Confession

Attacks on the Seal of the Confessional

States should leave the sacrament of confession alone and focus on other, more productive ways of protecting children. Continue Reading »

30 Mar 2023

The Lenten Presumption

by Hans Boersma

Jesus does not need us to follow him in his suffering; instead, we desperately need him to stick close to us. Continue Reading »

16 Feb 2021

The night my friend confessed her sins over the phone

by Jessica Hooten Wilson

She told me that she wanted to be holyBut everything she saidSounded like she wanted to be happy.And I wanted to cryAnd shout out the difference.But I couldn’t find the syllablesAnd put them in the true order. —Jessica Hooten . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2020

Why We Can’t Confess Over Zoom

by Dominic M. Langevin, O.P.

The sacrament of penance requires both joint physical presence and live, interpersonal action between the penitent and priest-confessor. Continue Reading »

3 Apr 2020

Flower Power?

by Carl R. Trueman

Liberal theology tends to result in liturgical practices that are at best banal and at worst childish. Continue Reading »

19 Sep 2019

California Threatens the Seal of Confession

by Charlotte Allen

California State Senator Jerry Hill has introduced a bill to abolish legal protection for the seal of confession. Continue Reading »

18 Mar 2019

Confession in America

by Eve Tushnet

Confession: Catholics, Repentance, and Forgiveness in America by patrick w. carey oxford, 392 pages, $34.95 In the 2013 Joseph Gordon-Levitt romantic comedy Don Jon, the porn-obsessed title character hits the confessional, reels off his usual list of sins against chastity, and then . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2019

Sacramental Realism

by R. R. Reno

To outsiders, the proposal of communion for the divorced and remarried seems a modest adjustment. But it has provoked adamant resistance among the faithful because it throws in doubt the basic logic of the gospel. From her beginnings, the Church has known that the baptized, while born again in . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2018