CONFESSION
The practice of Confession is dying out especially in this part of the world.
Confession got a bad name because clerics and the hierarchy used it as a method of controlling people at very basic levels - sexuality, guilt, secrets etc.
Many priests abused their position in the Confessional - in being ignorant and angry with people - and other priest's used the Confessional to "get off" on people's sex sins and even to sexually seducing people. including children/It was all part of the clergy and hierarchy forgetting about the love and forgiveness of Jesus and communicating that to people every single day and opportunity.
That love of Jesus was replaced with clerical and hierarchal legalism that came to its fruition in the publication of Canon Law 1918.
The RC Church is founded on legalism, as well as on patriarchy, misogyny, clericalism, and homophobia.
The current clergy and hierarchy are the exact equivalent of The Pharisees in this century.
CONFESSION:
In the New Testament there us reference to issues like repentance and confession but in very general ways.
The RC Church thinks that the fact that Christ gave the apostles ??? To bind and free gave them the authority to ordain individual confession to a cleric as absolutely binding.
But those of us who have watched and learned the ways of God know that he is an absolutely forgiving God who responds to requests for forgiveness immediately and without the involvement of a middleman.
So as soon as we express genuine remorse to God and get his forgiveness, we are forgiven.
USEFULNESS OF CONFESSION
I do believe that in certain cases and at certain times there is great good that can come of the Sacrament of Penance celebrated by a non-legalist priest and a person seeking forgiveness in the context of spiritual direction.
And there are people who need to head forgiveness being pronounced to them before they can forgive themselves.
Maybe these people are spiritual "babies" needing spiritual reassurance. So what? We are all different and I have often needed reassurance in various aspects of my life.
I have had some wonderful experiences of Confession as a confessor and a penitent. Needless to say, these occasions did not take place in a dark wardrobe - but in more appropriate spaces for penance and spiritual direction.
CONFESSION may die out?
Confession may be restored and reformed?
Not ALL PRIESTS are suitable to be confessors.
Only priests with special gifts and training should be allowed to hear Confession.
For instance, not all GPS would be good at heart surgery!
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Top 10 Signs You’re in a Legalistic Church
Sheila Gregoire
1. You might be in a legalistic church….if legitimate questions are framed as a faith issue
2. You might be in a legalistic church….if there’s no room for respectful disagreement
3. You might be in a legalistic church….if they define things as “sin” that are simply differences of opinion
4. You might be in a legalistic church…if your church insists on a certain political stance
5. You might be in a legalistic church…if your church emphasizes who is “in” and who is “out”
6. You might be in a legalistic church….if constructive criticism is seen as a pride issue
7. You might be in a legalistic church if…obedience to established authority is seen as the same as obedience to God
8. You might be in a legalistic church if…the sins most preached about are focused on the failings of the congregants in lower standing, rather than those in a higher standing.
9. You might be in a legalistic church if….people are judged by the content of their theology rather than by the fruit that they demonstrate
10. You might be in a legalistic church if…there is a highly simplistic view of blessing and cursing
More self adulation from Pat, lecturing us as if you were the great one, no faults, no wrongs, no stains of sins, no misjudgment, no hurt inflicted on others. I would consider myself a very good confessor. I listen carefully. I understand with care and compassion. Incidentally, my faith and religious convictions have taught me that - I am full of wonder, unique, precious to God, strong, intelligent, full of potential. I don't need science to tell me that! And, considering that you, Pat, spend so much time acting as judge, jury and executioner, I can't imagine that you make a good confessor. What would you say to wayward priests like yourself? Just wondering..
ReplyDeleteYour comment is a mixture of condemning me and congratulating yourself :-)
DeleteI wonder now, who is the one practisi g self adulation?
"The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops." St Athanasius
Delete"The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts." St John Chrysostom
12:18
DeleteWere these men on a day trip to Hell that they could describe it (or its approach) in such touristy detail?
Perhaps Chrysostom had a premonition of his own deserved place there, given his rabid anti-Semitism in life.
Roman Catholicism and its illiterate, superstitious claptrap!😆
11 20: Just pointing out to you Pat how I and many other clerics are good confessor and that our Catholicism, religious beliefs and our prayer have taught us what you allege science teaches us. You are too inclined to make unverifiable sweeping negative judgments about priests but always excluding yourself.
Delete14:52 It’s very early in the day to have to scroll past a post of Cac na Márta.
