Great news! Over half of American Catholics are already saints. [Via Roman Catholic Blog]
… A 2003 survey of over 1,000 Catholics, conducted by sociologists James Davidson and Dean Hoge, indicates that while 46 percent of Catholics celebrate Reconciliation once a year or more, 53 percent never or almost never do. In addition, only 38 percent of Catholics say that private Confession to a priest is “essential to [their] vision of being Catholic.”
In a 2001 article in Commonweal magazine Boston College historian James O’Toole wrote: “We seem to be in the process of reducing the number of sacraments from seven to six—by default.” A closer look at the “most endangered sacrament” reveals that, though there are signs of hope, this trend isn’t likely to reverse itself anytime soon.
Most endangered sacrament? Well this sacrament has been getting the silent treatment. Silence from the Bishops, pulpits, CCDs, etc. If people went to the hospital and found that the emergency room was only open on Saturdays between 5 and 5:30 pm you know there would be an outcry. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is truly the emergency room for those in mortal sin. They have been pronounced dead in their relationship with God and are revived and restored to life. Flat lined to grace and restored to a healthy pulse. Sure they always say "or by appointment", but doesn’t making an appointment somewhat remove the canonical right to anonymous confession? And what about all of us suffering from the cuts and bruises due to our venial sins? Sorry clinic hours are limited.
… Catholics born after Vatican II have never experienced the long Saturday lines at parish confessionals. Most are likely to have experienced Reconciliation as part of an Advent or Lenten communal penance service followed by individual Confessions, which comprises the vast majority of Reconciliation celebrations today.
Since my parish has confession before all Masses I would dispute the claim that people never experienced long lines. I suspect that other parishes that have frequent confession also have long lines.
While some Catholics may shy away from the sacrament for fear of confessing their sins to another person, an informal survey shows that a sense of sin and a sense of right and wrong is still alive and well in the hearts of minds of many Catholics.
When asked if they thought of themselves as sinners, many answered quite bluntly.
“Yes. I am a sinner,” says Manuel Gonzales, 37, of Los Angeles. “If we don’t see ourselves as sinners, we are in denial.”
It is very easy to just acknowledge that we are sinners. If someone is severely sick and they agree that they are sick, but don’t go to a doctor then their idea of sickness is not very well developed.
Jose Torres, 43, of Norman, Oklahoma, says he will only receive Communion if he has gone to Reconciliation beforehand.
“I need to be free of sin before I receive Christ and the Eucharist,” Torres says. “If I go [to Communion] with sin, I commit a double sin, and I don’t want that.”
Though people can also err in the opposite direction. If you are not in mortal sin your venial sins are removed via the Mass. "blots out venial sins, and wards off mortal sins." Pope Innocent III
“Until there is a new kind of religious consensus formed, revival is going to be very difficult,” says James O’Toole. “It won’t happen until there is a replacement for the cultural supports Catholics have had in the past.”
In other words, it may be a long time, if ever, before Reconciliation can be removed from the top of the “endangered sacrament” list
34 comments
At our parish, St. John Cantius in Chicago, we are blessed to have 5 active confessionals before each mass. And there are long lines at each of them. Gets us to Mass early!
Last year I attended a Romanian Orthodox Mass and had the opportunity to chat with the priest for a bit afterwards. A friend was having a memorial service for a deceased daughter.
Nobody gets to go to Communion (except children) without having first gone to Confession with the priest who keeps track of who goes.
That would sure speed up the Masses in most U.S. Catholic parishes.
Tell me about it- most of my local parishes hold their confessions from 11 AM – 12 PM Mon-Fri. Thank goodness that none of us with 9-5 jobs ever commit mortal or venial sins, or that kind of confessional schedule would be really inconvenient.
Wish I could say people availed themselves of reconciliation more often around these parts. Most parishes here only offer it on Saturdays for one hour before the vigil Mass. I’m trying to get my daughter in the habit of frequent reconciliation. It’s much easier when you stay in the habit and maintain a sense of humility.
If priests talked about the importance of confession and penance people would go. In many parishes confessionals are overflowing. Why? 2 reasons it is available when most people would like to avail themselves of it. ie before Mass and because priests preach about the importance of it. Perhaps the reasons the confessionals are empty is because the priests themselves don’t believe in the sacrament. If they do then why do they keep so deafeningly quiet?
