FATHER TRIGILIO RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT COMMUNAL PENANCE SERVICES
I feel it CRUCIAL to remind visitors to CRNET as well as neophytes
(new Catholics) that a communal Penance Service WITH individual
"one-to-one" private Confessions is TOTALLY LEGITIMATE and is in
conformity with Chapter Two, Rite for Reconciliation of Several Penitents
with Individual Confession and Absolution, from the Rite of Penance in the
Roman Ritual (Vatican II edition). Number 22 of the Praenotanda of the
Ordo Paenitentiae (Introduction to the Rite of Penance) states that
"communal celebration shows more clearly the ecclesial nature of penance."
This being said, I fully admit that there are some priests who abuse
the Sacrament by illicitly and sad to say even invalidly employing the
third method of "General Confession & Absolution". No. 31 states that
"individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary
way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church
.." We have all heard of the FEW miscreants who abuse "General
Absolution" (as it is known) without fulfilling the requirements of Canon
Law that it be done ONLY when there is IMMANENT DANGER OF DEATH and there
is NO TIME for the Priest(s) to hear individual confessions OR when there
is a SERIOUS NECESSITY AS DEFINED BY THE DIOCESAN BISHOP, such as a number
of penitents is so great that the limited number of confessors are UNABLE
to hear the individual confessions of these penitents WITHIN A SUITABLE
TIME so that the penitents are FORCED to be DEPRIVED of Sacramental grace
or Holy Communion for a LONG TIME through no fault of their own. [canon
961]
The mere fact that there are so-called "too many" penitents for the
Priest(s) to hear individual confessions is INSUFFICIENT cause to use
"General Absolution". In the U.S., especially in the North East and
Mid-Atlantic regions, most parishes have confessions EVERY WEEK on
Saturday afternoon. If on one particular day the number of penitents is
exceptionally large, then those who are unable to confess individually can
do so next week.
The reason for Communal Penance Service is to facilitate SEVERAL
Confessors for a large group of penitents to hear individual confessions.
As a parish priest, I try to encourage my people to avail themselves of
the Penance Service because we often have TEN priests coming to help hear
individual confessions. Rather than waiting until the last minute and
waiting in line for awhile for ONE or TWO of the parish priests to hear
many confessions, the Church in her wisdom, developed this Communal
Penance Service. Now, a HUNDRED or more people can go to confession with
TEN priests hearing ten confessions a piece within an hour. Alone, it
would take the pastor much more time to hear all of those confessions.
The ritual asks for some scripture reading, homily and an EXAMINATION
of CONSCIENCE. This can be very fruitful for those who do not frequent
the Sacrament of Penance often. By verbally asking the penitents to
concretely consider which of the Commandments they have broken or which
Precepts of the Church they have violated, it helps prepare them for their
individual confession. By reading a meditation on the Commandments &
Precepts, the communal Penance Service allows the people to see that the
Sixth Commandment, for example, not only forbids adultery, but also sins
of fornication, masturbation, pornography, pre-marital sex, artificial
contraception, etc. The examination of conscience helps many people focus
on their precise faults and personal sins so as to accurately make an
integral as well as individual confession.
I have been to some Penance Services where the priest told the
congregation "not to recite a laundry list of sins" and to rather mention
evil or at least bad attitudes they have. THIS IS NOT AN INTEGRAL
CONFESSION. "Number, Kind & Species", we were told in the seminary. It
is necessary that you and I orally confess ALL mortal sins since our last
confession AND the circumstances which would make them worse or perhaps
lessen our culpability. Hence, confessing fornication would be in order
but if it were with a minor (young adult), that would make it even worse
and that extra information should also be confessed. Confessing that you
stole something valuable would be required but if what you stole was the
gold ciborium from the tabernacle of a Church, that extra information is
necessary as you have also committed sacrilege. Likewise, a chronic
problem normally reduces SOME though not ALL culpability, therefore, the
frequency of the sin must be known by the confessor. Ergo, to ask
penitents to merely confess "selfishness" rather than specifically
confessing that "I stole money from my mother's purse on several
occasions" would be INACCURATE and WRONG. Number and circumstance can
decrease responsibility OR intensify and aggravate the evil already done.
The infinite love and mercy of God will forgive any sin sincerely
confessed to a Priest with real contrition and a firm purpose of
amendment. For priests to attenuate or dilute the Sacrament out of a
misguided "pastoral sensitivity" to "make it easier" for the penitents is
in reality sacerdotal malpractice. If a physician refrained from
necessary surgery for a massive heart attack victim simply because the
doctor wanted the patient to avoid the discomfort of an operation, he
would be sued and lose his license. But if a priest encourages people who
may have mortal sin (a lethal condition for the soul) to NOT make an
individual confession merely because they are uncomfortable with it, he is
often thought to be "pastorally sensitive." The doctor MUST operate and
the Priest MUST hear the confessions. BOTH should have a good "bedside"
or "confessional" manner, yet, when it comes to the bottom line, people
will always prefer the rudest surgeon who is the best in his field. So,
going to confession to even the priest you may like the least, still has
the power to heal your soul and it would be equally as foolish to stay
away from the Sacrament of Penance merely because of the personality of
the confessor.
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