It's Confession Time Again

Lent has flown past and now we’re in Holy Week. If there ever was a time for confessions...it’s now.

First, let me confess that, since returning from Hong Kong, life has been unbelievably hectic and for more than three weeks I have been forced to abandon the blog in order to get 1,001 things done and to meet deadlines. (I did not even think to celebrate one whole year of the Blog - yes, the first entry was posted on 31st March 2013, on the subject of the Easter Vigil).

Now, I’m back.

 

As I mentioned before, Confessions have gone out of fashion over the last 50 years. A large US poll in 2008 found that almost half of all Catholics never went to Confession at all and only about a quarter went once a year or more frequently. Maybe we’ve misplaced our sense of sin, what with automatic contraception, freely-available terminations, a nanny-state to care for bothersome social issues, binging as a rite of passage, the dark corners of the ubiquitous internet available to all...it’s easy to become a Jeremiah, an angry prophet.

But, maybe the tide is turning, there are some green shoots to point to. In fact, ever since Pope Benedict XVI said that the New Evangelisation begins in the confessional, there have been the stirrings of a renaissance.

There are now excellent websites devoted to encouraging good Confessions, like www.GoodConfession.com that explains five benefits of making a good Confession: helping us to ‘know ourselves’; to overcome vice; bring peace; strengthen our will – and make us more saintly, more like Jesus. There are even a number of smartphone apps that make the process of preparation much easier.

Bishop Kieron Conry, who is responsible for Outreach in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, says that more young people are coming to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This seems to have been encouraged by a more informal approach to reconciliation, together with an increased focus on the essence of behaviour - my relationship with God and my neighbour - rather than a mechanical recitation of sins. The effect of Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK and the impact of Pope Francis have also been mentioned as contributing to the resurgence. For example, a survey in August 2013 of clergy in cathedrals across England & Wales found that two-thirds had noticed an increase in Confessions that they attributed to ‘Papal bounce.’ And, of course, Pope Benedict himself knelt – very publically – in Confession with a regular priest at St. Peter’s, just three weeks ago.  

My own contribution to the statistics is even more impressionistic. When I was in Westminster Cathedral this week, there was a queue of 40 to 50 people in front of the four confessionals - which seems to be more than usual!

So, whatever the reason, let’s celebrate if more people are coming home to God.