Sacrament Of Reconciliation Research Articles

The Implementation of Repentance, Confession, and Penance in the Sacrament of Reconciliation at Stasi Santo Thomas Onan Rihit

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, central to Catholic doctrine, facilitates the restoration of relationships between the penitent, the community, and the divine. This study examines the implementation and experiences of the sacrament through the essential acts of repentance, confession, and penance, highlighting their roles in spiritual and moral transformations. Employing a qualitative approach, the research gathered data through observations, in-depth interviews, and documentation at Stasi Santo Thomas Rasul Onan Rihit. The findings reveal that repentance initiates spiritual renewal while confession promotes transparency and humility, thereby strengthening communal bonds. Penance, tailored to individual transgressions, not only addresses past wrongs but also fosters spiritual growth and community harmony. Challenges remain in fully engaging penitents with the sacrament, pointing to the need for enhanced pastoral support and theological education. This study underscores the sacrament's enduring relevance and its capacity to facilitate profound spiritual life within the contemporary Catholic context.

Church Responses and Theological Resources for Technological Addiction

In this paper, I engage work done in philosophy, theology, and addiction science to argue that the Church possesses resources for preventing technology addiction. First, I briefly sketch what technology addiction is and provide evidence to suggest that it is rapidly growing. Then, I suggest two causes for the growth of technology addiction: boredom and the desire for a meaningful identity. Third, I discuss two resources that the ancient Churches possess to address these two causes. These two resources are the doctrine of divinisation and the sacrament of reconciliation. Fourth, I argue that some Protestant traditions possess similar practices for addressing technology addiction. The significance of my thesis is that the Church can help preventing non-addicted people from falling prey to technology addiction.

The Changed Reality of Being a Catholic Priest in Today’s Ireland

The Changed Reality of Being a Catholic Priest in Today’s Ireland John Littleton (bio) Setting the scene I was ordained a Catholic priest on 8 June 1986. That is nearly forty years ago, indeed probably half my lifetime. Over the decades since then, my personal reflections along with my conversations with family members, colleagues and parishioners have persuaded me that the experience of being a priest in Ireland in 2022 differs greatly from that of the 1980s and earlier times. It is frequently said that change in the hierarchical Church happens incredibly slowly, usually occurring over centuries, as the Church trundles along rather like a huge millwheel moving almost undetectably. Irrespective of the pace of change within the Church, the past half century has witnessed a major transformation in how the institutional Church in particular and Catholicism in general are perceived in Ireland; the reality is that contemporary Irish society, similar to other Western democracies, is becoming increasingly secular, individualistic and materialistic. Anecdotal testimony One of my abiding memories is that, within a few weeks of ordination, I was asked to help with the hearing of confessions at one of the large Redemptorist novenas (nine consecutive days of prayer) in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that were common at that time in various locations around the country.1 The availability of confession (the sacrament of reconciliation) for novena attendees, which was provided by a sizable team of confessors, was a noteworthy part of each novena session. Participants were encouraged to use that opportunity to express repentance for their sins, receive God’s forgiveness and renew their commitment to the principles and values of the Gospel. A recurring phrase in the standard list of novena announcements each day was, ‘Confessions are being heard before, during and after each session!’2 What astonished me most during my first experience of hearing confessions [End Page 249] was the large number of people who specifically asked how they should vote in the upcoming referendum on 26 June 1986 that would propose an amendment to remove the prohibition on divorce from Bunreacht na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland). Some of them did not desire the sacrament; they simply wanted to be told how to vote. Many of them were well educated and worked in professional settings where they made important daily decisions that had serious consequences for business, finance and people. Yet when it came to deciding how to vote on an issue that had significant moral and social implications, they abdicated their responsibility as citizens in a democracy and expected the priest to tell them what to do. It was as though their faith development had ceased at the end of their secondary schooling, although their expertise and competence in other capacities had continued to develop according to their chosen career paths. Thankfully, although inexperienced, I had sufficient common sense to refuse to tell them how to vote. I told them that they needed to vote in accordance with their conscience and that I would answer any questions about the Church’s teaching on conscience, marriage and divorce, but that it would be wrong for me to tell them how to vote. Some penitents were displeased with my stance and threatened to complain to the priest in charge. Nevertheless, I insisted that it would be improper for me to tell them how to vote.3 Afterwards, I discovered that the other confessors on the team had much the same experience as me. This demonstrated to me that there was a perception among Catholics that priests – in addition to bishops – had the right and the duty to inform people how they should act in fundamentally important areas of life. About thirty years later, following the 1986 unsuccessful referendum to remove the prohibition on divorce from the constitution, my experience was that the perception of priests’ rights and duties had changed completely, especially in the lead-up to more recent referenda. In the 2015 ‘Marriage Equality’ referendum, the proposal was that marriage between two people be recognised regardless of the sex of the partners.4 Then three years later, in 2018, the ‘Repeal the Eighth’ referendum proposed that the 1983 Eighth Amendment to...

