AmericanPapist Comments
I've caught myself confessing the missus' sins in confession as part of my sin. I even said, "Oh, I guess I'm not supposed to confess other people's sins." The priest just laughed and said, "Well, you can, but they don't count."
Anyway, whenever I hear a Christian group apologize for some long dead grievance, what I often really hear is, "To champion the latest pelvic issue, we are in the process of chucking 2000 years of constant teaching and hope you won't notice."
This was a constant, if muted out of respect for the man, concern during JP2's papacy.
Here's a question: last night I went to a healing Mass, which was actually an intergenerational healing Mass, where the priest asked us to "take on" the sins of all our past generations (ancestors/family members) and ask God's mercy and forgiveness on them. It was a 10-15 minute Penitential Rite, where he basically went through a very thorough examination of conscience and told us that God would be working through the Eucharist to forgive all these sins -- ours and those of our predecessors.
What's your take on this?
Jabee:
I suppose it works, in the sense that Christ took all of our sins, past, present and future generations, and atoned for them.
Since we are to imitate Him, then it follows that we spiritually take on the sins of the past.
Anyone else have thoughts?
A related pet peeve of mine is people who have not been wronged "forgiving" the wrongdoer. If a thug slashes the tires of a co-worker, I would be considered a self-centered jerk to say, "but I forgive him" -- they were not my tires! But if he slashes the co-worker's throat, it's supposed to make me seem a compassionate Christian. Unless I'm a priest (which I'm not) and he's making a valid confession, I have no right to forgive him for anything more than the harm he has done me.
In the modern, PC world, the two things often go together. Example: A white man, who has never owned a slave, "confesses" the sinfulness of slave-owning whites in the 1800's, so that a black man, who has never had to endure slavery, can "forgive" him.
I stop penitents in the middle of confession if they start "confessing" other people's sins. It's pointless.
Jaibee, your priest needs to go back to seminary and re-take the course on confession. What he did was little more than feel-good PC liturgical hand- wringing. Again, utterly pointless. I hope he didn't present this charade as a legit sacrament.
Fr. Philip, OP
Fr. Philip:
Thank you for your reply. This was done as a special-purpose Mass, specifically for intergenerational healing. My friend had brought me there, never having gone before herself, thinking that it was a healing Mass, with anointing of the sick. During his introduction, before the Penitential Rite, he made a statement saying that he was committed to doing these Masses at least 3-4 times a year.
It seemed a little odd to me to be confessing for other people -- isn't contrition going to be missing? -- but I'm fairly new, having been baptised in 2007, so I was wondering.
Thank you!
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