This weekend's Catholic Herald carries an interview given by Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton with Andrew Brown: ‘You can't talk to young people about salvation. What does that mean to them?’. There is also a news article by Mark Greaves about the interview: Bishop advises against frequent Confession.Fully aware of the respect that is due to our Bishops, and with assurance of a sincere Memento in my Mass tomorrow morning for Bishop Conry, I hope it will not be presumptuous to offer a few comments and suggestions regarding some of the matters of which he spoke.
Speaking of Humanae Vitae, Bishop Conry said that the basic commandment to love God, and love your neighbour has been left largely unexplored. I venture to suggest that Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" does in fact address the question seriously.
The text of one part of the interview addresses the importance or otherwise of Humanae Vitae:
"Well, first of all, I would disagree that it's a key teaching. The key teachings of the Church are in the Creed. It's not a life issue." To do with the transmission of life, then? "It's to do with what family and married life means, being open to procreation. So it's not a life issue because then you tie it in with abortion. The two are completely different issues."With the deepest respect for His Lordship's apostolic office, I feel bound to disagree. All of the pro-life organisations who work with women who have, for one reason or another, turned to abortion as a solution to a problem, agree that contraception does not prevent abortion but leads to abortion. I remember hearing a stirring lecture by Sr Roseann Reddy of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life on precisely this point. The Good Counsel Network addressed the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life earlier this year, pointing out that the vast majority of those who came to them in a "crisis pregnancy", determined upon an abortion, reported that the reason for their decision was "contraceptive failure". And of course, we know that what is often spoken of as "contraception" may work in an abortifacient manner (as in the case of the pill) or is in fact designed to do so (as in the case of so-called "emergency contraception").
As long as we fail to give the teaching of Humanae Vitae due weight, we will continue to fail those young people who are confused by the massive pressure of "sexual health services" and imagine that sexual activity can be something engaged upon without serious consequences. We also fail our married couples who are deprived of the Church's vision of "openness to life" and all its consequences for their relationship.
Although Bishop Conry does affirm that young people have a sense of sin and talks of a moving "Reconciliation Service" at Lourdes, he will surely surprise people with his answer to the question "Is it a good idea to go to Confession regularly?":
"No, because my own experience when we had Confession every day at St Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham was that regular penitents came back with exactly the same words week after week. So there you would say, actually, there is no conversion taking place."Again, with some trepidation and, I hope, humility, I beg to differ - offering in defence of my boldness the words of Pope Benedict XVI to a course offered by the Sacred Penitentiary earlier this year:
The Lenten Season, in which we now find ourselves, reminds us that in our Christian life we must always aspire to conversion and that when we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation frequently the desire for Gospel perfection is kept alive in believers. If this constant desire is absent, the celebration of the Sacrament unfortunately risks becoming something formal that has no effect on the fabric of daily life. If, moreover, even when one is motivated by the desire to follow Jesus one does not go regularly to confession, one risks gradually slowing his or her spiritual pace to the point of increasingly weakening and ultimately perhaps even exhausting it.Certainly, we should avoid formalism and routine in our confessions; this formalism is best avoided by frequent, devout celebration of the sacrament with due and careful preparation. We may indeed find that we confess the same sins over and over again - but as Fr John Edwards explained light-heartedly during a mission he once gave in my parish, it would not be a better confession if we had a whole set of new sins to confess.
Regarding the importance of frequent confession for priests, Pope John Paul II said:
We priests, on the basis of our personal experience, can certainly say that the more careful we are to receive the sacrament of penance and to approach it frequently and with good dispositions, the better we fulfill our own ministry as confessors and ensure that our penitents benefit from it. (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 31.6)Speaking of the importance of frequent confession for all, the same Pope said in 2004, at a course organised by the Sacred Penitentiary:
It would be an illusion to seek after holiness, according to the vocation one has received from God, without partaking frequently of this sacrament of conversion and reconciliation.The Catechism of the Catholic Church also reinforces this teaching:
Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father's mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful. (CCC 1458)Bishop Conry also made a number of comments about Summorum Pontificum which Fr Z has discussed in his post "Catholic Herald: Bp. Conry (Arundel & Brighton) speaks out". Damien Thompson has also written about the interview in his post "Church teaching on birth control could be wrong, says English Catholic bishop". Both Fr Z and Damien speak positively about Bishop Conry as a man (decent, compassionate, open, frank) whilst disagreeing with his doctrinal views. Along with Fr Z, I would imagine that a meal with a frank discussion would make for a pleasant evening. Now wouldn't that be a good blog photo!
PS. Valle Adurni has addressed the question of how many times hell is mentioned in the New Testament. See: Point of information.
14 comments:
You are absolutely right on all counts, Father.
Two people may go into the confessional and say, in effect, 'Same again, Father.' But for one it may be a mere formal and thoughtless routine, whilst for the other, it may be the fruit of real spiritual struggle with habits of sin, and proper preparation and penitence. And I do not think it is the confessor's job to attempt to judge which he is hearing.
I will pray for the bishop, too.