Undoing and Unsaying Islamophobia: Toward a Restorative and Praxis-Oriented Catholic Theology with Islam

This article explores how Christian theology has historically contributed to the modern ideology of Islamophobia. After arguing that contemporary popular and political Islamophobia has its sources in replacement theology, theological supersessionism, anti-Judaism, antisemitism, Christian-Islamic polemics, Orientalism, and modern racism, it seeks to reorient Catholic theology by undoing and unsaying this discursive and political harm. Constructively, the relatively novel genealogy of Islamophobia this article tentatively traces is based on three discursive moves: linking (1) replacement theology/supersessionism with medieval anti-Islamic theology, (2) the latter to Orientalism, and (3) the previous two to Islamophobia. These three discursive moves are possible because they were and remain sustained by supremacist theologies begotten by replacement theology/supersessionism. The article draws from theories of ideology and social imaginaries to recognize that the words, symbols, narratives, and metaphors that constituted a Christian theology of Islam since the seventh-century emergence of the Islamic tradition cannot be subverted merely by forgetting or ignoring them; they cannot be unlearned merely by learning “positive views” of the Islamic religious traditions (from Muslims, scholars, or both); they cannot be undone through a religion-blind, apolitical theology of religions that rejects nothing that is true and holy in religions; finally, they cannot be dismantled even by a Catholic theology of Islam that cherishes specific beliefs and practices in common with Muslims. It concludes by beginning to construct a Catholic theology of interreligious praxis intended to dismantle and disrupt Islamophobia today. This praxis-oriented theology is grounded in a Christian conception of restorative justice and the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation. At the core of this proposal is the assertion that theologies of the past remain the politics of the present. If Catholic theology has shaped the sociopolitical ideology and structure of Islamophobia today, then an anti-Islamophobic Catholic theology must be political; otherwise, it will remain ineffective in undoing the political harm it has produced.

Conversion: Falling into Friendship Like No Other

In the context of contemporary vicissitudes, this article examines how Lonergan’s grasp of the meaning of redemption illuminates our understanding of Christian conversion. Lonergan’s Law of the Cross implies that the effectiveness of Christian conversion hinges on one’s antecedent willingness to undertake suffering for the sake of the transformation of evil into good. His analogies for Christ’s salvific work with the sacrament of reconciliation and with friendship further clarify the christomorphic, penitential, and community-building character of conversion, which proceeds from the total, transformative, and diffusive falling into friendship with God.

Justice for Children

A major oversight in Catholicism’s clergy abuse crisis is its failure to examine how assumptions about children and norms concerning adult-children interactions contributed to child sexual abuse and bishops’ systematic cover-up. An adequate response must include new practices based on a revised child-centered account of what constitutes justice for children. In this paper, I develop an account of justice drawing on four sources: 1) Margaret Farley’s account of justice; 2) research findings from my ethnographic study observing and interviewing Catholic second graders about receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation; 3) the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies; and 4) the Catholic tradition.

Sacramentum Pacis: The Eucharist as the Sacrament of Peace

This paper will examine the nature of the Eucharist as a “sacrament of peace”, a sacrament by which the Christian believer is reconciled to Christ and the Church. While, properly-speaking, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the ordinary means of this activity, one sees that the Eucharist provides a healing balm for sin, enflames the soul with the fire of charity, and reveals itself as both a symbol of peace already realized and a sign of peace yet to come. This “sacrament of peace” bestows God’s peace to the Church, which, in turn, commissions the Christian to embody this peace through works of mercy and initiatives of justice. Through this, we see the social and missional implications for a community centered around the Eucharistic table. Helpful to this investigation will be the Eucharistic theology of the late Orthodox theologian, Alexander Schmemann and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Błogosławiony Jan Duns Szkot o możliwości przyjęcia komunii świętej w stanie grzechu śmiertelnego. Analiza w kontekście współczesnych dyskusji teologiczno-dyscyplinarnych

