Posted on 10/25/2013 6:15:15 AM PDT by marshmallow
Confessing our sins is not like going to see a psychiatrist, Pope Francis has said.
The Pope spoke about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in his homily at the Santa Marta guesthouse this morning.
He said the only way of reaching God’s love is to go to him with the same honesty, transparency and simplicity that children have, accepting the “grace of shame” that lets us feel God’s forgiveness.
The Pope warned about the difficulty of life as “every time we want to do good, evil is next to us”. “This is the struggle of Christians. This is our struggle everyday. And we do not always have the courage to speak as Paul speaks of this struggle. We always seek a way of justification: ‘But yes, we are all sinners’”, the Pope said.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicherald.co.uk ...
Well...if they’d just restart those Letters of Indulgence...folks would feel alright, buy into the system, and the pendulum would return to a normal state of affairs.
Post should have been labeled “Catholic Caucus”. I saw the anti-Catholic bigoted attacks coming the minute I saw the post. Maybe one day protestants will surprise me. Yea, and I also believe in Big Foot.
I feel so much embarrassment for others when their ignorance is on display.
..and yet it wasn’t labeled “Catholic Caucus”. Wonder what a psychiatrist would say about that...
Interesting enough, Martin Luther prescribed confessions to a pastor in his catechism.
Most Lutheran churches or other protestant churches do not do confessions to a pastor, but I don’t think it was ever officially removed from his catechism.
That Church grew, established its tenets, liturgy and customs over the hundreds of years. The Douay Bible was written along the year 300. Great progress was made in respect to universality.
There were, indeed, bumps in the road but the Roman Catholic Church moved along from century to century in its usual dignified manner. Then Vatican II was convened and voila a new religion was born that threw out everything that mattered. Yes there still remained confession, but it was called reconciliation.
Statues and pictures were removed and in many 'churches' the stations of the cross were removed. Votive candles? Gone or hard to find. The Tabernacle was moved off to a corner probably to make room for the throngs of communion dispensers that crowded around . Girl altar boys. In many cases new structures were built, consecrated and called churches even though they looked like airplane hangars.
No crucifix behind the altar. There isn't even an altar. In some cases there is a cross with a risen Jesus superimposed.
The priests run around in lay clothes. No collar and you don't call them Father Jones, rather you call them Father Barry or just plain Barry.
I could go on and on, but the ignorance is on display each Sunday in the majority of what passes for catholic churches today.
LCMS Lutherans vary in the frequency of the practice. Generally pastors will make themselves available for it but not push it on their congregations. Also, Lutherans practice corporate confession and absolution, which while not as personal, still involves admitting both original sin and actual sin. The penitents are encouraged to reflect on their sins during a brief period of silence.
Those pastors who actively encourage private c & a suggest that their parishoners come in during the week to prepare for Sunday.
You are correct, the catechism does indeed admonish faithful Christians to practice private confession—not as something that makes one more righteous, but as a means of grace. There is a growing camp of LCMS pastors who consider Confession and Absolution as a Sacrament, after years of Lutherans saying that only the Eucharist and Baptism are Sacraments.
Honestly, I applaud Pope Francis for this statement, even if Lutherans and Catholics see confession in a slightly different light.
Indeed.
An unfortunate choice of words when you consider that, even in the last ten years, bishops send pedophile priests to psychiatrists for "treatment".
You are spot on as far as long lines and longer confession times. I usually end up confessing my uncharitable impatience.
“That confession is only available once a week in many parishes is another pet peeve of mine.”
Yup, an hour before the vigil Mass for a parish of a few 1000 families doesn’t exactly send the signal that the whole deal is all that important, in my opinion.
Freegards
The Pope warned about the difficulty of life as “every time we want to do good, evil is next to us”. “This is the struggle of Christians. This is our struggle everyday. And we do not always have the courage to speak as Paul speaks of this struggle. We always seek a way of justification: ‘But yes, we are all sinners’”, the Pope said.
