Catholic Confession Makes A Comeback

Wall Street Journal :

Sin never goes out of style, but confession is undergoing a revival.

This February at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI instructed priests to make confession a top priority. U.S. bishops have begun promoting it in diocesan newspapers, mass mailings and even billboard ads. And in a dramatic turnaround, some Protestant churches are following suit. This summer, the second-largest North American branch of the Lutheran Church passed a resolution supporting the rite, which it had all but ignored for more than 100 years.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[leftLibertarian]

07:14 PM on 09/24/2007

Dear Jesus,
I had group sex with with 2 women. Smoke much pot and had a nice time with a hit of MDMA.

[dora rice]

05:53 PM on 09/22/2007

as long as priests can't get married, they won't see me in the catholic church.

[dora rice]

05:51 PM on 09/22/2007

oh well, next will be exorcism....to tell a priest what you did last summer is senseless. If you have to get something of your chest, go in your bedroom by yourself and confess out loud , but not so loud someone else can hear it. When we were teenagers, we confessed and confessed , only realizing much later, there is no telling what that guy did behind the screen while we were confessing. Well we grew up.

[isis]

03:45 PM on 09/22/2007

I bet it is another way to spy on people.

[iluvsam]

09:30 AM on 09/22/2007

Nutjobs.

They need to "confess" to the nearest psychiatrist.

[BigBagel]

10:39 PM on 09/21/2007

I had 16 years of Catholic education starting in the Pre-Vatican 2 1950's. Even though I'm a lapsed Catholic I can say you folks don't know the seductiveness of dark Christianity. Its so much better then this protestant self help suburban bullshit they peddle today. Its a much much higher form of bullshit. Real meat and potatoes stuff.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

12:08 AM on 09/22/2007

Let me assure you that the New England Puritan Calvinism of my 1950s youth, based on the demands of a determined conscious fealty to the Pilgrim's Progress, was also a firm and demanding Christianity. And I agree with you about the current Protestant bullshit, which represents the triumph of the emotional low Protestant church. In your Roman Catholic tradition, this would be as if your Charismatics had gained the upper hand. Emotion and selfish greed drive many of these followers, but I know others who feed the hungry and adopt children, albeit with a motive to save souls.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

10:36 PM on 09/21/2007

"The sinning is the best part of repentence." Arabic proverb

[marko77]

11:08 PM on 09/21/2007

hopalong..
-------------

Here's another one:

Rabia, and Islamic mystic, was asked,
"If I repent, will God forgive me?" And Rabia replied "No, but if you are forgiven, you will repent."

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

11:54 PM on 09/21/2007

Most excellent Marko. You would kinda feel obligated to repent after being forgiven, aye? I would also feel compelled to commit some sin, in case I had forgotten to do so.

Was that Sufi mysticism? Mine came from a smart assed quote of the day calendar.

[Lauris]

08:42 PM on 09/21/2007

There is nothing wrong going to confession. It is cheaper than going to a shrink. You tell a priest what bothering you and then priest tells you to pray. You say a few hail Mary's and you leave money in the collection box. All is forgiven! Conscious is clear!

[Nova16]

07:52 PM on 09/21/2007

The way things have going with the Catholic priesthood and child abuse, maybe the lay people should be hearing confessions. Just a thought.

[Jain]

08:26 PM on 09/23/2007

If confession is so great, why weren't priests who molested children confessing? Oh, they were? Then it's eventually on the top confession guy - the Pope. Let's sue him.

[jeskiley]

06:58 PM on 09/21/2007

Now we just need to teach people what sins are, and why exactly they separate us from God. It's science, baby.

[Nova16]

06:14 PM on 09/21/2007

Chinohillster--$130-$150 does make a difference, a priest or cleric could never charge that much for the same service. The main difference is pills versus prayer. Medical practioners can cure many physical ailments as you suggest. However, the work of psychologists and psychiatrists involve some degree of uncertainty as to what has been achieved in correlation with their work with those paying the $130-150 an hour. With the private nature of their work, I don't think we will ever know.

[Nova16]

04:56 PM on 09/21/2007

sdskelton3- I have no way of assuming intuitively what would be the results of confessing to anyone what misdeeds or mistakes I may have committed in my lifetime. I only know that inner peace or truth can be reached by knowing all the negative and inferior aspects of one's self is a reasonable and scientific principle and that to redeem ourselves is a personal venture. If the Bible is correct then public prayer is to be avoided and personal, private prayer is the favored method of communicating with God. Heaven is the Kingdom within you.

[43P04T34]

04:39 PM on 09/21/2007

The idea that all the boys & girls, men & women go sit in a dark little corner and tell a man all their secrets is one of the most perverted, obscene, degrading human behaviors I can think of. I left out disgusting. Yes, it's disgusting, too.

[SmellyOne]

06:52 PM on 09/21/2007

You are not correctly informed about confession.

[43P04T34]

06:57 PM on 09/21/2007

Don't patronize me. I was taught all about confession by priests, bishops, cardinals and popes. I know exactly what it is and what it represents. I've been in the confessional and I've lived without confession. I am quite clear on what it is. And what it isn't.

[Nova16]

04:22 PM on 09/21/2007

wm1066--my wife is a descendant of Matilde--William the Conquerer's wife and Baldwin the Great, King of Jerusalem during the Crusades. What's your claim to l066? If people today were to "confess" their "sins" in a public gathering for public consumption the chaos ensuing forthwith would be alarming. People are accountable for their "sins" and "trangressions" but usually in the contolled atmosphere of a court of laws. Why would anyone subject themselves public scrutiny in a setting where the outcome of divulging personal information could be harmful in many ways. Most rational people strive for privacy in personal activities.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

04:38 PM on 09/21/2007

As a descendant of pre-Conquest Humberside Angles, I tend to look upon Normans as pirates and thieves. But then, that is how the Celts viewed the Angles. In any case, that William sure had big ones.

[Nova16]

04:08 PM on 09/21/2007

If one person is delusional it is called insanity. If many are delusional it is called religion. To rid oneself of past personal trangressions by divulging them to another be it pope, cleric is a delusion of great proportions. Just as eating meat on Fridays and the "belief" of purgatory have been removed from Catholic doctrine, the confessional still remains as the emotional "test" for "sinners" to regain a false sense of absolution that has no relationship to common sense or rational thought. Jesus preached "self introspection" to lead a good life and correct mistakes and seek a better life. The use of the confessional is counter this idea.

[sdskelton03]

04:11 PM on 09/21/2007

Nova

Take confession out of a religious context for a second. Doesn't it feel good to get things off of your consious? Transgression can be a heavy burden and confession is the only way I know of to put that burden down.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

04:34 PM on 09/21/2007

No matter how many times I confess to myself, or anyone else, how I despise George Bush and his evil minions, I am not comforted.

[readreza]

07:25 PM on 09/21/2007

but not to some intermediary claiming to represent and speak for god and provide the only 'real' forgiveness/absolution/punishment/whatever...
and that's what this piece is about - not about cleaning up a mess in your real life with a real apology. It's about the church doling out forgiveness by their formula.

[chinohillster]

05:35 PM on 09/21/2007

If one does the same thing for $130-$150/hour to a psychologist, does that make a difference?

(Caveat: My husband is a clinical psychologist, with a PsyD and his own practice)

Bedding and other clothing is hung out of doors not only to air out, but to allow sunlight (which has some cleansing properties). Doctors, dentists and pest control technicians all know that excising the cancer/decay/insects results in healing and health.

Some may confess to a priest, minister or imam; others to trusted friends or relatives, still others to professionals - all are testimony to the cleansing, freeing power of unburdening the soul.