"He who kneels before fallen man, and opens in confession the secret thoughts and imaginations of his heart, is debasing his manhood and degrading every noble instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of his life to a priest,--an erring, sinful mortal, and too often corrupted with wine and licentiousness,--his standard of character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His thought of God is degraded to the likeness of fallen humanity, for the priest stands as a representative of God. This degrading confession of man to man is the secret spring from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the world and fitting it for the final destruction."
Great Controversy p.567 E.G.W.
"As Pope Francis was personally hearing confessions in the Vatican at the beginning of Lent, dioceses at his invitation were launching an ambitious initiative called “24 Hours for the Lord” to invite lapsed Catholics back to the Church and, in particular, to the sacrament of reconciliation.
Confession often goes hand in hand with the pope’s musings on
mercy, a virtue he’s invoked to define his papacy. But will his high-profile endorsement revitalize interest in what some say is an endangered sacrament?
The pope’s confession-obsession was on display in his recent book, the New York Times bestselling “The Name of God is Mercy.” There, Francis expands on his now famous “Who am I to judge?” response in 2013 when asked about gay priests.
And when he kicked off his special jubilee Year of Mercy, which runs through November, Francis again highlighted the sacrament, urging Catholics to visit a priest for absolution.
“A special sign of grace in this Jubilee of Mercy is the sacrament of penance, in which Christ invites us to acknowledge our sinfulness, to experience his mercy, and to receive the grace which can make us ever more effective signs of his reconciling love at work in our world,” Francis said.
The most recent data on the numbers of US Catholics who frequent the confessional are from 2008, well before Pope Francis was elected. But that survey found that about three-quarters of Catholics practice the sacrament once a year or less, and nearly half, 45 percent, said they never go.
In 2012, then-president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, warned his fellow bishops that the sacrament was in peril.
“What an irony that despite the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of the sacrament of penance, what we got instead was its near disappearance,” he said in a speech to bishops.
He suggested bishops consider “re-embracing Friday as a particular day of penance, including the possible reinstitution of abstinence on all Fridays of the year, not just during Lent.” That proposal never came to fruition.
The Association of US Catholic Priests, generally seen as fairly progressive, thinks one way the Church could get more Catholics interested in the sacrament is by reviving communal penitential services.
“We’re doing things in reverse order. We’re saying the standard
way of coming to confession is to do the one on one thing, and in a certain sense, that’s the most intense form of the sacrament,” said the Rev. Bernard Bonnot, pastor of Christ Our Savior Parish in Struthers, Ohio and a member of the organization, which says it includes about 1,000 clerics who try to promote the teachings of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
Catholics today might be familiar with a communal penance service, usually during advent or lent, during which they recall their sins before breaking off to meet with a priest for absolution. That’s generally known as the “second rite” of penance, with the first rite being standard one-on-one private confession.
There’s also a communal form of the sacrament that offers forgiveness without the need for an individual meeting, referred to as the “third rite.” Its use was heavily restricted in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, who stressed the importance of the personal interaction with priests during the sacrament. He told bishops that general absolution could be used only “in cases of grave necessity.”
Fulwiler, who hosts a daily radio show about Catholic issues, said there is something about verbalizing one’s shortcomings to another person that makes confession particularly beneficial.
“Until you’ve done it, it’s hard even to imagine
how powerful it is, to actually have to form the words and have another person hear them,” she said. “I think a lot of us don’t want to confess our most private sins.”
Called “Confession,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend signed off on the app in 2011 as a way to help prepare Catholics for meeting with a priest. But confusion over the app forced the Vatican to weigh in, reminding Catholics that God’s mercy isn’t downloadable.
Dioceses are hoping the pope’s emphasis on confession and the Jubilee of Mercy also might bring some people back to the confessional. In Indianapolis, for example, all 133 parishes offered confession during the “24 Hours for the Lord” campaign." Crux
Great Controversy p.567 E.G.W.
"As Pope Francis was personally hearing confessions in the Vatican at the beginning of Lent, dioceses at his invitation were launching an ambitious initiative called “24 Hours for the Lord” to invite lapsed Catholics back to the Church and, in particular, to the sacrament of reconciliation.
Confession often goes hand in hand with the pope’s musings on
The pope’s confession-obsession was on display in his recent book, the New York Times bestselling “The Name of God is Mercy.” There, Francis expands on his now famous “Who am I to judge?” response in 2013 when asked about gay priests.
“A special sign of grace in this Jubilee of Mercy is the sacrament of penance, in which Christ invites us to acknowledge our sinfulness, to experience his mercy, and to receive the grace which can make us ever more effective signs of his reconciling love at work in our world,” Francis said.
The most recent data on the numbers of US Catholics who frequent the confessional are from 2008, well before Pope Francis was elected. But that survey found that about three-quarters of Catholics practice the sacrament once a year or less, and nearly half, 45 percent, said they never go.
In 2012, then-president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, warned his fellow bishops that the sacrament was in peril.
“What an irony that despite the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of the sacrament of penance, what we got instead was its near disappearance,” he said in a speech to bishops.
He suggested bishops consider “re-embracing Friday as a particular day of penance, including the possible reinstitution of abstinence on all Fridays of the year, not just during Lent.” That proposal never came to fruition.
The Association of US Catholic Priests, generally seen as fairly progressive, thinks one way the Church could get more Catholics interested in the sacrament is by reviving communal penitential services.
“We’re doing things in reverse order. We’re saying the standard
Catholics today might be familiar with a communal penance service, usually during advent or lent, during which they recall their sins before breaking off to meet with a priest for absolution. That’s generally known as the “second rite” of penance, with the first rite being standard one-on-one private confession.
There’s also a communal form of the sacrament that offers forgiveness without the need for an individual meeting, referred to as the “third rite.” Its use was heavily restricted in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, who stressed the importance of the personal interaction with priests during the sacrament. He told bishops that general absolution could be used only “in cases of grave necessity.”
Fulwiler, who hosts a daily radio show about Catholic issues, said there is something about verbalizing one’s shortcomings to another person that makes confession particularly beneficial.
“Until you’ve done it, it’s hard even to imagine
Called “Confession,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend signed off on the app in 2011 as a way to help prepare Catholics for meeting with a priest. But confusion over the app forced the Vatican to weigh in, reminding Catholics that God’s mercy isn’t downloadable.
Dioceses are hoping the pope’s emphasis on confession and the Jubilee of Mercy also might bring some people back to the confessional. In Indianapolis, for example, all 133 parishes offered confession during the “24 Hours for the Lord” campaign." Crux
We already had a "sacrament of penance" performed for us-
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice,
first for his own sins,
and then for the people's:
for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
Hebrews 7:27
As for us today-
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness....Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
1 John 1:9/Hebrews 4:16
In Summary-WE DON'T NEED THE HOCUS POCUS OF THE CATHOLIC CONFESSIONAL BEFORE FELLOW FALLEN MEN
