Posted on 06/22/2002 12:16:12 PM PDT by ninenot
Crisis of Confession Reflects Crisis of Confessors
Interview with Father Ivan Fucek, Theologian of the Apostolic Penitentiary
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 20, 2002 (Zenit.org).- A theologian adviser to the Holy See confirmed that John Paul II decided to relaunch the sacrament of God's forgiveness in the universal Church by writing the apostolic letter "Misericordia Dei" on his own initiative.
When presenting that document to the press May 2, Archbishop Julián Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legal Texts, said that the "crisis of confession is above all a crisis of confessors."
To understand better the Holy Father's concern about this matter, ZENIT interviewed Jesuit Father Ivan Fucek, theologian of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Church's highest tribunal for questions of the "internal forum" (matters of conscience).
Q: In your opinion, what is the present state of the sacrament of God's forgiveness?
Father Fucek: We are experiencing a crisis that is especially acute in some local Churches. Because of this, the Pope's apostolic letter has special significance. It is a strong document, because it is a direct intervention of the Bishop of Rome. Now we must see how it is received by priests.
The letter, as such, does not offer any novelties from the doctrinal point of view, put it emphasizes and confirms what has already been clarified in many documents.
It stresses personal and individual confession, an integral confession, which means the remission of all grave, but also venial, sins. It is, implicitly, a call to priests, who must always be available to hear the faithful's confession.
It is inconceivable that a priest is not available or has no time to hear confessions, because confession, together with the Eucharist, is the priest's principal task. In the Apostolic Penitentiary, we teach confessors how to conduct themselves as fathers, friends, teachers, physicians of souls, and judges.
Q: What caused this crisis in the sacrament of confession?
Father Fucek: It is difficult to give an answer. It depends on many factors, although from my point of view, it is necessary to look at its origin.
It must be acknowledged that many priests have not prepared themselves sufficiently to administer the sacrament of penance, and they are not familiar with the implications related to moral theology and canon law.
Every year, during the Lenten period, the Apostolic Penitentiary offers a course for new priests. Seven years ago, when I began to work with the Penitentiary, there were 200 registered. In the last year, 500 took the course. Their number increases every year.
On one hand, it is a good sign, because it reflects a hunger to know better the sacrament of penance. On the other, it is a bad sign, because it reflects a lack of preparation. They have learnt little if anything in their faculties and seminaries.
Q: Confession and the Eucharist are two pillars of the Catholic faith, but it would seem that the secularized culture has tried to destroy them. Is this true?
Father Fucek: Vatican Council II stressed the importance of confession. However, following the council, secularization ensued and there was a confusion of terms.
In the name of a false ecumenism, some followed Protestantism, to the point that confession was virtually abolished in favor of "collective or general absolution." The Holy Father's apostolic letter explained that to equate "collective absolution" with the ordinary way of celebrating the sacrament of penance is a doctrinal error, a disciplinary abuse and a pastoral injury.
The sacrament of confession, penance or reconciliation, as it is also called, is an unmistakable sign of the Catholic Church.
In the Eucharist, there is the real presence of Christ, Jesus is present with his divinity and humanity, body and soul. In past years, some doubted the eucharistic presence and preferred to speak of a symbol, but these are sociological criteria that have nothing to do with the truths of the faith. This is an error that has passed from Protestantism to our Catholic communities.
This contamination of the doctrine has taken place at the same time as the process of playing down and canceling the sense of sin. The popes have spoken authoritatively on this issue since the time of Pius XII. Even more deleterious for the sacrament of confession is the desire to justify sins with sociological and psychological criteria.
ZE02062020
“Last summer the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, with the full agreement of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregations for the Oriental Churches, issued a series of guidelines for Eucharistic sharing between the Chaldean church (which is in communion with Rome) and the Assyrian church of the East (which is not).The guidelines are revolutionary in character. For the first time in modern history, the Catholic church has recognized the validity of a eucharistic prayer (the Anaphora of Addai and Mari) without the words of institution (“This is my body. ...This is my blood”), more commonly referred to as the words of consecration.