Thank you Father for this posting and thank God for Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI who speak so beautifully on these matters. It is so sad to find a Bishop who cannot see the beauty in such teachings and by his words obscures the path to true joy in which mother Church guides us. With regards to the apparent disinterest of Youth in salvation I suppose St Paul could have said the same about the Pagans to whom he preached ...'clearly not interested in salvation...more interested in decadence'....just as well he didn't!
Cappadocian sister.
I'm very confused as to what the bishop is saying "no" to.
Going to daily confession?
Offering daily confession?
Going to confession regularly? (whether weekly, monthly or yearly?)
And the question all the young people must be asking: what if we regularly leave water in our kettles?
Hear, hear.
I once remarked sorrowfully to my confessor, 'I always confess the same sins.' He replied, 'At least you're not adding any new ones.'
I confess regularly in order to break some bad habits and have now acquired a spiritual director for that said purpose. I know that I tend to repeat the same sins but I have found confessors generous and patient. The then Fr Conry was no doubt similarly patient and kind when working as a priest in the Birmingham diocese. It must be hurtful to those who can remember confessing to him to read these remarks even if they do contain an element of truth.
Thanks for this Father.
It is comforting to know that someone is speaking to uphold and defend the truths of the Faith when so much confusion is spread... at all levels.
In Christ
Alan and Angeline
Is the way forward for the Church in the short term, to ban regular communion for the laity? The exception being, of course, for the elderly, sick and handicapped.
My understanding is that it was Pius X who liberalised the practice of regular commuion as recently as 1905. Perhaps his policy needs to be looked at again.
Given that many amongst the laity contracept or are in irregular relationships, it would make life more manageable for priests from a pastoral point of view.
In addition, those Catholics who "feel" alienated by the Church could attend Mass regularly with impunity as they would be treated no differently from those Catholic who are in a state of grace to receive the host i.e. neither group receives.
It might also lead to more emphasis on the other sacraments, notably, confession for at the moment we seem dragged down, as a Church, by some strange sacramental theology. For example, has anyone witnessed the current installation service for a new parish priest? The theology behind it, to me, is problematic for the simple reason it defies the dictionary definition of "priesthood", this is even before we start talling about the Church's understanding.
Just to explain, the OED places emphasis on the sacrifical nature of those actions performed by a "priest". In the service for installing a new PP, the empahasis placed on a "priest's" essential role as one who offers a sacrifice is reduced if not eliminated completely.
Thank you for your immediate post on this article which I read last night on the CH website. I was saddened to read the Bishop's opinion as it does not appear to be what I would want any bishop to speak out in an interview with a Catholic newspaper. On the subject of repeating the same sins in regular confessions - perhaps at the beginning of our conversion we committed these sins hundreds of times, they are our weaknesses, maybe now we only commit them once or twice, but still they are our sins and we need to confess them. May our confessors be kind enough to guide us and grant us the Lord's pardon. As someone who has made the grave error of allowing contaceptive use in marriage, and eventually having the courage to trust and use the rhythm method, I can testify to the happiness being open to life and love brings.
The fact is I have a human weakness. I can get angry very easily in certain everyday situations. I grew up disliking authority and hate being told what to do. That is me. It is not surprising then that my confessions will repeatedly centre around this weakness until a miracle happens and I become a saint. That is a long way off.
It's unbearable! I can't take much more!!
Pope Benedict in October 2005 to 100,000 at the annual audience for children who have recently made their First Holy Communion: One girl asked the Pope why she must go to confession before receiving Communion, if our sins are always the same.
Smiling, the Holy Father answered: "It is true that our sins are always the same. Yet do we not clean our house, our room, at least once a week, though the dirt is always the same? If we do not, we run the risk of the dirt accumulating, though we may not see it.”
“The same”, he said, “is true of our souls. If we never confess, our souls are overlooked. I may be pleased with myself, yet I do not understand that I have to improve constantly in order to progress. Confession helps us to have a more open conscience and thus to mature in a spiritual and human way."
A priest-friend of mine once asked a mechanic in Ireland why he should bother washing his car, since it would get dirty again. The mechanic responded, "Dont you wash your face every morning?"
Oh yes, Father, I remember that now. What a lovely occasion that was with the Holy Father speaking so openly and kindly to the children.
I agree with everything you've said and that Bishop Conry did not choose his words well, but could he have been talking about scruples? And even if he wasn't, isn't it true to say that for some people, less frequent confession might be the ascetical means by which they detach themselves from the image of an angry and vengeful God? I'm not challenging the general thrust of what you've said, just asking a question.
Auricularius - the proper remedy for scruples is obedience to a sound confessor. The remedy for an unbalanced idea of an angry and vengeful God is to use meditations upon the mercy of God, the joy of heaven, and the peace of a good conscience. I'm not sure that less frequent confession is normally the answer - although it might be in an extreme case.
However the Bishop was speaking about the ordinary confessions in a Cathedral which would be good and devout people confessing their venial sins regularly out of devotion and in order to obtain the grace of the sacrament. (Perhaps also in the better catechised in order to fulfil the conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence.)
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