DeleteBut genuine practising Catholics will continue to obey the five Commandments of the Church.. That includes "To confess our sins at least once a year"(No. 2)
ReplyDeleteSix actually. Precepts in fact.
DeleteYou should confess every day...to Christ, instead of to a fake locum.😆
DeleteDoes the new Catechism not give FIVE "precepts" ?
DeleteI remember an elderly priest coming to me in confession who was regarded in the parish as a saintly man. What he confessed to me sexually disturbed me because I had to work alongside him. I told him to seek another confessor because he seemed to enjoy going into detail. I simply could not have him coming to confession on a regular basis. I refuse to have people I know come to me in Confession particularly family members when a death occurs, I also find it uncomfortable with priests I know do similar because of that past experience. Maybe I’m wrong in my approach but I believe in clear boundaries when it comes to this sacrament. I was taught by Dominicans not to overquestion in the confessional and never to pry especially with sexual matters. I’ve always adhered to that.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 08:34: your approach seems sensibly balanced, mature and well considered. With good self awareness, I think it more appropriate than 23:11 considering himself 'a good confessor'. Sorry, 'very good'. MMM
DeleteQuaint, arch comment alert @ 11:01
DeleteWhat would MMM know about confession seeing as he hasn't been since 1970?
Delete08.34 Refreshing post to read, honest and seems sincere. Have you ever considered spending a number of weeks in the Confessional at Lourdes, you would be a nice change for the English speaking pilgrims. Some there can be quite quizzical and nosey especially in relation to naughtiness.
Delete12.01: Yes, MMM, (re: 23.11 last night), I bring to my role as a confessor my psychology, counselling and spiritual guidance qualifications which give me insights into the human psyche and despite your sneering, yes, I consider myself to be a compassionate listener. You're welcome any day....
DeleteHow do you go about spending weeks in a confessional in Lourdes.
DeleteVery wise policy, in my opinion.. @ 8.34
DeleteThey should put a few confessionals in the Phoenix Park for those attending the Papal Mass. 4,500 new ciboria have been purchased and 500,000 hosts prepared. How wonderful it is that Ireland is still the land of Saints and Scholars. Everybody at the Papal Mass will receive Holy Communion with not a single unshriven mortal sinner among them.
ReplyDeleteAt the Galway Mass in 1979 with John Pole I saw a host being carried by the wind out of a ciborium and being consumed by a dog.
DeleteI have wondered since if the doggie received the Body of Christ?
They should erect a massive confessional in Pup Square in Maynooth for the lads return from a long hot summer of Grinding.
DeleteThe last thing Maynooth needs is another "erection" :-)
DeleteYou need wonder no longer. Your liturgical and sacramental theology classes at Clonliffe and St John’s leave a lot to be desired if it even occurred to you that that was a possibility.
DeleteIt’s necessary to differentiate between the res and the sacramentum, as St Thomas explains. At the fraction the sacramentum is broken but not of course the res. Similarly, the sacramentum was swallowed but the res not so. QED
The majority of those receiving Communion at the Papal Mass probably voted yes in the baby referendum. Those hypocrites should be sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
DeletePerfectly put 12:09 and Pat at 11:06 just showing his own ignorance. Likewise, the Mournful Mountain Man at 12:19, who’s in for a “quare gunk” after he draws his last breath.
DeleteAt some future stage RC church theologians will perform their customary tautological gymnastics to explain that transubstantiation confers no ontological change: it is only representative of communion with Christ. That's if RC Catholicism survives that long.
DeleteSurely the concept of thousands of 'Gods'/ bodies of Christ being "created/transformed" in Phoenix Park to add to millions elsewhere simultaneously in the world needs either a suspension of logical intelligence, a surfeit of blind faith, or both.
MMM
12:09
DeleteThe dog was happy just to eat the Sacrament.
Res gives him scruples.
Patsy at 11:06
DeleteWhat an appalling,sacrilegious comment.
All you are demonstrating at 12:58, Mournful Michael, is your lamentable ignorance of Eucharistic theology. Your smug attempts at mockery are simply sad.
Delete@09:41
Delete....and then you woke up and had your Sugar Puffs.
At 12:58
Delete12:58
Dear MMM, if you want to challenge, question and critique RC theology, always a very good thing to do, I’d suggest you, first of all, get it right.
