Robert Nugent argues that for teens to appreciate the value of sacramental confession, we need to clearly ritualize its connection to the larger community and engage their sense of sin as injuring relationships, rather that disobeying individual (often half-understood) laws.
Archive for category Penance-Reconciliation
“I said ‘Bravo, let’s put this on steroids. Let’s make this part of our college Lenten spiritual regimen,’” [Archbishop Timothy] Dolan said Thursday from New York. “It’s an act of penance. Is there anything colder, damper than taking off on a dark Roman morning … to walk a half hour to a church? That’s what Lent is all about.”
Prayers of Confession
Feb 19
“If the ‘Confession: A Roman Catholic App’ makes that connection between heart, mind and voice that call us to an even deeper confession of Christ, then would the creators make an app for us Protestant worshipers as well?”
Will new media affect the way Catholics celebrate the Sacrament of Penance?
Whatever happened to private confession? According to Annemarie Kidder’s recent book, Making Confession, Hearing Confession: A History of the Cure of Souls, it simply moved out of church.
Is there a place in our parishes for penitential celebrations without the sacrament?
A Confession of Sin
Mar 31
On Wednesday, March 31, a liturgy of lamentation and penance was held in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in the context of the many cases of physical and sexual abuse which have come to light in Austria and elsewhere in recent weeks. Over 3,000 people took part. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Catholic theologian Veronica Prüller-Jagenteuful read the following confession.
At the liturgy of lamentation and penance in Vienna mentioned above, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn made the following remarks.
According to the Sacramentary, “In case of serious public need, the local Ordinary may permit or decree the addition of a special intention.” Let us pray, dear friends, for the victims of sexual abuse…
Ashes
Feb 3
Preparing ministers to assist in the distribution of ashes is a spiritual opportunity as well as a practical one.