I am not Catholic, but I have to say that, in this case, the Pope couldn't have been more 'on target' if he tried. I like this man.
In some cases there is a cross with a risen Jesus superimposed.
I agree with you on the sadness of the lack of an altar. I also think that crucifixes are important. However, the cross with the risen Jesus predates the crucifix. The risen Christ, known as the Christus Rex, was the commonplace cross in churches when the cross finally replaced the icthus. Then, there was a widely disseminated heresy that Christ never actually died. Faithful Christians everywhere began to replace the Christus Rex with the Corpus Christi, as an acknowledgement that Christ actually did die. Then, the empty cross arose in practice as a response to the heresy that Christ was not raised from the dead.
I prefer the crucifix in terms of what it teaches, but all three styles of crosses are valid in worship. It’s a matter of emphasis, of course—and since Paul says “We preach Christ and Him crucified,” I think that the crucifix is especially important. But each variation of the cross is a response to heresy, rather than a watering down of the theology.
Granted, the Christus Rex and empty cross fit in more easily with a Theology of Glory rather than a Theology of the Cross, but considering recent statements by Episcopalian priests (one claimed that Christ’s resurrection was not necessary), I think that the Christus Rex is a needed reminder.
By the way, I love your concern for the catholic (universal) church. We are indeed headed for a “pop” Christianity that has nothing to do with Christ. Thank you for being aware of this and fighting against it.
You'll have to take that up with marshmallow, who created the thread.
I saw the anti-Catholic bigoted attacks coming the minute I saw the post. Maybe one day protestants will surprise me.
Speaking of attacks....
I could go on and on, but the ignorance is on display each Sunday in the majority of what passes for catholic churches today.When I became Catholic (in 1984), I was already a daily Mass Catholic (as I would join my boyfriend-now-husband). And for many years following my conversion, I had great difficulty going to Sunday Mass, but I did.
Not all Catholic Churches fall into that category you describe. I go to a very traditional Catholic Church and although it does the Novus Ordo Mass it is very reverent. The Church I attend has the stations of the cross on each side of the inside of the church. There is a huge crucifix behind the altar. There are statutes all over the church, even in the dining room. People generally remain quiet after entering church. We have three deacons and one is always present to assist the priest. I don’t agree with altar girls, but it’s here, so not much you can do about it. I also don’t agree with lay people passing out Holy Communion, but I didn’t make the rules.
That confession is only available once a week in many parishes is another pet peeve of mine.Same here! Although this is helpful for only Chicagoland folks, there's a church in River Forest, IL, that has Confession after both of their daily Masses, during the week. http://www.stlukeparish.org/ and there's one in Chicago (St. Peter's in the Loop) that has Confession all day long: http://www.stpetersloop.org/libraries/bulletins/2013_43.pdf, and every time we've been there, there's been someone Confessing and/or others in line. And one of the prettiest churches we've ever been to is St. John Cantius, in Chicago. They have Confessions on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday before all Masses and "during" them as well. We've seen long lines at this parish, keeping sometimes two priests busy all during Mass. http://www.cantius.org/go/liturgy_devotions/category/liturgical_devotional_schedule/"
I understand and believe your comments.
This entire act of shoving the new religion down our throats was inspired by modernists who are truly Satan’s little helpers. There was absolutely nothing about infallibility in this insane act of destruction. Good little Catholics still went to mass although it didn’t seem right to many.
This reminds me of what this evil central socialist Godless government has been doing since 1912. They grew their power in ways that brought a smile to Satan (Screwtape’s)
face. He said to himself “I couldn’t have done a better job myself. These cretins work like a clockwork orange on their own.
With morals down the drain and youngsters being herded into smaller classrooms so that rogue teachers can get their claws into them, convert them to correct thinking, America hasn’t a chance.
Europe is awakening. America is in a drugged state.
But the Catholic Church, which was a bellwether to ALL Christians now can take their example and move off to worship of a golden calf.
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