That was extremely funny!!!One won’t be so happy with phone confessions once they are farmed out to a phone bank in India.
(fill in the blank with some country besides your own)
Thank you because many of my calls regarding utilities, etc. are answered by someone that isn’t actually in the same country as me. That is weird enough… never mind confessing my sins!?!Disabled people who are unable to make it to confession can still receive confession from a priest. I volunteer at rehab/nursing home and I have called our priest to come hear a patient’s confession many times. Our priest will always go to hear a confession and give last rights if needed.“Using a medium to get to a priest …” :bigyikes: bad phrasing, lol.
I know you meant “media” and “a medium” is singular.
That will probably not fly anytime soon. Though if I were to make a case for it, “what about the disabled who can’t travel to confession. Or those in remote places ONLY connected by phones, computers etc.?”
A bigger question along the same lines is - “Why isn’t Confession more available?”
Popes seem to call us to return to it. Yet most parishes offer it for just an hour here or there - and cover the rest of it with putting the onus on the penitent to make an appointment or catching a willing priest on the fly.
Why can’t each Diocese have one well-known place where round the clock confessions are available? < Ambitious huh? But “retired priests” could do this. And Donation boxes nearby could support the ministry.
I’m all for more confessions. And ONLY priests can do it. Sometimes it seems that
the Sacraments are being sloughed off as less important than business meetings or parish fundraisers. (Harsh? If it doesn’t apply pay no attention. If making the Sacraments priority one is an odd concept … I’d like to hear why),
I say this NOT out of disrespect at all. But as a loyal Catholic to those who MIGHT be
seeing their sacramental duties as … not so important? … not supported enough by people so adjusted to for efficiency elsewhere?
I DO see the privacy problems with phones, computers etc.
But I also see privacy problems with the liberal way Reconcilation is sometimes administered NOW. Confessionals closed and moved to open air areas. Face to face confessions being mandatory due to priests not offering the privacy option as they should.
And the unhappy times that priests leave people in confessional lines unconfessed after waiting quite a while – while Father "has to leave’ (hopefully for something at LEAST as important as a scheduled mass or something). < This has happened to me a couple times; sometimes I “got in” but others did not.
I know. It’s easy to complain. I only do it to bring about the good. More sins confessed and forgiven. Mortal sins too … so souls saved! < Priority ONE I believe and I’m no theologian. What could be more important? And ONLY priests (and UP) can do it. Some of the other “important stuff” CAN be delegated to lay people and monitored in my opinion.
Hyperventilating … losing judgement … gotta go … :stretcher:
Thanks for the thought provoking topic OP
He wouldn’t have to - the whole world would already know.
Excellent suggestion!!!I think an app with drop-down menus as to type and number of sins linked to a cloud-based database would be good. The app could generate stats on the number of other people committing the sin, their success or otherwise in overcoming it over time, and the penance received. If people activated their locators, we would be able to get real-time information on sinning in different parts of the world, and requiring demographic information (age, sex etc) would allow trends in confessed sins to be mapped. If people provided information on their 'sub-affiliations" - SSPX, Latin, Eastern, Opus day, Jesuit etc there would be even more useful information. This would then allow priests to concentrate on preaching against ‘trending sins’, and Michael Voris would know for sure at what to wave his pencil. CAF prayer warriors would have clear targets. I think anonyomizer software would be a must to preserve the seal of the confessional, and penitents should be required to assue their confessor that they have checked their computer for spyware and keyloggers.
Disabled people who are unable to make it to confession can still receive confession from a priest. I volunteer at rehab/nursing home and I have called our priest to come hear a patient’s confession many times. Our priest will always go to hear a confession and give last rights if needed.That’s the way it should be! I was searching for a “pro” argument for posted question. I think the Church probably does do a good job there.
One MIGHT argue that some don’t have access to the sacrament due to distance (thought of Antarctica) or inability to go to confession coupled with a priest’s inability to come (bad result: the sinner remains unconfessed when in need). But actually I still come down on the no phones or webcams side of things - just considering the proposition. AND if the Church allowed it tomorrow, I’d lose no sleep over it - might not ever do it though.
It is church teaching that there must be a choice for an anonymous confession. You might talk with your priest if they don’t have this option.
NEXT time (if there is one) I will.
Since the priests were the ones (passively or actively) already putting that in jeopardy
I opted not to in the past. I should have asked them about it after receiving my absolution but I didn’t want to hold up the lines.
Each time (about 3 times in my whole life so not a lot) the penitent (me) had no option, in that it was outside of a confessional.