“Catholics born after Vatican II have never experienced the long Saturday lines at parish confessionals.” Where I live, we don’t normally have “long Saturday lines at parish confessionals”, although there are, at some parishes, lines. I live near a shrine, and Confession is offered every day, most hours of the day. When I am there, there are rarely long lines, but there is sometimes a line and often one or so persons waiting. I have noticed, however, that at the diocesan youth celebrations, i.e. World Youth Day (celebrated on Palm Sunday), where there are some 30, or so, priests available, they are always hearing confessions. The revival is coming with the JPII generation! Yay!
I just want to give you guys heads up that some of the bishops ARE trying to draw attention to the Sacrament. There were sugestions made at the recent Eucharistic Synod that what we need now is a Year of Penance (to follow the year of the Eucharist).
I have plenty of opportunities to get to confession because of various college, youth ministry, etc… events that I’m involved in.
Unfortunately though, the parish I attend only has confessions posted as being available from 9:30 to 10:00am on Saturdays. Even then, there are NO confessionals in the parish and if you want to have your confession heard you need to knock on Father’s open office door and ask him if he’d mind taking a break from checking his e-mails to hear your confession.
Ok, maybe I’m being overly cynical, but I think there’s something wrong with that.
The parish I grew up in has confessions available before morning mass every day and from 11:00am ’til noon (or whenever the line disapears) on Saturdays. There’s always lines. It seems the more a parish offers confessions the more often there are lines. Maybe the parishes that offer easy access to confessions are just lacking in saints. 😉
I must disagree as statistics have shown that during JPII’s reign, who I admired as Pope and Person but not as a leader, every aspect of Catholicism fell from the number of priests to attendance. Ecumenism is a really big problem that the church does not seem to understand is contradictory to the faith and what the church taught for centuries. No one is saying you cant have a nice meeting here and there, but to preach that all faiths are equal, that we can and should search for truths in other faiths, even those that deny our Lord is minimizing the sacrifice one must make to be catholic and be saved
Why should a child, or an adult go to confession when the have a Pope worshipping with (You name the religion as JPII and B16 have done it) and he or she feels that even the Hindu, Buddhist, Moslem , etc can be saved WITHOUT Jesus, even though scripture clearly teaches otherwise, they say why the heck do I need to go to confession when they can go to heaven even without JESUS?
We need a return to sound liturgy and Catechism as one is not supposed to receive our Lord with any mortal sins on ones soul, and are supposed to expiate (does anyone or the church even teach that word anymore) all of our sins, even WITH confession or one winds up in limbo or pergatory. Go check your Baltimore Catechism
God bless
“Go check your Baltimore Catechism”
I will!
Great thoughts, John.
I had a visiting Jesuit priest tell me, not a little sarcastically, in the confessional, “you’re trying to be perfect, aren’t you?” Ummmm….yes, Father – just like the Bible tells me I should try to be perfect.
Our regular priest told me I was “too scrupulous”. Even when I am trying to do it right I am wrong!
I do try to get to confession at least 4 times a year minimum but in the past you were lucky if you saw me in there 4 times in 10 years. I will just keep going – never mind what the priest thinks.
unfortunately, my parish is one with the limit.
10-10:30 AM on Saturday.
I wonder how many Catholics feel like the Penitential Rite at the begining of Mass is a replacement for confession. Do they realize that this only remits venial sin, but not mortal sin? That is, in fact, why the Church removed the Indulgentiam from the Tridentine Rite – there was a fear that Catholics were beginning to think Mass remitted mortal sin.
Incidently, this prayer, the Indulgentiam, had a sign of the Cross during the rite. Many contemporary Catholics think they are being traditional when they cross themselves during the Penitential Rite (“May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life…””). This what was called for in the Tridentine Mass in a part of the Mass totally distinct from the Penitential Rite. So, even Tridentine Catholics didn’t cross themselves at this point.
Further reflections in reading through further comments…
I’ve also been told I was being overly scrupulous in my practice of frequent confession. On the one hand, I guess we shouldn’t deny that scrupulosity is real and is not a good thing, on the other hand, there is merit in frequent confession even if you only have venial sins to confess. . .spiritual direction, growing in humility, acknowledgement of areas needing work, sacramental grace.
