Something strange at kids penance -long

  • Thread starter Thread starter hsmama
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hsmama

Guest
Hi, today at CCD, I am a cathechist, our class went to the church for penance. The priest (just replaced our Priest who was transferred) gave the kids a little background first. Then he asked them to close their eyes and imagine they were in the pew all alone and then Jesus sat beside them. They told him their sins and he forgave them and hugged them and then was gone. Then he said when you are ready come back to this place and slowly open your eyes. I will know you are all back here when you open your eyes. Then he told them he was going into the sacritsy (sp) and would sit in his chair. He said there is a chair in front of him or a kneeler with a screen. They could do either but if they sat in the chair they would see Jesus and if they used the kneeler they would only hear the voice of Jesus. I felt uneasy about this. Any comments?
Thanks
Deenie
 
I think there is nothing wrong with this at all. From what I can tell, this priest was merely trying to teach the children that he is “in persona christi”. When he is their confessor, it is not he who forgives sins, it is Jesus.

It is an oversimplification, but this is what is needed for children.

I often actually use the same imagery, but not becasue I was specifically taught…only because it is what I need to do sometimes.

When I go behind the screen, and feel nervous or worried, I focus on the priest’s voice, trying to imagine Jesus and the advice I hear is Jesus speakign with the voice of our priest. If I am in front of the priest, I actually consider that I am sitting directly with Jesus and telling him what he already knows.

What did you see wrong with this?
 
It seemed like he was saying that one way was “better” then the other. I prefer the screen and maybe some of the children might but they may feel now that their confession wasn’t as “good” if that makes sense.

Thanks!
 
Maybe he was more so clarifyin that the screen was unsee-a-through-able (not a word but yeah)
 
I think that face to face IS better overall because it’s good for our Confessor to recognize us to better be able to offer good counsel. It also makes us more humble in that just as we can’t hide from Jesus, we can’t hide from the parish priest.

Maybe the priest feels this way also, but maybe you’re reading into it too much. From what you wrote he just tried to give a very simple idea and offer both options.

If I have something very difficult to confess, I will go behind the screen and listen to Jesus because I fear my pride will get in my way and I will not be honest regarding my sin. Obviously I struggle with Pride, but this option allows me to overcome it at least in some regard. I have overall found the face to face to be the best, but not always depending upon the circumstances.

I really do think that one is better than the other, but we do all have to come to that conclusion because one can argue for one or the other and both are valid and correct.

Let it go. If the children have questions or concerns, or if you continue to have concerns, definitely bring it to the attention of the priest. It sounds to me that he is very open to the children and wants them to understand this wonderful sacrament.

I don’t think there was anything incorrectly taught unless you have something else to add?
 
I see it as trying to push face to face confession - showing it to be “better” than going into the confessional or behind the screen.

When I was a child the same thing happened to me and I deliberately held back sins because I was embarrassed. I always went into the confessional box, not even a kneeling desk with a screen before they got rid of the confessionals.

Most recently my confessor told me that face to face confession is an attempt to STOP PEOPLE FROM GOING TO CONFESSION.

And believe me, it is working.

Ken
 
40.png
kleary:
When I was a child the same thing happened to me and I deliberately held back sins because I was embarrassed.
Click to expand...
I think this is an important point. No matter how much we personally may prefer the face-to-face method, I think it is a mistake to try to push children into it if they prefer anonymity.

It may seem that children, having only small sins to confess, would not mind either way. But even at my age, I can recall when as a child I had something I didn’t really want to confess, I would NOT have gone face to face, or I would have lied or withheld the sin. Fortunately, in my youth, only the confessional was available.
 
PS–this reminds me of a conversation with a younger acquaintance, who in his high school years, seemed only to have the opportunity for face to face confession. One of his non-Catholic friends was asking him (in his adulthood), “So, what did you tell the priest when you went to confession?” “Well, not the truth, for sure,” he said. “I wasn’t about to tell him the truth. I didn’t want him to know any of that stuff about me!”
 
40.png
JimG:
PS–this reminds me of a conversation with a younger acquaintance, who in his high school years, seemed only to have the opportunity for face to face confession. One of his non-Catholic friends was asking him (in his adulthood), “So, what did you tell the priest when you went to confession?” “Well, not the truth, for sure,” he said. “I wasn’t about to tell him the truth. I didn’t want him to know any of that stuff about me!”
Click to expand...
You may want to mention to him that by intentionally not confessing all of his mortal sins, not only were those mortal sins not forgiven but none of his sins were forgiven.Many people are not aware of this. I know that I wasn’t. And if he received communion anytime during this time, he added more mortal sins upon his soul.

