Liberals are crowing about how wonderful Pope Francis new liturgical style is. “Everyone should imitate him!”, they exalt.
Okay, my little friends, hearing confessions, the Sacrament of Penance, is LITURGY.
Here is something I picked up from Catholic World News. This is from a piece about Pope Francis’ doings as Archbishop in Buenos Aires. My emphases.
After discussing the Pope’s simple and direct leadership style and willingness to delegate, the priest also spoke of the Pope’s willingness to hear confessions.
“More than once, someone would call him up and say, ‘I’m sick, I need a priest to say Mass for me,’” Father Brunori recounted. “He’d tell them not to worry, I’ll take care of it, and he’d go to say the Mass himself. Sometimes he’d bring another priest, while he heard confessions. For him, confession is about the mercy of God. There are a lot of parishes in Buenos Aires, and they sometimes don’t have enough priests to hear confessions. Quite often, he would go and do it himself, while a priest celebrated the Mass. He would also go to hear confessions in the slums.”
In the blogosphere who is it again who has been pushing for a revitalization of the Sacrament of Penance and even confessions during Mass?
I’ll believe liberals are sincere about their praise of Pope Francis and his humble style as soon as they start urging priests to hear confessions, even during Mass.
Just. Like. Cardinal Bergoglio.
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Happy to report that the priests of the Society of Jesus Christ the Priest in the diocese of Madison hear Confessions everyday before – and sometimes after – each Mass, including Sundays!
They also celebrate both the OF and EF Masses daily (no EF on Saturdays . . .yet). God bless them.
Ah, ah…in my NO parish bulletin you will find the following this weekend:
“Divine Mercy Sunday”
“My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.
On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.”
There is more re: confession but I will not take up your room here. It is just that so-called liberals are not necessarily what you think they are..
Where I live (Northern Virginia,) there seems to be a variety of opinions held by pastors as to whether confessions during Mass are permitted. Is there a rule about this?
”Everyone should imitate him!”, they [liberals} exalt.”
For sure, if all liberal priests imitated the recent papal Masses of Pope Francis telecast from St. Peter’s, the result would be a great improvement in typical parish liturgy. Of course, they passed up an opportunity for even greater improvement by imitating Pope Benedict.
Out priests used to make their schedule so that the one who said the daily noon Mass also heard confessions before the Mass. Now they alternate, so that one priest can keep hearing confessions while the other one prepares for Mass. Sometimes there are confessions being heard all the way through daily Mass. The Spanish-speaking priest sometimes goes into the confessional after the Spanish Mass on Sunday, too, and on a few occasions this has resulted in confessions being heard all the way through the next Mass. How blest are parishes with more than one priest!
Libs are like Protestant Theology– Fast Food . Skip the hard parts and get right to the good news. We don’t want to see a crucifix, just give me the bare cross. Unfortunately for them and the Grand Heretic of all times–Luther– no pain no gain.
…but Father confession is uncomfortable and humbling…
A very positive sign.
My day job is working in the Chaplaincy in a Catholic High school and we run times of Confession in school each term (in addition to plugging the opportunities in the parishes, of course).
Each time we run Confessions anywhere up to 200 students will turn up. There is no pressure on them to do so. It’s completely voluntary, and many of those who turn up will be those who haven’t approached the Sacrament in quite some time, if ever in some cases.
These days are always well supported by our generous deanery priests (last time we had six) and always end with some amazing testimonies about the power of the Sacrament from both young people and priests.
It’s such a wonderful Sacrament – I only wish more Catholics were close to it.
Wonderful! Thanks for the sharing this eve of Divine Mercy. May our Priests double, triple, quadruple the time provided for the Sacrament of Penance! God bless Pope Francis, Fr. Z, and all priests!
Just hit on the following. Have not been able to find any English translation, alas. After the urge for confession… Well, the Holy Father has some pretty clear ideas
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/vaticano/dettaglio-articolo/articolo/francesco-francis-francisco-23853/
It’s fun to watch the early assumptions about Pope Francis just fall apart. It’s clear he’s not going to fit anyone’s mold. He’s an interesting person for sure, and I think he is going to be great for our Church.
St. Joan of Arc (1412-1432), Virgin, was so devoted to the Sacrament of Confession that she would automatically beg any priest she met to hear her confession. She made this request on battlefields, in prison, day or night, and often rather suddenly in the middle of a conversation. She encouraged her own soldiers to go to confession before fighting and also made the sacrament available to enemy soldiers if they were wounded. In the transcript of her “trial” (illegal farce) and the subsequent nullity inquiry, the Sacrament of Confession is mentioned more than fifty times. Any reputable source will verify this information, but one of the best is: T. Douglas Murray (ed.). Jeanne d’Arc: Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France. London, William Heinemann, 1907.
Correction: St. Joan of Arc’s dates were 1412-1431.
Please stop slamming “liberals”. I am one who leans to the left, politically, and who is trying to be a good Catholic. Yes, I go to confession and Mass regularly. There is room in the Catholic Church for all of us. We need each other.
True. The terms “conservative” and “liberal” are not to be found in Catholic parlance, but rather in the political sphere. In the Church, one tries to be faithful (orthodox) or not (heretic).
[The rabbit hole is now closed.]
About my use of “liberal” and “conservative”…
Too bad.
o{]:¬)
Well, it would be security nightmare, no doubt, but what if the Holy Father scheduled confessions to be heard by himself in Saint Peters? You’d get a line all the way to the colliseum.
Fr. Z is absolutely right to continue to “push” holy Confession. I can tell you that in more than 15 years of observing RC parishes, the ones that make Confession available as often as possible, at the most convenient hours, ALWAYS have line-ups, and VERY grateful penitents afterwards. The suburban parishes of 3000+ people, offering confessions for fifteen minutes once every thirteenth Saturday in months ending in Q? Not so much.
I see God’s hand in the election of our new pope. I love Pope Benedict and miss him. But I also love Pope Francis. He’s our Holy Father. Our shepherd. Lets trust that Jesus has it all figured out as to what -and who- we need.
Phil- previous popes certainly have heard confessions in Saint Peters. A friend of mine was there when JPII was hearing confessions. The confessors typically wear a hood when they are going to and from the confessional, but it was pretty obvious from his stoop and gait as well as the increased number of police around that it was him. I’d imagine that Benedict and Francis have/will continue this, though I wouldn’t expect to see the time slot posted in advance- not for security reasons but just because his schedule needs some flexibility.
St. Ignatius Church, a Jesuit parish which served the University of San Francisco, used to have confession every day before the noon mass which would continue until the last person waiting got in. It was a wonderful service to provide, and the confessors, like Fr. Cornelius Buckley, were saintly.
Plain and simple Liberal Minds make excuses for evil–that’s been my experience working in Government in a BLUE state for 18 years! It’s poison thought police stuff. What’s up is down and left is right. Don’t conform and you will be banished and labeled.
In my opinion.
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