Bishop Cunningham has asked
every parish in the Diocese to make Confession available on the Wednesday evenings
of Lent during a one hour Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. It was a most
worthwhile event last week, with some of those who never attend our Sunday
Rosary & Benediction spending some time in the Presence of the Lord. In one
easy move, the importance of Confession and Eucharistic Adoration was
proclaimed. But it has left me with a question: if all the parishes are having Exposition and Confessions during the
six weeks of Lent, will we need any Reconciliation Services before Easter? In fact, I wonder if we should provide them
at all since they tend to diminish the sense of personal sin and the need for regular,
individual Confession; people simply wait for Lent and Advent to confess. This,
with the omission the topics of sin, Confession and the Four Last Things from
our preaching, gives the impression that sin is rare and that ‘the pit’ does
not exist, leaving the folk and the failing preacher all the more likely to
fall into the pit. Have we forgotten that while Holy Mother Church is holy as a
community because she indwelt by the Holy Ghost, that she is sinful in her individual
members?
Further, too many folk have
gained the impression that Confession once or twice a year is enough to keep
them holy. I wonder about this, since progression in personal holiness cannot
be obtained by fulfilment of the minimum and doing everything as a community. Without
denying the reality of the Church as one body, the over-emphasis on community has,
I think, damaged us spiritually. It can be remedied by restoring individual
Confession to its rightful place.
Celebration of Mass has also fallen
prey to an over-emphasis on community, being celebrated with gimmicks such as comedic
homilies, drama, dance and the signing of ‘Happy Birthday’. I truly believe we
need a return to Mass celebrated versus
Deum from the Offertory onwards, and to solid catechesis on the Mass as our
thanksgiving, propitiation and supplication
of Almighty God, rather than celebration of the giftedness of the
community. Additionally, there needs to be a reawakening of the intimate
connection between the Eucharist and Confession, for while the Eucharist makes
present the Sacrifice by which grace comes into the world, Confession applies
that grace to our soul, making us worthy to receive the Eucharist.
All in all, I cannot help but
hope there are no Reconciliation Services in Lent this year and that they tail
off in the future, because the only way to restore the sense of sin and take
seriously the call to holiness is for the individual to practice regular,
well-prepared, personal Confession, thereby ensuring frequent and worthy reception
of Holy Communion.
As you say Fr Gary, a good sign that our bishop is recognising the worth of personal confession. But isn't he just putting right the wrongs of our hierarchy who allowed (instigated?) the use of penetential services? I recall hearing of one such service where the congregation were invited to simply place a pebble in a bucket to obtain absolution. As a penitent the most difficult part of going to confession for me is the actual vocalising of my sins. It is easy (relatively) to imagine making your confession in your head but to have your confessor actually HEAR you say how you have sinned is something else
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
DeletePenitential Services are a legitimate part of the Church's exercise of Reconciliation and part of the official Rite, so it was not our hierarchy who brought them onto the scene, but Rome. I too have seen some disastrously wishy-washy services, and I too think the vocalisation is the most penitential part -it also has the advantage of allowing for increase in the humility of the Penitent.
Perhaps if Confession were more widely available people would use it. In most places I know, a priest is there for about half an hour a week. Don't close your eyes too long or you'll miss him.
ReplyDeleteIf you want readily available Confession, you really need to get to a cathedral or an Oratory. And if you want really good advice in the box, I'm told you need to go to Opus Dei.
Andrew, thanks for your comment.
DeleteI think Confession is quite widely available in our Diocese; most priests I know offer them at set times of the week. I think we need to hear more preaching on the necessity and benefits of Confession for it to be valued now as it was before.
While I greatly admire Opus Dei and suspect that the majority of their Confessors are spiritually and academically sound, I think these qualities can also be found among some Diocesan priests, Dominicans, Franciscans etc.
I'm with you there, Father. Priests should be talking about Confession. A lot.
ReplyDeleteHere is a thought for increasing turnout for Confession; perhaps someone will find this idea useful.
ReplyDeleteSuppose that the usual Confession times are generally near to full of penitents.
Add more times.
Once there are few enough pentitents compared to Confessional time that Father has much extra time, he uses it to write homilies on Confession.
When more people come, so that the usual Confession times are generally near to full of penitents, add more times.
Etc.