http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/confession/ en-us Thu, 4 Sep 2008 20:12:21 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2074779/posts ROME, SEPT. 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. Q: Could you please comment on what appropriate and adequate penances might be in the sacrament of reconciliation. I tend to stay to the traditional Our Fathers and Hail Marys, but I feel at times they are inadequate. A colleague gives much more "difficult" penances: e.g., the Stations of the Cross, two or three rosaries, reading certain psalms or other Scripture texts. Many of his penitents come back later not having been able to complete their penance and are... ZNA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2074779/posts#comment Thu, 4 Sep 2008 20:12:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054005/posts In one of the more engaging, convincing and easily understood presentations I've ever seen, Prof. James Duane of the Regent University School of Law explains why even angels devoid of the slightest moral blemish should never speak to police officers, tax collectors or other law-enforcement agents investigating crimes. Disloyal Opposition http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054005/posts#comment Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:21:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2048318/posts SYDNEY (Reuters) - At most outdoor festivals the longest queues are generally for the portable toilets and bar but at World Youth Day in Sydney, the Catholic Church's version of Woodstock, one of the biggest queues is for confessing sins. ADVERTISEMENT With some 300,000 young Catholic pilgrims attending WYD from July 15-20 the Church is staging the world's largest confessional, with more than 1,000 priests at anyone time hearing sins and dispensing penance at 250 locations. "The notion in Sydney was to decentralize the celebration of reconciliation (confession). The groups received reconciliation in over 250 locations throughout greater Sydney," said... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2048318/posts#comment Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:03:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2045936/posts Protestants don’t see why Catholics who come to disagree with essential teachings of the Church don’t just leave. Adult conversion to Catholicism involves more than adding a few new beliefs. It means a whole new world and life view. No ingredient in that new perspective was more of a shock to my old Protestant sensibilities when I became a Catholic than the idea that the God-man is really present in, and not just symbolized by, what appears to be a wafer of bread and a cup of wine. It seemed scandalous! It has ceased to scandalize me, though it has... Catholic Educators http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2045936/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:23:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2041501/posts Q. When did confession to a priest start?A. Confession is a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ Himself in John 20: 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven… From the early writings of the Church fathers below you can see that the sacrament of confession has always been a practice of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.In the early Church confession was not done in private to the priest but to the whole gathered... Black Cordelias http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2041501/posts#comment Sun, 6 Jul 2008 17:45:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2040320/posts Q. Why do Catholics have to confess their sins to a priest instead of praying straight to God?A. In obedience to Christ. John 20:19-23 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22... Black Cordelias http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2040320/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:06:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1997654/posts As best as I can determine, my same-sex attraction began in reaction to my father, who was a violent alcoholic. He often drank, came home to throw things around the house and abuse my mother in addition to threatening me and my brother. I thought he hated us. Consequently, I didn’t want to be anything like him. In my sorrow, I started looking for the love of my father in thearms of other men. At age 17, a predator took advantage of me under the teacher/pupil dynamic and I became completely mixed up about human sexuality. Over the years, one... Celebrate Life http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1997654/posts#comment Sun, 6 Apr 2008 21:09:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1997474/posts FRiends, tonight I went to mass with my family, and one of the scriptures was the story of "The Road to Emmaus." The monsignor's sermon was on that topic, and it was excellent. He started out by asking why Jesus would allow the disciples not to recognize Him until He broke bread for them, and his thought was that Christ wanted us to look for Him everywhere, to remember that He said "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me" so that we would realize though we may not recognize Him... Vanity http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1997474/posts#comment Sun, 6 Apr 2008 05:47:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1989929/posts Today fewer people are going to church to confess their sins, and instead taking to the Internet to atone and repent. A number of Protestant and evangelical churches are embracing the Web as a way to revive the ancient ritual of confession, but the trend is not without its critics. The Rev. John Siebling, of The Life Church in Memphis, Tenn., runs a Web site called endthesecret.com, where people pour out their stories of cheating on boyfriends, hiding debt from spouses and drug abuse. "It's really a tool that will hopefully bring a first step as people begin to interact... