Posted on 09/02/2007 9:49:52 AM PDT by SoldierMedic
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — To many Roman Catholics, especially the older generations, it's inconceivable that online blathering could stand in for confession. "It would be like cheating!" said one woman at St. Mark, in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch.
But for Ashley Iodice, a high-school senior in Weston, Fla., Internet absolution feels more natural than talking to a priest.
Now a Baptist, Iodice grew up Catholic; she remembers confession as scary — and less than sincere. It's hard be honest about the depths of teenage depravity, she said, when you're talking to an elderly priest "who's committed his whole life to poverty and chastity."
But at IveScrewedUp, Iodice's inhibitions melted and she found herself admitting to the world how she'd fallen these past few years: "Drinking," she said. "And, you know ... stupid teenage stuff."
When she was done, Iodice said, her conscience felt newly light. "It sounds odd, but to me, it was much more personal than confessing to a priest," she said. "The anonymity means you can tell everything. It's a very cool way to do it."
What does it accomplish?
Pastor Troy Gramling, of Flamingo Road Church in Florida, sees online confession as a step toward personal healing. "It's good for the soul," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Doesn't the Priest also pass down some sort of penitence, like X amount of Hail Marys? How does he come up with that number?
The woman interviewed is not a Catholic, she’s a Baptist.
More about the oh so hip pastor Troy Gramling quoted in the article:
http://troygramling.blogspot.com/
http://www.mynakedpastor.com/#
“...voluntarily affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention”
(from a scene in The Brothers Karamazov in which Father Zossima is speaking to a penitent)—
“Don’t be afraid of anything, ever. And do no grieve. As long as your repentance does not weaken, God will forgive everything. There is not—there cannot be—a sin that God will not forgive the truly repentant. Why, a man cannot commit a sin so great as to exhaust the infinite love of God. How could there be a sin that would surpass the love of God? . . .
Have faith that God loves you more than you can ever imagine. He loves you, sinful as you are, and indeed because of your sin. It was said long ago that there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over a hundred righteous men. Go now, and fear nothing. Do not be offended if people treat you badly.
Do not hold it against them. . . If you repent, you love, and if you love, you are with God. Love redeems and saves everything. If I, a sinner like yourself, am moved and feel compassion for you, how infinitely more will God! Love is such an infinite treasure that it can buy the whole world and can redeem not only our sins, but the sins of all people. So go and fear no more.”
He made the sign of the cross over her three times, took the holy icon from his own neck, and put it around hers. She bowed down to the ground in silence.
The article said she used to be Catholic, so I wasn’t sure Catholics also did this.
A person’s confession of sins should be between the person and God/Jesus alone.
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
The IveScrewedUp Web site is just a site owned by the Flamingo Road pastor quoted in the article. And get this disclaimer:
“By sending information to this website, the sender has granted Ivescrewedup.com a perpetual, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, and otherwise exercise all rights with respect to the information, at its dole discretion.”
In other word, the pastor could write a book and make money on your “confessions.” In contrast to this “pastor”, Catholic priests are bound not to reveal anything heard in confession.
My hunch is that “pastor” Troy is a voyeur...
Absolutely not.
Is confession something that must be done with a Priest, or can it be done with anybody?
The Sacrament can only be administered by a validly ordained Priest.
Doesn't the Priest also pass down some sort of penitence, like X amount of Hail Marys? How does he come up with that number?
It brings to mind that website, Postsecret.com. I get the feeling that this “pastor” wants to cash in on that type of idea. I think it is good in that it may release some guilt that the person is feeling, but it is not a legitimate Catholic confession.
The priest stands in the place of Christ, with authority given directly from Christ in Scripture to forgive OR retain sin. To decide whether to forgive or retain, Christ's representative must hear the sins, pronounce a penance, and give absolution. Absolution may be refused (and sometimes is).
As for secrecy, a priest would die before revealing one iota of what was told to him in the confessional -- and some priests have. St. John Nepomucene was ordered by a king to tell him what the queen had said in confession -- he refused and was tortured and horribly murdered, but he never breathed a word.
ANYthing on the internet is potentially public knowledge. There is no seal of the confessional on line.
Catholic priests are bound not to reveal anything heard in confession............... OK, but if he is a rogue priest and leaves the priesthood, what then? When and by who’s bidding did the confession booth first come into existance?
No, Catholics cannot do this. Confession (or the sacrament of reconciliation) is done only with a priest. When one confesses his or her sins, the priest grants absolution. Absolution is conferred upon the repentant sinner by the priest who is acting as an intermediary between the sinner and God. The priest will recommend that the sinner pray too as part of the absolution. The type or number of prayers is at the priest’s discretion. It is not so much the type or number of prayers, but that the sinner commit that sin no more. The priest is bound to secrecy by the oath of confession from discussing the sins of the confessor with anyone hence, posting someone’s confession on the internet violates that sanctity. I hope this answers your question.
Thank you for you input. It didn’t seem right to be able to post it on the net, and now I have my answer!
Kudo’s as well for those clearing up the confession and the penance portion of my question.
I’m not here to argue for or against Catholic procedures or what priests are supposed to do.
My point is that this IveScrewedUp site is nothing more than a site sponsored by a pastor (not a Catholic priest) who lets anyone browse through the confessions and whose disclaimer says he retains the right to publish the confessions. I’d say his motives are beyond pastoral.
The IveScrewedUp site has nothing to do with Catholics. Unfortunately, the article led the original poster to think that it did.
Catholics have to go to sacramental confession to a priest - but it doesn’t have to be a priest who knows them, certainly.
When I was a kid in New York City, we all went to the 24 hour confessions at St. Francis of Assisi on 33rd St. We were really sorry, but we didn’t necessarily want our pastor to know what we’d been up to.
If you’re not a Catholic, sincere repentance is probably sufficient. And even if you are a Catholic, since it’s virtually impossible to find a modern Catholic priest who wants to hear confessions, that’s probably sufficient until you can go to sacramental confession.
And what is he is a Minneapolis police officer who is tired of hanging around bathrooms at the airport? "On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
Of course not! The priest needs to hear the confession in order to give absolution. How interesting that this should pop up today when our pastor's homily was focused on the question of 'sincere repentance'. Only yesterday, someone asked him how he recognized true repentance of sin. Today's Gospel was Luke 7:37-50. Look at the actions: tears (remorse), kiss (greeting), ointment (healing). This priest related how a man asked to go to confession. He had been away from the Sacrament for many years. His mother had just died and he wanted to receive communion at her funeral. The man wept throughout his confession. The priest immediately recognized the sincerity of his repentance.
Let's take a closer look at the statement in the above article:
It's hard be honest about the depths of teenage depravity, she said, when you're talking to an elderly priest "who's committed his whole life to poverty and chastity."
The Church teaches us that when we go to Confession, we are confessing to God, not the priest! To underscore this statement, read what our Lord told St. Faustina, a 20th century Polish nun, to whom He appeared.
Today the Lord said to me, Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls. (1602) My daughter, just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light. (1725)
When we approach the Sacrament of Confession, we need to make a sincere examination of conscience (based on the 10 Commandments) and bring our sins to our Lord, through the priest. Then the tears will flow!
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Does the Catholic Church offer any leeway in that? Like if somebody is about to die, but a priest is not around, can in that unusual circumstance a normal individual step in and fulfill that role?See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09094a.htm for a discussion of that question.
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