"It is...Our will that Catholics should abstain from certain appellations which have recently been brought into use to distinguish one group of Catholics from another. They are to be avoided not only as 'profane novelties of words,' out of harmony with both truth and justice, but also because they give rise to great trouble and confusion among Catholics. Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: 'This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved' (Athanasian Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim 'Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,' only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls himself." -- Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum 24 (1914)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

NEW TREND
They’re lining up for reconciliation in Round Lake

BY ANGELA CAVE
STAFF WRITER

His homilies must be working: For the past month, Rev. James Clark has been hearing twice the number of confessions he normally hears at Corpus Christi parish in Round Lake.

The pastor’s Saturday hours for the sacrament of reconciliation were previously 3 to 3:30 p.m. — half an hour before the vigil Mass. But when the number of penitents grew from four to about eight each week, that became a problem.

“It was pushing me at the other end because I couldn’t get ready for Mass,” Father Clark explained.

Reconciliation now starts at 2:30 p.m. More people are seeking the sacrament during the week, too, the pastor said: “I have people who just pop their head in and say, ‘Hi, do you have a minute?’”

This increase, however humble, stands in contrast to national trends. Three-quarters of U.S. Catholics report that they never participate in the sacrament of reconciliation or that they do so less than once a year, according to a 2008 study from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

The Church teaches that Catholics should seek the sacrament at least once a year.

“We don’t talk about sin anymore,” Father Clark lamented. “We just forget about it. But sin is part of life. Priests need to make an effort to convey that to people.”

He blames the decline in confessions not on the 1960s’ Second Vatican Council, but on a society that has pushed the parish church out of the center of people’s lives today.

When he was a child, Father Clark said, confession fit into his Saturday schedule alongside Mass, the parish dance and a bath.

The way today’s laypeople see their parishes is “a different relationship now than it was 50 years ago,” he said.

In his homilies at Mass, the priest reminds parishioners that reconciliation is a welcoming sacrament. The recent increase in penitents at Corpus Christi has even inspired Father Clark to more frequently seek out his own confessor.

The sacrament of reconciliation “is just one more visible sign that God loves us,” he remarked. “We need that voice hearing that our sins are forgiven.”

 

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