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1989929/posts#comment Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:00:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1982625/posts I do a lot of freelance writing for non-profit organizations and, frequently, while attending brainstorming sessions, I will hear the phrase "We need to 'Think Outside the Box' on this one.""Thinking Outside the Box" has become a mantra for Americans. It means to conceive ideas that are not commonplace; to one-up the competition with original creativity; to find a new path to profit that has yet to be exploited in the marketplace.In fact our society is obsessed with "Thinking Outside the Box." People continually search for new ways to entertain themselves, to feed themselves, to exercise themselves, to justify themselves,... Catholic Exchange http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1982625/posts#comment Sat, 8 Mar 2008 22:23:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1977603/posts Controversy has erupted once again over whether priests and religious leaders are subject to mandatory reporting laws after a "priest" at an evangelic Christian church in Melbourne did not report a child sex abuse confession. The Herald Sun reports the priest will not be charged over not reporting the assault despite the pentinent striking again. The case has stirred debate over the role of the churches in handling confessions by lawbreakers and raised questions about whether religious leaders should be subject to mandatory reporting obligations. Teachers, doctors, nurses and other professionals are legally bound to report suspected sex abuse... CathNews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1977603/posts#comment Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:55:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1972863/posts Advice from Fr. Philip Neri’s ConfessionalI. Starting point: 1. Sin. When we sin we abuse a gift from God. Just about every sin we commit can be traced back to a disordered use of some grace we have received from God. Abusing God’s gifts is a dangerous practice b/c it is through the charitable use of our divine gifts for others that God perfects His love us. If you are not using your gifts for the benefit of others then God’s love is not being perfected in you. 2. Forgiveness. When we ask for forgiveness we are not asking... Domine, da mihi hanc aquam! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1972863/posts#comment Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:29:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1972262/posts Feb. 18, 2008, 2:42AM\ Worshippers praise youth pastor for confessing to 1994 slaying HOUSTON — A youth minister who confessed to the unsolved 1994 killing of a convenience store clerk is being widely forgiven by worshippers at his former church who say they admire his courage to finally surrender to police. Calvin Wayne Inman, 29, remains jailed without bond since being charged Wednesday with capital murder in the stabbing death of a clerk during an alleged plot to steal cash and cigarettes. He was 16 at the time. In the first service Sunday at the 800-member Elim Church since Inman... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1972262/posts#comment Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:41:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1933239/posts To this day, only one person truly knows what happened on a lonely Massachusetts bridge on the night of July 18, 1969. Sometime that evening, a car driven by US senator Ted Kennedy plunged into the icy water below. While the politician survived, his passenger, a 28-year-old aide, was not so lucky. Mary Jo Kopechne died on the road from Chappaquiddick that Friday night. In the ensuing scandal, the presidential hopes of the last of the Kennedy brothers were destroyed. Now the senator has signed a £4million deal to write his memoirs, due out in 2010, raising hopes he is... The Daily Mirror http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1933239/posts#comment Sat, 1 Dec 2007 16:08:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1915320/posts First, Mortal Sin ... Our excuses are numberless. In fact, they are as numberless as our sins, none of which are now deemed by us (and, for sorrow, by many priests) grievous enough to preclude our receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. Most often they are reducible simply to this: "I have not committed any mortal sin". Indeed. For Catholics who have never been taught the difference between Mortal and Venial sin --- which is to say, the entire last generation of Catholics --- we must be clear about the notion of sin, especially... Boston Catholic Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1915320/posts#comment Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:05:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1904543/posts One of the first things Roman Catholics do when they enter the confessional is utter how long it has been since their last confession. But Franca Gargiulo can't remember the last time. Gargiulo is a spiritually thoughtful woman who went to Catholic school as a girl and at 44 still attends Mass at St. Dominic Catholic Church in San Francisco. Confession--telling your sins to a priest and receiving absolution--is one of her faith's seven sacraments, but for Gargiulo it now seems as anachronistic as prayer veils and meatless Fridays. "It lost its efficacy for me," says Gargiulo. "It was too... Time http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1904543/posts#comment Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:38:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1901101/posts A few Scriptures and some Quix commentary . . .  Keeping in mind . . .  THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW [FOLLOW WHO?] THOSE WHO BELIEVE . . . cast out demons . . . speak with other tongues . . . etc.  