Dyskusja w Kościele nad dopuszczeniem osób rozwiedzionych, żyjących w powtórnych związkach do komunii świętej jest częścią szerszej debaty nad możliwością przyjmowania komunii w grzechu śmiertelnym. Na ten temat wypowiadali się teologowie w różnych wiekach. Genialny franciszkański teolog bł. Jan Duns Szkot rozumie takie działanie jako następny grzech śmiertelny. Jednocześnie respektuje osąd dokonany przez prawe sumienie, czy taki grzech przed przyjęciem komunii miał miejsce. Pozwala on także na przyjęcie komunii w celu uniknięcia zgorszenia wiernych, pod warunkiem mocnego postanowienia wyznania grzechu w sakramencie pojednania tak szybko, jak będzie to możliwe. Ten wyjątek nie dotyczy wiernych, którzy nie mają mocnego postanowienia zerwania z grzechem. Autor artykułu wskazuje, że dopuszczenie do przyjmowania komunii osób w takim stanie będzie szkodą dla ich życia duchowego i przyczyni się do większej utraty poczucia grzechu wśród współczesnych katolików.

Imaji Biblis dan Dogmatis tentang Pertobatan yang Menggembirakan

Repentance is one of the most important theme in God’s salvific plan for human being. Somehow nowadays, repentance seems unfavourable for many. People tend to look down on guilty feeling, avoiding any form of judgement or punishment, and to fall into misunderstandings of repentance as well as the sacrament of reconciliation. Repentance needs to be preached continuously, yet with a more positive approach. One way to do it is to use a joyful image of repentance, which indeed can be found in the Scripture and the Doctrine of Church. By finding those images, repentance will bring more joy, not only for the angels in heaven (cf. Luke 15:10), but for the people in the world, especially those who has good will to repent.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation: An Anthropological and Scriptural Understanding by Robert L. Fastiggi

The Sacrament of Reconciliation: An Anthropological and Scriptural Understanding by Robert L. Fastiggi

The Contemplation of God the Father's Mercy in Jesus Christ

Papal invitation to contemplate the face of the merciful God is a call for not contenting oneself with a superficial prayer or a prayer which detaches one from everyday matters. A special way of accepting the mercy of God takes place in the sacraments, e.g., in Baptism, in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God wants to raise man at every moment of his life. Contemplation is acceptance of the mercy of God and at the same time it means drawing strength which is necessary for a man to become merciful. Engaging the whole human person in the act of contemplation allows the Holy Spirit to pour into it a desire to be merciful to others.

Podstawowe założenia Światowych Dni Młodych

Podstawowe założenia Światowych Dni Młodych formowały się na przestrzeni trzech ostatnich pontyfikatów. Idea tego wydarzenia zrodziła się z pasterskiej troski Jana Pawła II o młodych. Rozpoznał on, że entuzjazm młodych jest jednocześnie wspaniałym środkiem budującym jedność między różnymi kulturami. Widział też, że to działanie duszpasterskie musi być kościelne, uniwersalne i młodzież musi być w nim głównym protagonistą. Papież Benedykt, podkreślając katolickość i uniwersalność Światowych Dni Młodzieży, wyakcentował rolę wolontariatu, adoracji i sakramentu pojednania. Papież Franciszek podkreślił braterstwo, święto wiary i misję młodych we współczesnym świecie. ŚDM są zatem wydarzeniem bardzo kompleksowym, ale koniecznym w panoramie życia dzisiejszego Kościoła.

To Go and Sin Once More: Confession and Joyce's ‘Nausicaa’ Episode

While critics note the saturation of Gerty MacDowell's mind with British commercial culture in the ‘Nausicaa’ episode of James Joyce's Ulysses, less well noted is the language and logic of Ireland's other master, Rome. In addition to the Marian images of piety and purity Gerty would have learned through religious societies like the Children of Mary, one finds elements of the Roman Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation. Joyce's rejection of the Catholic Church being common knowledge, it is surprising to find that the language and logic of confession which pervades much of Gerty's narrative and thought is not the repressive force one might expect. Instead, the logic of sin and redemption becomes a means for Gerty to embrace and explore her sexuality, to indulge her sexual desire, enhancing her enjoyment while allowing her to defer moral judgment. Through Gerty, Joyce diagnoses confession's functional importance in the mental, social, and sexual lives of many Irish of his day, complicating our assessments of modernist attitudes towards organized religion.

