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News & ArtsTuesday, June 2, 2009
Religion Forgive Me, Father, for I Haven't Sinned
Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 4:55 PM
A Vatican official is lamenting that many faithful no longer confess their sins, and says some confuse a psychologist's couch for a confessional booth.Archbishop Mauro Piacenza has told Vatican Radio the sacrament of penance has been experiencing a "deep crisis" for decades. Piacenza, an official for the Vatican office on clergy, says fewer people distinguish between good and evil, and as a result don't go to confession.
It's curious that the archbishop provides only negative explanations for the dearth of confessions: Catholics engaged in sin are morally corrupt and cannot identify the division between good and evil. This is because the church is in the business of guilt. Otherwise, the archbishop might suggest that he's hearing fewer confessions because fewer people are sinning! Or, more realistically, Catholics discovered that acts previously believed to be evil—sex before marriage, wine before church—are actually quite good. And things that are actually evil—the clergy lusting after alter boys—clearly aren't getting solved in the confessional. Rather those issues are best addressed on the psychologist's couch or jail cell.
2
zzzz
really now, are we to give a shit?
explaining Catholic guilt is much more interesting freshly fucked - for botthe confessing and haveing to hear the drivel
zzzz
the sun is shinning, is it a plot of the devil?
zzzzz
really now, are we to give a shit?
explaining Catholic guilt is much more interesting freshly fucked - for botthe confessing and haveing to hear the drivel
zzzz
the sun is shinning, is it a plot of the devil?
zzzzz
3
I hear priests wear strange panties and nuns are MARRIED to Jesus - what the hell is all that about?
And all the fucking black, except the upper crust ...no way is that God.
And all the fucking black, except the upper crust ...no way is that God.
4
Cynicism aside, confession can be a very liberating thing. Most religions (and society in general) just focus on all the things you do wrong. With confession, the Catholic Church gives you a way to forgiveness.
When you've done something wrong, doesn't it feel better to get it off your chest?
With that said, I'm not going around telling people that they done anything wrong, or that they should feel guilty.
When you've done something wrong, doesn't it feel better to get it off your chest?
With that said, I'm not going around telling people that they done anything wrong, or that they should feel guilty.
5
I stopped going to confession in 7th grade when the priest I went to one day told me that he told me that my sins weren't worth his time, and that he wouldn't grant me absolution. He also told me that I couldn't receive communion until such time as he saw fit to absolve me (and the confessional was face-to-face, not behind a screen, and he was the only priest in our parish, so he knew who I was).
I still stayed with the Catholic Church for...another 21 years or so. Don't know what that says about me.
I still stayed with the Catholic Church for...another 21 years or so. Don't know what that says about me.
6
What a scam. People aren't suckers like they used to be. They're onto the church of the phony hucksters.
9
As I always say, religion's a poor man's psychotherapist. So if you can afford to go see a counselor, psychologist, or psychotherapist, then why go talk to a clergyman.
10
i know it's all a matter of the soul and spirit and shit, but it seems like confession hasn't really made anyone more "moral". i feel like it just functions as an excuse for more bad behavior. of course, i've never gone to confession and i've never been religious so the whole thing seems kinda nuts to me.
11
Forgive me, but my last confession was thirty years ago.
See, I was making up a lot of bad stuff because I used to go every week and ran out of bad stuff.
The priest started questioning me about my misdeeds and I started hemming and hawing because I was obviously lying about how bad I was.
Then he started yelling at me for lying.
Then I ran off and never went back.
It's ok, as I've done five of the seven sacraments and now count the years until Extreme Unction.
See, I was making up a lot of bad stuff because I used to go every week and ran out of bad stuff.
The priest started questioning me about my misdeeds and I started hemming and hawing because I was obviously lying about how bad I was.
Then he started yelling at me for lying.
Then I ran off and never went back.
It's ok, as I've done five of the seven sacraments and now count the years until Extreme Unction.
12
At my Seattle Catholic Church, I was taught that there is validity in a confession to a friend, regardless of whether they were a priest or not. Sure, it isn't the same as an official, traditional confession, but my church taught me it's a positive thing to take to a therapist.
13
Maybe the congregations are waiting until the Church confesses its own damn sins.
Gonna be a long wait.
Gonna be a long wait.
14
People would go to confession if it involved hot nuns in leather who would spank the truth out of the confessor.
15
Hm, maybe it's because saying "hail mary's" and "our fathers" isn't going to help solve any problems?
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