Word: confessionally
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...confession should be a cleansing encounter between the believer and God, during which the priest, acting in God's name, forgives a penitent his sins and advises him on how to lead a more holy life. In crowded urban churches-or even outside them, as at the outdoor confessionals sometimes seen in such traditionally Catholic countries as Poland-confession is often a mechanical recitation of sins, followed by a few mumbling words of priestly comment and absolution and an instant penance ("Say three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys"). For both priest and penitent, confession frequently becomes a matter...
A number of Catholic thinkers are now wondering about how the practice of confession can be brought more into line with the reforming trends of the Vatican Council. Writing in Kansas City's National Catholic Reporter Brother Philip, a former provincial of the Christian Brothers, recently suggested that in...
Hardly Any Sinner. Experiments along this line are already going on. In some Dutch parishes, a general confession is included in the Mass, although penitents are also expected to confess their sins privately to the priest in order to receive absolution. In Germany, some theologians feel that frequent confession is...
In John, Jesus tells his Apostles, "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them"; the Epistle of St. James urges Christians, "Confess, therefore, your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be saved." In the early church, penitents commonly confessed their sins in public...
Instead, he was pressed to make what the court considered to be the equivalent of a confession-more telltale handwriting. "The defendant could not have made a more incriminating statement," said the court. In short, the police should have either delayed Graves's arrest to build their case, or...