Posted on 02/21/2009 3:02:39 PM PST by Pyro7480
STAMFORD, Conn. — The day after Msgr. Stephen DiGiovanni was installed in June 1998 as the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church here, he walked through the quiet sanctuary, appreciating the English Gothic grandeur and tallying all the repairs it required.
One particular sight seized him. The confessional at the rear of the pews had been nailed shut. The confessional in the front, nearer the altar, was filled with air-conditioning equipment. And these conditions, Monsignor DiGiovanni realized, reflected theology as much as finance.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, the Catholic Church began offering confession in “reconciliation rooms,” rather than the traditional booths. Even before the setting changed, habits had. The norm for American Catholics was to make confession once a year, generally in the penitential period of Lent leading up to Easter.
Monsignor DiGiovanni, though, soon noticed that there were lines for the St. John’s reconciliation room the only time it was open each week, for two hours on Saturday afternoon. So within his first month as pastor, he pried open the door to the rear confessional, wiped off the dust of decades and arranged for replacing the lights, drapes and tiles.
Then, in the fall of 1998, Monsignor DiGiovanni rolled back the clock of Catholic practice, having St. John’s priests hear confession in the booths before virtually every Mass. By now, as another Lent commences next week with Ash Wednesday, upwards of 450 people engage in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as confession is formally known, during 15 time slots spread over all seven days of the week. Confessions are heard in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese....
“Confession as we once knew it is pretty much a dead letter in Catholicism today,” the Rev. Richard P. McBrien...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He then took the time to hear the confession of every single one of us (There were over a hundred making first Communion that year) My sisters class had even more the next year and had to be split into two groups.
God bless you Father Schwartz you and your kind are sorely missed.
We have a nice room where you can walk in and kneel behind the screen or take two more steps and sit and talk to the priest face to face.
I prefer the face to face version.
Correct, there!
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1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
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**First off, my pastor called Confession by it’s real name from the pulpit on Sunday - PENANCE. **
My priest has been using the word “Penance”, too. Wow!
After all, repenting of our sins is part of the process.
I have heard it said that there are two indicators of a good parish:
1.) The length of the Confe3ssion lines. (Our priest always goes over before the Vigil Mass and had to add more time after a Mass during the week.)
2.) The number of vocations in your parish. I think more and more priests are starting to realize this.
**Makes one wonder when the last time that McBrien was in a confessional as a penitent let alone as a Priest.**
All priests have to go to Confession too. Good question.
Repentance is one of the themes of Lent.
Our priest mentions it probably every two weeks — and during Lent, very week.
Guess we are pretty lucky.
Just during Advent and Lent?
I can’t handle it if I don’t go to Confession at least once every four weeks. More often if I can. The reason is that the more you receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the more aware you become of your sins.
It really is wonderful!
PS. (I’m not trying to brag here.)
**Historically, confessional booths did not come into the Church until after the Reformation.**
I was waiting for someone to come through with the history.
It was always face to face for a long, long time!
Fr. Richard McBrien
Claims that a future Pope must overturn the infallible document disallowing women "priests" (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis).
Fr. Richard McBrien
Says, among other things, that Jesus did not establish the Catholic Church, and calls into question the virginal conception of Jesus and the perpetual virginity of Our Lady, and promotes dissent.
I get misty every time I heard the words used in absolution.
This is the parish I stumbled into when I moved to Stamford 2 years ago. I credit this pastor’s and the other priests holy reverence at Mass and the frequent offering (and my use) of the sacrement of Confession with a sincere transformation to Christ.
After years of going to the average Catholic parish, this was the spiritual food I was longing for.
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