Transubstantiation is a late-comer to sacramental theology, hardly being mentioned in the first millennium. Eucharistic theology survived for a thousand years without it. You won’t find it in the biblical and patristic eras.
Secondly, transubstantiation doesn’t ‘confer’ ontological change. It is that change.
Thirdly, eucharistic theology doesn’t rely for its truth on a particular philosophical basis, such as scholastic philosophy’s transubstantiation. The transformation of the elements is the work of the Holy Spirit. That should satisfy our intellects sufficiently.
Your own contribution here is a textbook example of tautology (multiplication of terms) i.e. ‘transformation’ and ‘conferring no ontological change.’
‘Thousands of God’s bodies (sic)’ is a misnomer. God doesn’t have bodies. The Son of God, and second Person of the Trinity, Jesus of Nazareth, had one single body which hung on a cross.
You needn’t worry. There’s no danger of RC Catholicism (sic) dying any time soon. On that score, you come from a long line of disappointed hopefuls the likes of Napoleon, Nietzsche, Stalin, Hitler.
Not a word from Buckley about the multitudes of people who were received kindly in Confession and helped. Not a word about all those who received the Sacrament, as Christ intended it, from a compassionate and understanding priest who helped ease a burdened heart and conscience.
ReplyDeleteI am in my late 70’s. Of course I encountered a few priests who weren’t very pleasant in Confession but I am grateful to God for the more frequent times I was met with an understanding ear, with kindness, gentleness and decency.
Did you skip the part in the blog where I said I had good experiences of Confession as a confessor and penitent?
DeleteShould have gone to Specsavers :-)
I don’t need Specsavers. My sight is fine. It’s you who are myopic. You had good experiences as a confessor and a penitent? Well millions of others have had too down through the ages. It’s not all about you and Church is greater than its problems.
DeleteI'm a committed Catholic with many weaknesses and who adores my faith but sadly feel Confessions are becoming increasingly unimportant and meaningless to many Catholics at my age.
ReplyDeleteI've two young boys in there early teens who refuse to go and thats where the problem lies, no future!
A good read for a change Pat.
If they won't accept the traditional way of confessing, suggest just that they spend a little time before they sleep in looking over their day, picking out the things they wish they hadn't done, and asking Jesus to help them do better.
DeleteNothing more is wanted.
Hi Stephen, we all know about your weakness.
ReplyDeleteDoes Our Blessed Mother not urge us in all the times she's appeared, to return to the sacraments of monthly confession and mass and to pray for the shepherds, her priestly sons?
ReplyDeleteWhat do we do only deride both.
Roman Catholics are not obligated to believe private revelation.
DeleteAnd there is only one shepherd...CHRIST.
I might be more willing to accept the kind of revelation you're referring to IF Mary had urged her so-called sons to stop buggering and raping children (which they've been doing from the get-go) and for non-clerics to report these vile men to lawful authorities.
Excellent question
DeleteWhy didn't Mary give messages condemning clerical abuse.
Why is she only interested in rosaries, purgatory and her priest "sons"?
She has mentioned the pain some cause by deserting their ministry for that of the world and the flesh and leading others on a path to hell.
DeleteAnd no Magna, we're not 'obliged' to believe, but then that's why the miraculous tends to happen in places so we can be in no doubt.
DeleteBut then for those who refuse to believe that God is reaching out to us...nothing will ever suffice.
You missed my point, 15:53. I don't 'refuse to believe'; I said that 'I might be more willing' to believe if Mary had chastised her 'priestly sons' for buggering and raping children, and for covering up these terrible crimes for one another.
DeleteDon't you think it odd that she would remain silent on such a matter?
Didn't she care about her non-priest sons and her non-religious daughters?
Or didd she care only about priests? Because that's what the 'revelations' referred to by 12:53 suggest.
No, she calls all to her son, out of love.
DeleteDo we think she would use our gutteral tones to exactly express her horror? She is sorrowful.
But she knows the importance of priesthood and she is close to the Father.
Our language, especially on this blog, doesn't suggest closeness to God or prayerfulness.
The prayers she asks for and their effect are beyond our comprehension. Why don't we pray as asked?
18:57 'gutteral (sic) tones'? 'Buggery' and 'rape' are not gutteral, but literals terms; they express accurately, precisely, and concisely, what her 'priestly sons' did to her little ones.
