=Lisa44;5336133]What is it like in your parish? I’ve heard much discussion about whether or not the church has changed sinse Vatican II? With regard to confession, have things changed?
I’m a fairly new convert, I just want to know if confession is still encouraged?
Are we supposed to go to confession regularily? Are we supposed to confess venial sins?
Thanks
***Much has changed since the end of Vatican II, some good and some obviously not so good.
vatican II ended in 1965, and most of the* "post Concillar [after the end of the Council, but as a direct result of the Council] documents, were written and published by 1970.
In 1970 The
PEW Report Survey states that about 75% of professed Catholics were regullarly attending Sunday and Holy day Mass. In 2007 that number was about 25%and I heard before Easter that it had dropped to about 23%.
The Sacrament of Confession was regularly used by about 70% in 1970 and today that number is something less than 10%!
!!!
So one must answer your question by stating what “is” and then share what “is supposed to be happening.”
I will not go into the reasons, as they are many and varied as to why these things have happened at this time.
At root is the old adage that “predicting and planning for doom, is a self fulfilling prophecy, and nearly always accomplished.”
Because of a lack of priest; there has been a “natural” reduction in hours for Confession. Because fewer people availed themselves of ths Sacrament, even fewer opportunities to Confess became available. And on and on the cycle went to today, a great many parishes offer Confession for 30 minutes to an hour before one of the Sat. / Sun. Masses.
In our parish with a main Chruch and a Mission Church and a staff of five priest, Confession is offered only on Saturday evening Mass for 30 minutes, and at The Mission, Confession is offered 30 minutes B4 Sunday Mass.
One can make an appointment for a private Confession.
1 John 5: 16 “If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God * will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.” MAKES CLEAR that Mortal sin is a reality; and can condem one to HELL if UN Confessed!
John 20: 22-23 " 21 "Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The Catholic Catechism states:
1484 “Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession.” There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” He is the physician tending each one of the sick who need him to cure them. He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church."
1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: “All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly.”
When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, “for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know.”
In summation, I believe one can say that every priest and certainly every Bishop and Definitely our Pope wish more would avail themselves of this very necessary [for nearly all of us] Sacrament if we desire to get to heaven. That said I see very little evidence that outside of Rome, that any serious effort is being mande to change these dismal perticiaption figures,
God remains in charge; we are not to dispair!
God help us!
**
