic interview. Are you really that much holier than these people who you are critical of?

Hi Spiritblows!

I must admit that I have to agree with Pentecost. That last example of the lady not receiving Communion because she is living in sin but declares she goes to Church every Sunday…does this attending absolve her of her sin? Has she ever thought that if she died at that very moment she would be before the throne of God trying to explain away her fornication? let alone the scandal that it causes amongst others? It is not a situation where she can not NOT leave seperatly from her fiancee until they marry. Would one want to sell one’s soul for a piece of forbidden fruit? Is it worth the risk of not seeing God eternally? These are the teachings of the Church and if one believes in the Church enough to attend mass, then her behaviour betrays her every motivation. As Father Corapi has succintly said, you can’t spit in god’s face continually and get away with it.

I am hoping and praying that this very same lady will see the Light by her attendance and by the great mercy of God, change her ways. Again as Fr Corapi has said, there are people who want to go to heaven, but live like they don’t!

 

[JimG]

I didn’t take Pentecost’s remarks as being judgmental. Yes, the article does a good job of exploring many peoples’ attitudes toward this sacrament. But what many of the quotes show is that many of the Catholics interviewed either don’t understand the sacrament, or like to make excuses for not going, or are just comfortable with their sins.

 

[spiritblows]

JimG:

I didn’t take Pentecost’s remarks as being judgmental. Yes, the article does a good job of exploring many peoples’ attitudes toward this sacrament. But what many of the quotes show is that many of the Catholics interviewed either don’t understand the sacrament, or like to make excuses for not going, or are just comfortable with their sins.

That is my point, Jim. The article is an honest peek into the many factors affecting the sacrament of confession. I think these are valuable insights into the honest perceptions of real people.

My objection to Pentecost’s posts was the self righteous condemning tone. I don’t think anything valuable is accomplished by that shrill diatrabe. It would make these types of people turn away. It’s better to use diplomacy and example, not harsh mocking words.

 

[Shoshana]

JimG:

I didn’t take Pentecost’s remarks as being judgmental. Yes, the article does a good job of exploring many peoples’ attitudes toward this sacrament. But what many of the quotes show is that many of the Catholics interviewed either don’t understand the sacrament, or like to make excuses for not going, or are just comfortable with their sins.

It has been my experience that many people do not even know what is sin! There is a biblical passage saying that ‘My people perish for lack of knowledge!’ This does apply here…

I have a sister (I actually have 2) that think that having sex outside of their ex-marriages is okay because they have found love and God is love…so it must be okay! Their significant others are also married from ex-marriage. There are a total of 9 children involved! There is no way in dissuading them. I have done my job…it is up to God now. He is the God of salvation. But people confuse ‘feeling’ with sins. If it feels good…then it must be good!

 

[Chatter163]

The article does indeed exhibit an entire menagerie of errors concerning the sacrament. I was quite saddened, but not surprised, by it. We are now in the second generation of emotional, feelgood Catholicism. People have not been catechized properly.

I shuddered at the thought of the one woman who said that she had not felt that she had committted mortal since more than once or twice a year. Such sanctity. But the problem is that when one reads the lives of the saints, one finds that the saints themselves were usually frequent recipients of the sacrament of confession. They were quite self-accusatory. It is better to go to confession more frequently than one truly needs to go, than less, they teach us. But then again, how many of us have been lectured by a priest for “wasting his time” in the confessional with venial sins?

The fact that a Catholic would even question the need “for an intermediary” shows me how much Protestantism has influenced the Church. It is tragic and we need to pray, pray, pray.

Where is all of the emhpasis on feeling “comfortable” coming from? Again, we seem to have a predominance of emotionalism. “I like Father So-and-So, so I confess to him, but when he is gone, I don’t go.” No understanding of the sacrament and the priest as the Alter Christus, just sentiment, tied to an individual priest’s personality. If one is merely uncomfortable, one is therefore relieved of the duty to confess? How will one ever grow in holiness? Do not misunderstand me; it is a good thing when one is comfortable with one’s confessor; in fact, it is the ideal. But the reception of the sacrament should NEVER be dependent on it. But what passes for contemporary liturgy has for decades showcased priests’ individual personalities, so I suppose one must expect it to carry over to confession.