DeleteAre you suggesting that Mary, like the institutional Church, is so dishonest, so squeamish, that she would prefer euphemism to literal truth? In order that she might understate what her 'priestly sons' did in order to preserve the 'importance of priesthood'? Because this has been exactly the response of the institutional Church to tha abuse scandals. And it is not edifying.
Moral cowardice does not 'suggest closeness to God or prayerfulness'.
15.02 At Garabandal, Our Lady did say, 'Many cardinals, many bishops and many priests are on the road to perdition and taking many souls with them.'
ReplyDeleteWhy didn’t Our Lady (Protestants refer to her as Mary as do Muslims) not talk of women priests, other Faiths, people who create their own Churches, heretics, those not found worthy of Ordination, she could have spoken out on a million things but DIDN’T.
ReplyDeleteMuslims call her Miriam.
DeleteI would have thought that children being sexually abused by priests would have been very high up St. Mary's list?
Pat always refers to the Blessed Virgin at St Mary. Denial of her perpetual virginity is one of Pat's many heresies yet he's desparate to cling to the title Catholic for some reason, even though to all intents and purposes Pat is a liberal Protestant in his beliefs.
DeleteThe first Protestant Reformers defended her perpetual virginity.
The Koran speaks of Mary not Mariam Pat. Have you read it?
DeleteWe don't know if St. Mary was a temporary or permanent virgin. The Gospels do speak of the brothers and sisters of Jesus.
DeleteThey might have been Joseph's children before he married Mary?
I think the BVM is the result of a man made hang up about virginity being good and sex being bad.
The RC Church in Chapel Street, Belfast, is ST MARYS
Perpetual virginity was a discovery in the 1800's, at a point when modernity was obsessed with purity. Catholics got on fine for 1800 years without believing in it and many of us still get on fine not believing in it. Sexual teachings in the church are nought but control measures distracting from the real message.
DeleteJesus was not obsessed with sex, unlike the modern Church.
Pat you know that there is no word in Hebrew for cousins, hence the translation to Greek n English as brothers and sisters.
DeleteYou're not familiar with Paulinism, are you?
DeletePaul-the-self-styled-Apostle urged celibacy (and, therefore, virginity for both males and females) because of his and others' belief that the Parousia (Christ's second coming) was imminent. Paul thought marriage, sex, and children were of no consequence, given that Jesus could arrive any day by ecologically friendly cloud.
It's partly through this aspect of Paulinism that the institutional Roman Catholic Church became morbidly, neurotically, obsessed with the idea of sex (one can envision it salivating lasciviously) and the promotion of virginity and celibacy as the highest state.
A load of old cobblers, of course.😆
Yes, 17:44. But 'brothers and sisters' can still literally mean just that.😆
Delete17:02
DeleteIt speaks of 'Maryam' (or its variant, 'Miriam').
Wikipedia
DeleteIsn't it amazing the number of arrogant sods who think they know better than the Mother of God with regard to what she chose to say! Silly twerps .
Delete22:56 You don't see the irony of your post, do you?
DeleteIf you reject what this 'number of arrogant sods' are saying about Mary, then it presupposes that you DO know better than her what she chose to say.
What was that about 'silly twerps'?😆
You just make it up Pat in your own mind as you go along, whatever makes you feel comfortable. Next week you will be saying something different. The Gospel according to Patrick Buckley from Offaly. The person who excluded himself from the Sacraments and Salvation. The Protestants don’t even want to be associated with you.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I find it laughable seeing RC clerics "explaining" the nuances of their theological beliefs. Of course those theologians can find all sorts of scriptural and magesterium support for their arguments. But I see no value in such 'micro-theology' arguments when its 'macro-foundations' are so patently dubious. MMM
ReplyDeleteBut MMM, that's were u fail. I know you are searching otherwise you wouldn't be commenting.
DeleteSilent prayer and listening.
Yes Anon @ 19:09: I suppose that like everybody I am searching in terms of trying to make sense of our existence. But that doesn't presuppose I believe there to be any singular or multiple causative explanation for it all: a Prime Mover as referred to from my recollection of my Thomistic philosophy lectures a very long! time ago.
DeleteSo it is perfectly reasonable to search all available sources of information and to comment on both my own experiences and conclusions, and those of others as contributed to +Buckley's site.
I'm happy to listen, but without the prayers please!
