Jan. 17, 2007 (CWNews.com) – The international Catholic charitable organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will send a specially designed minibus known as the “confessional car” to a tourism fair in Essen, Germany, in February.
Father Hermann-Joseph Hubka of ACN will introduce the vehicle, which was made to fit the needs of vacationers seeking the sacrament of Penance. For three years the minibus has been in use under the patronage of Augsburg Bishop Walter Mix.
In recent years ACN has built “chapel boats” to be used on rivers in Brazil and Russia, providing for the spiritual needs of people living along rivers, far away from a church. Plans to introduce the "confessional car" at a tourism exhibition were announced on the same day that the Pontifical Council for Migrants released a report encouraging new pastoral strategies to address the needs of travelers.
No word yet if the confessional cars will only be available on Saturdays for 15 minutes to make American tourists feel at home.
10 comments
Brilliant. Now THAT’S the kind of initiative that the worldly take all the time, but the children of the kingdom almost rarely bother with.
“No word yet if the confessional cars will only be available on Saturdays for 15 minutes to make American tourists feel at home.”
Ha! Good one!
And an accident? Who cares…you’ll be in a state of grace.
i know this will be hard to believe but i saw an online video about this sort of thing in a joking sense years ago, it was a confessional cab thing haha, interesting to see they actually did it
Shouldn’t this be a standard feature on the popemobile?
Ed Pie:
I am confused: for the Pope to give or receive absolution? I am not sure whether to laugh or cry.
I went to confession in a car once. A friend of mine who was considering the seminary was at dinner with his parish priest and I ended up meeting them afterward. The priest offered us confession, but the only place with any privacy was inside the priest’s car.
I made a joke about Dashboard Confessional and he didn’t get it.
Sorry, Roberto. I was thinking that the popemobile should have some kind of confessional hardware so he could hear confessions before saying mass, whenever he was on the road.
But if it’s funnier the other way, I meant that.
As laughable as the concept sounds at first, my first reasonable thought is of how it might help the elderly and disabled who might find it difficult to make it during hours when confession is offered.
Like the Bookmobile? It could park in scheduled places every week…But there would have to be an attendant or chaperone or s’thing, wouldn’t there? So that the mobile itself would be considered a public place? Otherwise we’d run into trouble with the Child Safety guidelines. An adult can’t be alone with a minor in a vehicle…
Seriously, it could be a good idea in certain regions if all relevant rules were observed. Although in RI we may still have more churches than parking lots.
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