Needless to say, this attitude about confession is mirrored in the attitude about purgatory and prayers for the dead. Folks in the article probably believe little or nothing of the poor souls (for whom we pray throughout this month of November), since their attitude in life is that they themselves are minimally sinful. What will happen in the next life? If they are destined to be with God, how much more time will they spend in purgatory? Who will pray and have Masses offered for them, since they are apparently passing these attitudes to their children? The dead are canonized at their own funeral Masses, so how often are they prayed for? These teachings are overlooked, if not outright dimissed as medieval fluff. But it is the Catholic faith, and their souls are in peril.

We are all sinners. And while we need not walk with sackcloth and ashes at all times, we need to humbly call to mind our sins frequently, for “All have sinned.” We need less emphasis on what makes us comfortable and more on what makes God unhappy.

 

[spiritblows]

As far as confessing to a priest that gives good advise, I will say that that is important to me. What’s wrong with seeking a good confessor? There is a long history of that in the Church, that’s not something new.

I. too, wonder about the need to feel comfortable. I agree, looking at one’s sin is and should be uncomfortable. I find it ironic how, in a culture that is much less reserved that it was 50 years ago, that private anonymous confession is viewed as ‘uncomfortable’. I mean, people will discuss all sorts of embarrassing things that would have been off limits at one time. People air their private concerns quite freely. Women have discussions about vibrators, oral sex, etc. But everyone is much more inhibited about going to confession.

 

[fix]

For many of these younger Catholics, this outlook is rooted not in negative experiences or theological misgivings but simply in indifference, according to Jeff Guhin, 24, who is currently editing a book of essays by young adult Catholics. “Very few people have massive problems with the sacrament,” says Guhin. “The overwhelming majority doesn’t hate it, but they don’t go for reasons not intensely thought out. It’s just not part of their cultural experience.”

Chris Parazin, 31, of Olathe, Kansas, says that while he believes in the idea of Reconciliation, this belief doesn’t translate into actually making a commitment to the sacrament itself.

“I was taught that it was something unique to being Catholic, and I buy the line,” Parazin says. “But I’m a slave to convenience. The effort [Reconciliation] requires, plus the awkwardness of having the conversation with a priest, means that I would need a really big reason to go. Otherwise, I think, ‘It’s Saturday, and I’ve got other things to do.’”

That seems to be a typical view. Indifferentism which may be due, in part, from a lack of emphasis on the sacrament.

 

[CuriousInIL]

Shoshana:

…That last example of the lady not receiving Communion because she is living in sin but declares she goes to Church every Sunday…does this attending absolve her of her sin? Has she ever thought that if she died at that very moment she would be before the throne of God trying to explain away her fornication? let alone the scandal that it causes amongst others?

Maybe I missed it, but I did not see any indication that she or others thought that Sunday Mass absolved her sins.

Would it somehow be better that she was also sinning by failing to meet her weekly obligation to attend Mass?

 

[DiZent]

I fall into the category of those who receive Reconciliation once or twice a year. At times, I have held some of the attitudes discussed in the article. (not saying they are right, just admitting I have felt that way) When I came back to the Catholic Church after many years away, I had some doubts and fears about confession - mostly based on the influence of protestants and not having a very good understanding of the Catholic view. Since then, I have learned to appreciate the sacrament of Reconciliation, and I can see value in receiving it more frequently. Human nature tends to minimize, rationalize and deny our faults and sins. The more time that passes, the less it seems like a sin. There is also some confusion about whether something is a mortal sin if one doesn’t fully understand that it is - which can lead to more rationalization. And whether venial sin, when repented, requires confession to and absolution by a Priest. Again, more adult catechesis is needed.

The communal Penance services are a wonderful preparation for individual confession. These seem to be held less frequently, and more regional - so the trend may be back to the Saturday individual confessions. I have also called and made an appointment.

One of the things that helped me with confession was the 12 steps (AA, NA, Al-anon, etc)

1. Took a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
2. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

For me, this meant a Priest.

 

[ComradeAndrei]

I am with Pentacost2005 and I think they bring up excellent points. People NEED to be told such things, otherwise they will probably languish in lukewarmness and never bother to do better.