MMM
But MMM, prayer is conversation. If you don't converse with someone, that relationship dies. If you don't want to talk about reason for being with a Creator how can you advance as a spiritual being? You didn't create yourself or ask to be born.... but it was for a good reason. Blessings.
Delete22:33 You are thinking of prayer along traditional, Catholic lines. And it is sooo last century.😆
DeleteEver heard of wordless prayer? Prayer of the heart? It's the language of love. And you know what is said of love.
So how can there be no relationship with God where love is present?
You need to step outside that Catholic box you're in.
God exists beyond it,😆
How is it possible for a person, to write of such sublime subjects as ‘prayer of the heart’ and ‘wordless prayer’, and still come across as a shrill, screaming, demented, shrieking, screeching, manic and painful to listen to, self-righteous, priggish harpy?
DeleteUm, do you mean me?😆
DeleteSteady on there, old boy.😦
DeleteMMM at 18.55, your micro mind is in macro overdrive! Go to bed and leave Catholicism alone. You are becoming tiresome and repetitive. Have you had a transplant of some kind? Your cynicism and nastiness are bizarre.
ReplyDeleteI and many other readers appreciate MMM's comments.
DeleteHear, hear!
DeleteI, too, very much appreciate (and, indeed, look forward to) MMM's posts.
Just because the 'club' clap each errant poster, doesn't mean they are right. It just means that they are shallow, spiritually and haven't scratched beneath the surface.
DeleteTry praying and listening.
20:32 Laurence Olivier said that if you scratch an actor you'll find another actor underneath.
DeleteSome surfaces are just like actors: scratch them and you'll find nothing different underneath.😆
21.07: Magna, how very true of you! Scratch you and you'll find nothing different underneath your vitriol, bigotry, hatred etc....You are too entrenched in your bitterness to have any redeeming qualities. You're very good at finding quotes that are always applicable to you!
DeleteAnd if you scratch a priest... you'll find a Mo.
DeleteWell done you. Your spirituality n relationship with your God is still as distant as ever.
DeleteYou rely on you and you alone, yet you have no control over your life or death.... just your words.
You are competent in quotes but not reflection on your mortality or the actions upon others of what you post.
Give up words and give in to silent reflection, your soul will be dependent on it sooner rather than later. That is the same for us all.
We will die and be accountable... not by a vengeful God but one who offered us a way, free will to choose, the good or the bad.
Just saying. Choice!
Can you folks just imagine, how deeply troubled and messed up a human being the person who signs himself “Magna Carta” is, in real life?
DeleteThe insane emojis are handy indicators to keep scrolling past the vitriol.
But, when you see those insane emojis, offer a wee prayer for the poor creature.
😆
DeleteMagna at 20:13
ReplyDeleteSurprise! Surprise! Birds of a feather, flock together. Apostates,Heretics,and ex-seminarians Mad! Mad! Mad! aka MMM.
17:44 Hebrew had died out as a spoken language centuries before Jesus. The canonical gospels were written in Greek, which does have a word for ‘kinswoman.’ Luke 1:36.
ReplyDeleteHaha, Then Mark, dead sea scrolls were written in A foreign land?
DeleteThey were translated to Greek and then to the vernacular. Read n learn.... really?
22:44 Hebrew had died out as a spoken language. DSS are, by definition, written, just as someone might write in Latin today.
DeleteWho is Mark?
Eh the first Gospel written.
DeleteWhen did they stop speaking Hebrew?
The Gospels were translated into Greek.
Rest assured Anon @ 19:42, that there is no obligation to read my comments. Nevertheless I am grateful for your attention, though I would appreciate it more were you to make some perceptive comment on the subject of the blog rather than my own willingly admitted limitations. MMM
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 19:42 & 20:32: I assure you that there is absolutely no obligation to read my comments. But I am grateful that you consider them worthy of your attention. Now perhaps you could contribute some insightful reflections on the subject matter rather than on my own, admittedly limited abilities. MMM
ReplyDelete20:32 - what's wrong with 'club' members giving each other the clap?
ReplyDeleteHa ha Good one!👍
DeleteIt makes the place look like Maynooth!!
DeleteI love this. The minions argue between themselves about the meaning of words written over 2,000 years ago and the suitability of people they never met to be ordained into a redundant priesthood; meanwhile the "leaders" of the priesthood drink wine, count coin, sniff poppers and are guaranteed to get laid any time they're horny...
Lots of scrolling past posts by Cac na Márta.
Delete