With regards to the penitential rite, I actually think that very few Catholics realize that venial sins are absolved in the penitential rite. I doubt that there are many people who take the penitential right to be a substitute for the sacrament sins people who know the Mass well enough to realize the significance of the penitential rite tend to be the kind of people who also go to confession on a regular basis.
At our Tridentine Rite chapel we have long lines for confession before mass and hear at least every 6-8 weeks during the homily from Father about the non-necessity to go to confession for venial sins. He must be trying to make sure that the people who go to confession are the ones that are supposed to be there!
Some dioceses are having priests with more than one parish, the result being that no confession is offered.
Actually — it seems to me the more saintly one gets, the more one realizes one’s need for mercy and forgiveness, and the *more* one goes to Confession. So, if that’s true, we are pretty badly off! 😐
Actually — it seems to me the more saintly one gets, the more one realizes one’s need for mercy and forgiveness, and the *more* one goes to Confession. So, if that’s true, we are pretty badly off! 😐
Amen!
I’m confused – I’ve gotten two different interpretations of the penitential rite. One priest told me that it does not replace confession, even for venial sins and that one still needs to go to confession even if one “only” has venial sins to confess. Then I’ve also heard what is being discussed here: that the penitential rite absolves one of venial sins.
Guess I’ll be checking the catechism.
I too go to a parish with limited confession schedules. 30 minutes before weekend masses or by appointment.
I never knew the bit at the beginning of Mass absolved any sins until recently. But even if it does, that’s just a lick and a promise to clean you up before Mass. It doesn’t deal with the root problems.
Doing penance and reparation and talking to the priest is what helps you get rid of the entrenched bad habits and occasions of sin that lead to venial sin, not to mention the temporal effects of your sin.
Btw — this “ER” image made me think of House, M.D.’s character as the parish pastor or something, always complaining to the parish admin people about having to do his confessional hours…. He’d have a bunch of seminarians and associate priests trailing him around instead of the Ducklings….
Heh! House would make a scary yet effective priest, I think.
It just occurred to me that if John Paul II went to confession once per week, then people like myself probably ought to go once a day.
John – How, exactly, does one admire John Pauls “as Pope and Person but not as a leader”? The Pope is the leader of the Church. For my part, I figure that if the Holy Spirit had wanted me to run the Church I’d have found out about it by now. Second-guessing the Vicar of Christ is a very bad idea, from the point of view both of giving scandal and of developing a dangerous disposition to think that one knows better than the Holy Father. I wouldn’t go there if I were you.
Actually, I have to say that the lines for confession at my church are longer than I’ve ever seen them in my entire life. It started when JPII died.
Last Lent, we had a big Penance service with five or six priests from other parishes set up to hear Confession. All the confessionals that are never used anymore were used. There were two priests up in front. There was another priest in a “porta-confessional” built out of some two by fours.
And the lines. You wouldn’t believe them.
The thing was, a ton of people came to the Penance service. But there were also a ton of people who’d come to church for various meetings, etc, who saw what was going on and hurried to join the lines. There were people who’d just come to pray in an empty church who hurried to join the lines. There were J Random Guys who’d driven by the church and seen the announcement on the sign out front, saw the church lights still on, and hurried to join the lines. There were still people coming in when the priests were half an hour over their time, and the lines were almost as long as they’d been in the beginning.
So, yeah, I think there’s just a tad bit of hunger for the sacrament out there. But people have to be able to get to it.
In our deanery, we have a penance service, with individual confessions, twice a year, Advent and Lent. Does anybody think this might hint that confession is only necessary twice a year? Things that make you say hmmmmm.
Our parish has confession from 4:00 to 5:00 on Saturdays or by appointment. There are not usually lines (not the times I’ve been there). During August, our priest went to his homeland of Poland for the month and we had NO Confessions.
Meanwhile, at the Maronite Rite church across town, Father will drop EVERYTHING to hear Confessions. He was about to process one morning when someone asked if he’d be hearing Confession that day because she wanted to go. He asked if she felt the need to go before Mass. No kidding.
After every daily Mass I’ve been to there, he hears Confessions afterwards. Every dang day! Well, okay, I haven’t been on his one day off from Mass per week, but I’d bet that if I showed up, he’d head in there. On Fridays, when my homeschool co op meets there for Mass and classes, he is often in the confessional for more than an hour. First Fridays can be longer, since there are so many who go to Mass those days.