In the popular Catholic mind, especially before Vatican II, these words have had an almost magical quality. Whenever a validly ordained priest utters them over a large host (often times over a ciborium full of smaller hosts as well) and then over a chalice containing wine, Christ immediately “comes down” from heaven, taking the form of bread and wine to be received by the faithful as holy Communion, that is, His very “body and blood, soul and divinity.”
Because it is not the PRIEST who is the Sacrament. He is only a conduit of grace. He has very little to do with the efficacy of that grace. A faulty tool is still a tool, and can still be used.
But you are right: Those priests should be confessing. But because they don't pray in their personal lives, they don't see much importance in, or they are ashamed to administer, the Sacrament of Penance. This probably explains the serious fall-off in the frequency of confession in many American parishes.
Listen to the words.
It's awful to hear that, but I know this liberal attitude is prevalent all over. Thank God our entire area has all orthodox priests and parishes. Confessions are available every Friday and Saturday in several parishes...and lots of people go.
That's because our priests are preaching the necessity of the sacrament. My cousin was ordained to the priesthood 2 years ago. He offers confession before every mass he says and 4 hours on Saturday. He says it's amazing how many people have returned to the sacrament just by making it available.
Note, this is the work of Cardinal Kasper, a genuine scandal according to Father George May.
Canon Lawyer Calls Kasper's and Lehmann's Cardinal Nomination a "Genuine Scandal"
Father George May, Professor of Canon Law at Mainz University from 1960 to 1994, denounced the scandal of Archbishops Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann receiving red hats.
In a February 2001 interview in Kirchliche Umschau, Father May said: "The nomination of Kasper and Lehmann [to the College of Cardinals] is a genuine scandal, that is to say, an occasion of sin . . . "
Both Kasper and Lehmann were made Cardinals by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001.
As for Karl Lehmann, even the liberal Italian press calls him "soft rebel," contrasting him with "hard rebels" such as Hans Kung. For years Lehmann resisted the Vatican's efforts to stop the German bishops from operating "counseling centers" which issued certificates German women need to obtain abortions under German law. He has also publicly questioned the Church's teaching that divorced and remarried Catholics may not receive Holy Communion. He co-authored [with fellow progressivist Walter Kaspar] a theology text which, among other things, denies the existence of a personal devil and personal demons.
Lehmann is unrepentant since his elevation to the status of Cardinal. Catholic World News reported that the day after he got his red hat, Lehmann "told reporters that he did not regret his opposition to the Holy See on the question of abortion counseling in Germany."
The other new Cardinal, Walter Kasper, is well-known for his heterodox views on the person of Jesus Christ. In his 1973 book Jesus Yes, Church No?, Father Kasper scorned the infallible Sacred Scriptures, stating that Christ "probably described himself neither as Messiah nor as Servant of God, nor as Son of God nor as Son of Man."
After Kasper's elevation to the Cardinalate, he was appointed Prefect of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. At the same time, he brazenly defied 2000 years of Church teaching alleging that non-Catholics need not convert to Catholicism for salvation. In a public statement printed in Adisti in February, Kasper said: ". . . today we no longer understand ecumenism in the sense of a return, by which the others would 'be converted' and return to being 'Catholics.' This was expressly abandoned at Vatican II."
With Cardinals like these, who need enemies?
Same with me but it was about 15 years... don't you wish you could explain to people how wonderful, fantastic and liberated you feel afterwards? And what a feeling to receive the Body of Christ when you've just (or recently) made a good confession.
If people went to confession regularly, I am convinced there would be no need for psychiatrists or anti-depression drugs.
The other thing I notice is that off-color jokes and stories which I used to find particularly compelling (I work nights with mostly men, so I hear this stuff all the time) has become something which I avoid and find offensive to God. I just smile and walk away or get busy in my cubicle.
I don't miss this stuff at all, and I am so grateful that I avoid the sin and do not contribute to the "occasion of sin" of others.
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