Once was in the glass “crying room” of the Church - the priest was seated facing the one door to the room so your anonymity was gone before the confessing began.
Another time all the confessionals were locked and Father had his chair near where priests sit to the side of the altar when not celebrating. Father did have his back turned to the line of penitants waiting … but the one chair available to a penitent was right next to him - and he looked and smiled a greeting to each as they came. Nice … unless you preferred anonymity. It also echoed out there and might have been overheard. I was glad to be confessed though so I took it.
Another time was on a retreat where we’d set up three chairs behind a building (outside but private). Father sat in the middle chair. Penitents approached him from the back and could sit behind him to confess … or opt for the chair facing him. Someone at some point quietly took the “anonymous” chair for another use (everyone is so helpful on retreats!)
I realize this is tongue in cheek, but I think you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head as to how this would actually work itself out. Google, of course, would track everything, and I have zero confidence in anonymizers. I’d like to be one of the first in line for the IPO of ConfessionTube.com.I think an app with drop-down menus as to type and number of sins linked to a cloud-based database would be good. The app could generate stats on the number of other people committing the sin, their success or otherwise in overcoming it over time, and the penance received. If people activated their locators, we would be able to get real-time information on sinning in different parts of the world, and requiring demographic information (age, sex etc) would allow trends in confessed sins to be mapped. If people provided information on their 'sub-affiliations" - SSPX, Latin, Eastern, Opus day, Jesuit etc there would be even more useful information. This would then allow priests to concentrate on preaching against ‘trending sins’, and Michael Voris would know for sure at what to wave his pencil. CAF prayer warriors would have clear targets. I think anonyomizer software would be a must to preserve the seal of the confessional, and penitents should be required to assue their confessor that they have checked their computer for spyware and keyloggers.
The story your priest told in the homily I believe was regarding St. Damian of Molokai who had to say his confession to his Bishop from a boat because the ship the Bishop was on would not dock on the island which was and I believe still is a leper colony; I also believe Fr. Damien said his confession in another language so as to be a private as possible while in a public setting. Plus this example really couldn’t justify over the phone confession since Fr. Damian and his Bishop were still in the same vicinity which would not be the case with phones, computers, etc.I know this topic has been brought up several times, but I think I may of found a loupol… Probably not.
Anyways, I remember last Sunday, my parish priest gave a homily over this Friar who could only shout his confessions to another priest on board a ship because the ship priest was not allowed to get off, and he was able to receive absolution.
Anyways, if one could shout his confessions to another priest and receive absolution, why couldn’t it happen over a webcam?
My example was, if there was a person in a state of mortal sin in Maine, and then a priest in California…the Person in Maine, confesses to the priest in California…and says the sin, and the priest in California gives a penance and absolution to the person in Maine. How could absolution not be given?
Since when does distance have a play in the validly of absolution? If a contrite person is confessing a priest 1000 miles away, but using a medium to get to the priest, how could confession be invalid?
The priest is offering absolution to the person in Maine, not through the camera or the internet, but to the person.
I would love answers.
Thank you!
). Priests like any physician can not apply the medicine a patient needs through a phone or a computer…unfortunately shoving aspirin into the phone receiver or in the network plugin wont get it to the other side.In particular, in small villages there’s typically single priest (or one Catholic, and one Orthodox). Also, married priest’s are the norm for both,leaving the issue of the wife’s confession.
He’s being sarcastic.
The issue is one of perspective. Many who complain about the “availablity” of confession do so out of their desire to have it when they want it rather than following the schedule that is present.
Father Guido Sarducci has an idea of “mass confession”. He mentions a sin, and the people raise their hands if it is a little bit familiar.
LOL you are hilarious!I think an app with drop-down menus as to type and number of sins linked to a cloud-based database would be good. The app could generate stats on the number of other people committing the sin, their success or otherwise in overcoming it over time, and the penance received. If people activated their locators, we would be able to get real-time information on sinning in different parts of the world, and requiring demographic information (age, sex etc) would allow trends in confessed sins to be mapped. If people provided information on their 'sub-affiliations" - SSPX, Latin, Eastern, Opus day, Jesuit etc there would be even more useful information. This would then allow priests to concentrate on preaching against ‘trending sins’, and Michael Voris would know for sure at what to wave his pencil. CAF prayer warriors would have clear targets. I think anonyomizer software would be a must to preserve the seal of the confessional, and penitents should be required to assue their confessor that they have checked their computer for spyware and keyloggers.