Hungry for it? Yes. And, thank God, there is that church with that example. Because of that, my daughter, who just last night made her First Confession, talks about going every Friday after Mass at that church. Actually, she had barely finished her penance last night when she asked if we could go today. I don’t want to keep her from the Sacrament, but, golly! She’s only seven! I think she can wait until Friday. 😉
Confession
The Curt Jester talks about Confession being an “endangered Sacrament” in a recent post. He laments the lack of discussion about it from the pulpit (when was the last time you heard about going during a homily?), and I have to agree. But I do think i…
What I hate is that we have Confession for a half hour on Saturday (or appointment and Lent and Advent), there is only one person in line for Confession, and the priest sometimes tells me that the sins I’ve committed aren’t sins at all. I’ve heard somewhere ‘woe to the priest who refuses to forgive the sins of the penitent’ or something like that.
I don’t want to veer off-topic, but my elder brother made a comment about something similar. His oldest daughter (my goddaughter) is making her First Communion in the spring. They are in a very small parish that relies on retired priests to celebrate Mass on occasion and, barring that, deacons and nuns to bring the Eucharist to them. Luckily they have had a semi-regular priest coming out their way for the major events. However, he decided to schedule the First Communion in the fall and then prepare the kids for their first Reconciliations in the spring.
My brother decided that was putting the cart before the horse, so he made her wait, which annoyed some of the family. My mother commented, “She’s seven. She doesn’t have a concept of sin yet anyway.” But she does.
If your seven year old has no concept of sin, then you aren’t doing your job as a parent. My four year old is gaining a concept of sin, and my seven year old was BEGGING to go to Confession for nearly six months because she was so upset with herself for her sins. (Small as I’m sure they are.) When we read an examination of conscience (for children) together, she kept clapping her hand over her mouth in horror when she realized she’d committed one of the sins.
Our seven year olds don’t know about sin simply because we don’t tell them. “It’s too ‘heavy’ for them at that age,” is what some people say. But we are doing them a disservice when we gloss over their sins and chalk it up to being kids. They need to understand that they, too, sin, and that even an attachment to venial sin is dangerous. And, yes, there is a way to do this without making them into shrinking, frightened children who fear God’s punishments without having any understanding of His mercy!
Elenor
I can love the Pope, but not agree with his actions as they are not infallible.
The last time I checked he was still flesh and bones and not immune to sin or error, except in the rare circumstances of speaking ex-cathedra.
As long as we keep these disagreements in the family so to speak, why not?
For that matter-if the Pope tomorrow told you that it was OK to start worshipping Buddah-would you not scratch your head and with your knowledge of the church and catechism not to mention the first commandmant, realize he was wrong?
I totally disagree on the ecumical mania that has swept the church, something she stayed away from for 2000 years as it creates confusion. Either we are the One true church or we are not. It is that simple
God bless
Sorry, Christine. I realized after reading your response that I forgot to mention that my niece is mentally impaired. And yet she understands sin and forgiveness. I just don’t understand why her priest didn’t think confession was a necessary part of the preparation for First Holy Communion.
No confession before First Communion? Don’t the priests know that it is Jesus Christ, God Himself, that they distribute at Communion? Don’t they realize that God won’t tolerate “I’m good enough” types? It’s called being lukewarm, and God will spew those from His mouth on Judgment Day. Woe to the priests who allow those with unconfessed sin to receive Communion and commit a greater sin, unless they repent!
This problem stems the general lack of good teaching of the Catechism and also a lack of care to know it.
That’s sick.
Jean,
That sheds light on the comment, for sure! But I’ve also heard that same thing said about “regular” kids. That they don’t really do a lot wrong, so why bother? It’s annoying!
I read something interesting on this in The Forty Dreams of John Bosco. He had a dream about why 9/10 of the population go to Hell- poor Confessions. People who think they “don’t really sin”, people who don’t keep firm their resolutions (when you tell God you’re sorry about lying and then you go out and do it again), and people who don’t tell the full truth when in the Confessional were who the dream dealt with.
People think that they can promise God things and He’ll continually accept their empty promises. They’re wrong. Or, they think that God will always forgive them no matter what they do. They forget He only forgives the contrite. The worst one of all is being complacent and believing that you are “not that bad”. Lukewarmness is what caused Jesus Christ, when in his agony at Gethsemene, to say “Father, take this cup from me!” (I read that in a paper about the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.)
If only the blind could see and the deaf could hear.