Word: sacramentalism
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That encounter was not, however, meant to administer the Catholic sacrament of penance. Mehmet Ali Agca's education in his own faith, Islam, apparently is spotty, but he probably has a general awareness of its teaching that God will weigh each person's deeds on the Day of Judgment. A practicing Muslim invokes the Almighty's mercy during the five prescribed daily prayer sessions. But for John Paul, penance and absolution have very precise meanings. Penance is one of the Catholic Church's seven sacraments. Baptized Catholics, before receiving Communion, are required to confess contritely...
...formal practice of confession goes back thousands of years in Judeo-Christian tradition. Jewish Scripture and liturgy include ancient prayers of confession of sins, and the most solemn period in Judaism's ceremonial calendar is Yom Kippur, the annual Day of Atonement. In Catholic Christianity the sacrament reached its classic form by the 11th century; five centuries later the custom developed of holding confession in a booth, with penitent and priest speaking to each other through an opening in a partition. So strict is the privacy that a Catholic priest is forbidden even to reveal knowledge about crimes acquired...
John Paul designated penance as the topic for last October's synod of bishops, not only because he stresses the sacrament's importance but because its practice nowadays is in a state of flux and confusion. Theologians disagree over what sort of sins require absolution, and whether young children should confess before making their First Communion, as the Vatican desires, or a few years later when they may have a better understanding of the nature of sin. A majority of U.S. parishes now offer face-to-face confession with a priest as an alternative to the austere, anonymous...
After the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), American Catholics "walked away in droves from the sacrament of penance," says Russell Shaw, a layman who is public affairs secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference. Shaw speculates that some of the defectors are married couples who use birth control, and "they don't want to confess it, but they don't want to not confess it." More generally, though, the dwindling attendance at confession seems to suggest that lay Catholics have a diminishing sense of their own sinfulness and of the redemptive power of the sacrament. As Shaw puts...
...dozens of lesser-known artists and craftsmen re-create the greatest story ever told and seen. Piety, passion and drama are conveyed in traditional mediums and styles. Jan van Eyck's Gabriel is a resplendent messenger in jeweled robe and peacock-colored wings. Salvador Dali's Sacrament of the Last Supper is dominated by a clean-shaven, translucent Jesus addressing his bowed Apostles under what appears to be a geodesic dome. Each illustration is accompanied by a descriptive text block. The Gospel narratives are condensed in clear, simple, documentary prose...