Learned this during a retreat.

My very next confession started out with … “… Father, I’ve committed hundreds of invalid confessions during the past X years by intentionally not confessing certain sins …” … let me tell you, I felt as though a great weight was lifted off of my shoulders after that confession and ever since then, I make it a point of telling the priest everything that I remember – otherwise, there is no point in going.
 
This happened when he was a teenager, and I got the impression that his attitude was somewhat common among his peers at the time. If it was a priest they knew, they didn’t want him to know about their private sins, so they just didn’t confess them. And perhaps the necessity for making a good confession and not a sacriligious one was simply not emphasized in their catechesis at the time, strange as it may seem.
 
I agree whole-heartedly! I don’t think what the priest did was neccessarily wrong, just maybe not well thought out. You might take him aside and mention that for many people (adults and children alike) the push for a face-to-face confession may actually push them away from confession. Besides it’s not neccessarily about “hearing” or “seeing” Jesus - it’s much more about letting Him see and hear you.
I think it bears mentioning that with this type of illustration, he needs to be extremely carefull that these young children understand that he is not Christ. If he says doing it this way will let them see Christ, then they go in and see the parish priest - there will be a few kids who think this priest IS Christ. Sounds silly I know, but children can be very literal minded and I have 1 child that this would certainly have been confusing to understand.
40.png
kleary:
I see it as trying to push face to face confession - showing it to be “better” than going into the confessional or behind the screen.

When I was a child the same thing happened to me and I deliberately held back sins because I was embarrassed. I always went into the confessional box, not even a kneeling desk with a screen before they got rid of the confessionals.

Most recently my confessor told me that face to face confession is an attempt to STOP PEOPLE FROM GOING TO CONFESSION.

And believe me, it is working.

Ken
Click to expand...
 
40.png
hsmama:
Hi, today at CCD, I am a cathechist, our class went to the church for penance. The priest (just replaced our Priest who was transferred) gave the kids a little background first. Then he asked them to close their eyes and imagine they were in the pew all alone and then Jesus sat beside them. They told him their sins and he forgave them and hugged them and then was gone. Then he said when you are ready come back to this place and slowly open your eyes. I will know you are all back here when you open your eyes. Then he told them he was going into the sacritsy (sp) and would sit in his chair. He said there is a chair in front of him or a kneeler with a screen. They could do either but if they sat in the chair they would see Jesus and if they used the kneeler they would only hear the voice of Jesus. I felt uneasy about this. Any comments?
Thanks
Deenie
Click to expand...
I agree, it seems very strange and i would adress any concers with the priest.
 
40.png
kleary:
I see it as trying to push face to face confession - showing it to be “better” than going into the confessional or behind the screen.

When I was a child the same thing happened to me and I deliberately held back sins because I was embarrassed. I always went into the confessional box, not even a kneeling desk with a screen before they got rid of the confessionals.

Most recently my confessor told me that face to face confession is an attempt to STOP PEOPLE FROM GOING TO CONFESSION.
And believe me, it is working.

Ken
Click to expand...
But whose agenda would this be? Certainly not the Catholic Church’s :confused:
 
40.png
JimG:
This happened when he was a teenager, and I got the impression that his attitude was somewhat common among his peers at the time. If it was a priest they knew, they didn’t want him to know about their private sins, so they just didn’t confess them. And perhaps the necessity for making a good confession and not a sacriligious one was simply not emphasized in their catechesis at the time, strange as it may seem.
Click to expand...
My older brother always tells me the reason he is no longer Catholic is because of a confession he made when he was nine. He confessed to the priest that he was having impure thoughts about girls, and he said the priest ripped the curtain aside and said. “Who is this?” My brother has told me this story numerous times and it’s obvious it affected him deeply. I feel very sad for him that it was the catalyst to him losing his faith.
 
40.png
paramedicgirl:
My older brother always tells me the reason he is no longer Catholic is because of a confession he made when he was nine. He confessed to the priest that he was having impure thoughts about girls, and he said the priest ripped the curtain aside and said. “Who is this?”
Click to expand...
Good grief! I thought that was the sort of thing that only happened in badly scripted movies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top