Word: confessionally
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Thus, for roughly half a century, young Catholics were initiated into the sacrament of penance and its promise of forgiveness from God. The results, many Catholic educators agree, were often disastrous. Some young penitents became haunted by the fear of mortal sin and going to hell. Others developed false consciences...
To avoid such problems, some religious educators began, as far back as World War II, to suggest a separation between the child's first encounters with the two sacraments. A Dutch bishop was apparently the first to put the idea into practice, nine years ago, and a number of...
The Vatican's protagonist in the argument is the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, American John Cardinal Wright. Essentially, Wright has argued, children should not be treated like "little tots" but like "little men," whose consciences need careful formation at an early age. The proper age, said...
Wright's opponents concede-indeed insist-that confession must never be denied to a child who is ready for it. But they also maintain that a child cannot be required to receive the sacrament unless he is conscious of serious sin. Jesuit Francis Buckley of the University of San...
bishops' meeting this fall." And in an even stronger pastoral message, Bishop Charles Buswell of Pueblo, Colo., wrote: "I am convinced that the reception of first Communion before first confession is based on good theology, is rooted in solid findings of the behavioral sciences, and is excellent pastoral practice...