Catholic Church and faithful see confession in a new light

By Hannan Adely
Record
April 6, 2014

http://www.northjersey.com/news/catholic-church-and-faithful-see-confession-in-a-new-light-1.842468

The Rev. Arcadio Munoz giving absolution to a parishioner at St. Mary's Church in Dumont. Confession can be heard out in the open, a departure from the standard confessionals of the past.

A penance service in Dumont. Many Catholics remember when making confession meant waiting in long lines.

One of loneliest places in church these days is the confession line. The act of confessing one’s sins, a requirement for Catholics, has sharply fallen over several decades with evolving views on sin, penance and the stature of the priesthood.

But now Pope Francis and church leaders, in a push to draw people back to confession, are highlighting what clergy say are the healing, uplifting aspects of the sacrament and focusing less on themes like punishment and condemnation.

The Paterson Diocese and Newark Archdiocese are using websites, newspaper ads and highway billboards to get the message out. Under diocesan guidance, local churches have also added one extra day a week to hear confession during Lent, the period before Easter when penance is considered a Catholic duty. And the pope, in an image seen and talked about around the world, confessed to a priest last week in public view.

But will these efforts change attitudes among Catholics, many of whom believe confession no longer is a necessary part of the faith?

“It’s not something I look at as something I need to do to be a good Catholic, but I always know it’s there if I feel a need to go,” said Keith Ahearn, a churchgoer who lives in Oakland.

Ahearn said seeing Pope Francis’ example of confession did cause him to think twice.

“I have to admit,” he said, “seeing the pope going to confession was a pretty powerful thing.”

Under church doctrine, Catholics should go to confession at least once a year, preferably during the Easter season. Those who commit mortal, or serious, sins like adultery and murder should not receive Communion without first going to confession. The point of confession, according to the church, is to bring about a “spiritual resurrection” and to have people reconcile with the church community.

Local church leaders are trying to lure people back by putting out positive messages that confession is about peace and joy and not fear or shame.

The Paterson Diocese began a Welcome Home to Healing program five years ago to promote confession. The diocese added an extra day of confessions on Mondays at all 110 churches during Lent and advertised the program on billboards and lawn signs and in newspaper ads, bulletins and on a program website that offers guidance in English and Spanish about seeking confession.

Priests are encouraged to talk about reconciliation during Lent, said the Rev. Kevin Corcoran, vice chancellor of the diocese and a facilitator of the program. Corcoran said the response has been positive and that churches are attracting more people to the sacrament.

“We’re seeing people who were away for 20, 30, 40 years from the sacrament,” Corcoran said.

Last year, the Newark Archdiocese started a similar program — The Light Is on for You — that added a day each week, Wednesday, to hear confessions during Lent. The archdiocesan website also devotes an entire section to information and resources about confession.

For church members like Patricia Demarest of the Haskell section of Wanaque, who recalled long lines for confession in her younger days, the extra day is a welcome change.

Demarest has continued to go to confession and said she goes at least four times a year and sometimes monthly. It helps her to “get straight with God,” she said.

“When you walk out, particularly when you have something serious on your mind, it really is better than any trip to a psychologist,” she said. “You feel forgiven and that you’ve reconciled yourself with God.”

Still, local members of the clergy acknowledge they have a long way to go to revive interest in reconciliation. Decades ago, most Catholics confessed their sins regularly to a priest at church. Now, just 2 percent of Catholics do so once a month or more often, according to a 2008 survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

About 26 percent of Catholics say they participate at least once a year; 30 percent say they go less than once a year, and 45 percent say they never go at all.

Confession became a lower priority in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council in 1962. The church put more emphasis on forgiveness over punishment, and societal attitudes on sin changed. The church has also allowed face-to-face confessions in “reconciliation rooms,” a setting that is brighter and less formal than the traditional confession box, where the confessor kneels anonymously before a screen with a priest on the other side.

“The church has downplayed it a little. There is not as much emphasis on Hell and things of that nature. We want to embrace the God is all loving and not condemning,” said the Very Rev.Dominic Ciriaco of St. Mary’s Church in Dumont.

The sex-abuse scandals that erupted in the church during the 1980s and ’90s made it less appealing to confess sins to priests, whose own sins and flaws were being exposed, especially amid reports that confession was used in some cases to groom victims.

“I think that does play into it. It’s what broke the image that priests are infallible,” Ahearn said.

Jennifer Ranu of Wayne goes to church every Sunday but said she does not go to confession.

“I believe if I confess my sins, I’m going to tell them to God directly,” she said. “I don’t need to have a human convey those thoughts for me.”

The sex-abuse scandals are not a factor in her decision. She said that she believes most priests are good people. Still, their humanity was a factor.

“They’re human. All humans sin. Why am I going to tell my faults to another human who has faults?” she said.