AND . . . by reasonable extrapolation: John 20:22-23 (The Message)The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson 22-23Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with... Quix Commentary http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1901101/posts#comment Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:31:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1900685/posts What You Need to Know: Penance (Reconciliation, Confession) When it comes to understanding the Sacrament of Penance (also called the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or simply Confession), we can move quickly from the barest possible outline to one of the deepest documents the Church has issued in the modern era. The best short summary of the theology behind the sacrament, its history, and its structure and efficacy is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Given that Confession is both under-appreciated and underutilitzed in our own day, Pope John Paul II issued a brief document, On the Mercy of... CatholicCulture.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1900685/posts#comment Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:03:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1900579/posts Americans are flocking to confess their sins as Protestant churches have joined their Catholic counterparts in modernising the sacrament of penance.Thousands of people are attending confession at weekends and just as many are posting their repentance on videos that are played back to congregations or shared on websites such as YouTube.New technology is fuelling the boom, but so is clever marketing by Churches that are portraying confession as a form of self-improvement — always popular with Americans — rather than some sort of punishment.Church leaders also attribute the boom to the fashion for self-analysis peddled by daytime television programmes such... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1900579/posts#comment Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:09:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1893449/posts The indications are modest, but consistent. The latest one comes from Loreto, where twelve thousand young people received the sacrament of forgiveness, with the pope's encouragement. And in the seminaries, there's a return of books for studying "cases of conscience" ROMA, September 6, 2007 – During the two-day meeting between Benedict XVI and the young people who flocked to Loreto by the hundreds of thousands from Italy and from many other countries, something happened that was unexpected in terms of its intensity and breadth: mass participation in the sacrament of confession. Between Saturday, September 1, and Sunday, September 2, in... Chiesa http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1893449/posts#comment Sun, 9 Sep 2007 13:22:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1890208/posts 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... Seattle Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1890208/posts#comment Sun, 2 Sep 2007 16:49:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1883959/posts It has been 4 months since my last confession. After each confession I come out thinking, "I am going to do a monthly confession." And then a few months go by and here I am. I finally had to schedule "Confession" on my calendar to ensure I would get in there. I decided to read up on the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance/Confession at New Advent. It is good to read what they have to say. Here are a few bullets that jumped out at me. While this sacrament as a dispensation of Divine mercy facilitates the pardoning of sin, it by... Radical Catholic Mom http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1883959/posts#comment Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:31:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1862745/posts Dear Friend of Catholic Answers: True story: Many years ago I was at the cathedral in San Diego for confession. I told the unseen (and now long deceased) priest my sins and waited for his counsel. What I got was: "Why are you wasting my time?" "Pardon me, Father?" I said, thinking I had misheard him. "I asked why are you wasting my time? You had only venial sins to confess. You can have venial sins forgiven by saying an act of contrition or during the penitential rite at Mass. So why are you wasting my time?" Uncharacteristically, I was... Karl Keating's E-Letter http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1862745/posts#comment Sun, 8 Jul 2007 23:08:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1851483/posts O J's 'confession' cash given to victim's family By Jacqui Goddard in Miami, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:56am BST 17/06/2007 A judge has awarded the publishing rights of O J Simpson's purportedly "hypothetical" murder confession to the family of one of his alleged victims. Relatives of Ron Goldman, who was stabbed to death in Los Angeles in June 1994 with Simpson's ex-wife Nicole, plan to have the account on bookshelves within weeks, under the title Confessions of a Double Murderer - or, more simply, I Did It. OJ Simpson tried to hide profits The book, in which Simpson chillingly theorised... The Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1851483/posts#comment Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:04:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1818368/posts     Learning to Confess    FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS I have heard the priests of my parish encouraging us to go to confession during Lent. I admit I have not been to confession in years because I am not sure I know how to go to confession. With all the changes that occurred in the '60s, would you please review how to go to confession?  The Second Vatican Council did decree that “the rite and formulas of penance are to be revised in such a way that they may more clearly express the nature and effects of this sacrament”... CERC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1818368/posts#comment Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:37:12 GMT