Evaluation of be Reconciled

According to 2008 research 75 % of Catholics report that they never participate in the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) or do so less than once a year (Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among US Catholics, Mark Gray and Paul Perl, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, 2008). This matches the perceptions of diocesan priests. ‘‘Be Reconciled’’ was an initiative of the Diocese of Rockford to encourage Catholics to return to this sacrament. It took place on just 1 weekday (April 9, 2014) during which all priests were asked to have extended confession times. The initiative was heavily promoted at the parish level and in the general community. The latter promotions included newspaper articles, radio spots, and extensive social media coverage. While any Catholic was welcome to participate in this sacrament, special encouragement was given to people who had been away for a long time. After April 9 priests were invited to evaluate Be Reconciled by completing a questionnaire. A total of 89 of the 127 active priests (70 %) provided input, with 81 completing the full survey and 8 providing some feedback. Time Spent Hearing Confessions The amount of time that priests spent in the confessional or reconciliation room varied from 1 to 12 h. The typical priest (measured by the median) heard confessions for 6 h. Number of Individual Confessions Heard Priests were asked to provide a general estimate of the number of confessions heard on April 9. The range was very wide, from 3 to 400 confessions, with a mean of 84. The mean does not represent the experience of the typical priest since its calculation includes the outlier values of 300 and 400 confessions. A better measure of the typical priest is the median value of 65 confessions. The number of individual confessions for all priests responding to

The Ethics of Punishment and the Ethics of Restoration: A Critical Analysis

Taking its cue from Augustine’s hesitancy to punish, this article develops an account of punishment as an exercise in Christian subjectivity, understanding by the latter term ‘self-knowledge’ and ‘being subject to another’s control.’ Framed in terms of the sacrament of reconciliation and mediated through the Late Medieval Ecclesiastical Courts, the explicit contours of this Christian subjectivity gradually eroded as secular practices and theories (retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and restorative) developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the process, the rehabilitative ethos that this subjectivity upheld was lost also. Retrieving it is essential for understanding contemporary punishment from a Christian perspective.

Sakramenty i sakramentalia w życiu Kościoła partykularnego

The local Synod is a special event in the local Church and the witness of her life. Fifteen dioceses held their Synods in the period 1967–1994: Włocławek (twice), Poznań (twice), Gdańsk, Warszawa, Katowice, Kraków (Diocesan Synod and Provincial), Gniezno, Tarnów, Częstochowa, Lublin, Koszalin–Kołobrzeg, Lubaczów, Płock, Kielce, Wrocław. It was also the Second Polish Plenary Synodal in this period. The synods documents showed complementarity of sacraments and sacramentals in the Christian life.The sacraments of initiation make the release from the darkness and rebirth through baptism by uniting with the death and resurrection of Christ. The beliver is strengthened by Confirmation and is growing by Eucharist. The Eucharist was shown in the center of the sacraments.The Synods also discussed the sacraments of healing – the sacrament of reconciliation and the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. Documents indicated on a mission and service to the community in the sacrament of orders and the sacrament of matrimony.The importance of the sacraments and sacramentals in the Church was emphasized by personal encounter with Christ, by the Church building and by the experience of faith and commitment to the apostolate. The Church must draw attention to the ministry of the sacraments and sacramentals to the sick, the poor, the neglected and the disabled. There is a need to prepare them individually or In small groups led by the special pastors. The Synods pointed to the problem of alcoholism and infidelity in experiencing the grace of the sacraments and sacramentals.The preparation for the sacraments and sacramentals both candidates and the faithful should be modeled on the catechumenate and its relationship with catechesis, liturgy and mistatogy. The important role is played by families and small groups: the family catechesis and celebration anniversary of the sacramentsThe Synods drew attention to the importance of the liturgy of the word with the homily during the celebration. The important role in celebration of the sacraments and sacramentals play liturgical signs, chants, commentaries, liturgical vestments and other paraments, local practice, etc.

Children Speak: Catholic Second Graders' Agency and Experiences in the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Children Speak: Catholic Second Graders' Agency and Experiences in the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Sin and reconciliation. A glance at the sacrament of reconciliation in the context of penitence practice in neotestamental communities

Sin and reconciliation. A glance at the sacrament of reconciliation in the context of penitence practice in neotestamental communities

Attaining Moral Knowledge in the Church and Models of Adult Learning

The sacrament of reconciliation has fallen into disuse among Roman Catholics. For the Holy See this signifi es a loss of a sense of sin and reconciliation, rightly connecting moral consciousness and faith in salvation with sacramental celebration. Cultural studies underscore the importance of ritual practices as an essential element of religion’s ability to deal with the experience of moral evil. However, decline in the frequency of confession may also be complicated by indifference among North American Catholics to current roles and power relations in the Church. In light of moral individualism in society and new ways of envisioning the Church fostered by Vatican II, the challenge of moral education in the Church is complex, but hopeful. Effective religious education, responsive to the situation of contemporary Catholics, will seek innovative approaches that are rooted in the tradition and developed in communities of living faith. The essay suggests that theories of transformative learning and communities of practice offer helpful models for responding to the crisis of sin and reconciliation in Roman Catholicism.

Book Review: The Sacrament of Reconciliation

Book Review: The Sacrament of Reconciliation