Bishop O'Donoghue appears to be in possession of the Ecclesial vertebra just at the moment. I half-wished at Mass this morning that Bishop Kieran's pastoral letter could have been broadcast next Sunday so that I could offer it up as a Lenten penance. The subject was Confession and seemed to be making some efforts to draw a line under his unfortunate remarks on the subject, but it just sounded as though he was painting himself into a corner.
One point I fail to understand is why people like Bishop Kieran assume that sticking to a formula necessarily makes confession mechanical. What he fails to appreciate is that a majority of Catholics of my generation were never taught how to go to confession and the 'isn't the shopping list confession pointless' mantra is therefore a bit of a straw man. I clearly remember being taught during preparation for my First Confession, that 'bless me, father, for I have sinned' was what they used to say in the 'old days' and we could say what we wanted. The only thing we were taught was a children's Act of Contrition and in the trendy 80s and 90s free-for-all, there were occasions when the act of contrition, penance and on at least one occasion, the words of absolution, were omitted, rendering the confession invalid. It never seemed to occur to the adults that a formula was reassuring not oppressive. Without it, confession could quite easily become a confusing, awkward and often pointless exercise.
If I am to be completely honest, I would say that I was an adult before I truly understood how to go to confession and I am sorry that our catechists of twenty years ago did not think it important to introduce us to the power and beauty of this sacrament. Perhaps that explains why so many members of my generation had lapsed by the time they reached adulthood.
Another point made by Bishop Kieran was that rather than simply giving a list of sins, we should talk to the priest about what damages our relationship with God. Sorry, I am not a theologian, but if we talk about what harms our relationship with God, wouldn't we be talking about - erm - sin?
We live in a society that has lost any sense of what it means to apologise and admit fault, partly because of a perceived need to save face (consider how often you hear spokesmen using words like 'inappropriate' or 'regrettable' but rarely 'wrong') and partly because litigation has left people with a fear of admitting liability. It is little surprise then that society has lost any sense of the need to forgive, because we can only understand the very concept of forgiveness if we are capable of seeking it and that means being honest about needing to. That is why we need regular confession - confession, not a cosy chat, not a counselling session. That is why we need confession.