Okay, I don't get this. Maybe I'm missing something.The Vatican is upset because fewer and fewer Catholics are going to confession. In order to get more of them in the confessional box they've decided to open up the Apostolic Penitentiary. Sounds like a prison for apostles to me.
Now, I didn't know that there are some sins that are so heinous a priest cannot grant absolution only the Pope can. For instance, desecrating the Holy Eucharist which Catholics believe is the body of Christ. The Apostolic Penitentiary, which has been around for over 800 years, is the division of the Vatican that hears these serious sins.
There recently was a two day conference in which the Penitentiary was opened up to the public for the first time and this is supposed to get more Catholics to go to confession. I have absolutely no idea why.
According to the AP:
Vatican officials frequently point to a study carried out by Italy's Sacred Heart University that found that 47 percent of people in Italy - a majority Roman Catholic country - never went to confession or did so a long time ago.
"We cannot hide that the sacrament of penance is threatened in this time of secularization," Girotti said. But he stressed that it remained "fundamental for salvation and the sanctification of souls."
I'm guessing that a lot of Catholics don't see the need to have a priest act as intermediary for them. Maybe they think telling your sins to a priest is just plain silly. Taking them on a tour of a "Sin Action Central" doesn't seem to be enough to make a difference, but that's just me.
1 comment:
Rick Springfield Like Father Like Son lyrics
He was raised in the English way
His daddy taught him respect, he taught him how to pray
They sent him off to boarding school
Where he learned how to live by someone else's rule
And he went to confession
He went to confession
Holy Father wash my sins away
He went to confession
He went to confession
Mother Mary take the pain away
He read letters from home at night in his bed
And got this uneasy feeling when his father said
Fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise a good boy
He bought his daddy's car and he learned to drive
And when he left school he got a nine to five
He met the girl and he got his spouse
And they had the child and they got the house
And he went to confession
He went to confession
Holy Father wash my sins away
He went to confession
He went to confession
Mother Mary take the pain away
He loved his son and he helped him build walls and fronts
He knew he'd heard it before
Someone had said it once
Fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise a good boy
He raised his son in the English way
And he taught him respect, he taught him how to pray
He sent him off to boarding school
Where he learned how to live by someone else's rules
And he went to confession
He went to confession
Holy Father wash my sins away
He went to confession
He went to confession
Mother Mary take the pain away
It must be something much deeper than fear or pain
Another child learns a pattern he won't break the chain
Fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise a good boy
The fear of God and the feel of the rod
Will raise the next boy
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