Mendalla
Confession? There's an app for that!
Posted on: 02/08/2011 13:41
No, really, there is:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/08/technology-confession-app-catholic-church.html
Apparently, the app will track when you last went to confession, what you've confessed, and other details of the process. A priest is still required for you to actually receive absolution, of course. This just helps you keep track of things. I forget the handle of the Roman Catholic who was posting a while back (St. Ignatius?) but I'd be interested in how Catholics feel about the idea. Will it get people out to confession more often or get more people practicing it?
Confession is one of those aspects of Roman Catholicism that I have mixed feelings about. The idea that confessing our sins (errors) before man and God should be central to faith is appealing. There's a humility to it, if it's done right, that we are sometimes lacking in UU'ism. On the other hand, the idea that an intermediary (the priest) is needed for us to receive forgiveness of our sins from God just doesn't make sense to this Protestant-raised UU. Jesus forgave sins directly, not through his apostles. Assuming you see Him as the incarnation of The Divine, that sounds like direct forgiveness to me. I'd like to see more confession of, or at least acknowledgement of, imperfection in my own faith, but I'm not sure that the Roman Catholic confessional is the way.
Mendalla
Comments
GordW
Posted on: 02/08/2011 14:36
I asm not sure about this, partly because I share your mixed feelings around the sacrament of confession (not the official name of the sacrament but I forget that).
Mind you I am also less than convinced that Jesus actually forgave sins. He may have simply told people they were forgiven, based on his understanding of God. He was accused of forgiving sins. But maybe it was a declaration of a pre-existent reality--which people misunderstood as actually doing the forgiving.
Mendalla
Posted on: 02/08/2011 14:49
When I was still in the UCCan, my family church included a Prayer of Confession/Assurance of Pardon in the Sunday liturgy. I've noticed that the confessional element is there but isn't as prominent in the UCCan church I've gone to in recent years and isn't set off as clearly. Is some kind of confession still part of the regular liturgy in UCCan churches? I, personally, think some kind of individual confession may be more meaningful than a rather generic collective one but I suppose it has its place.
Mendalla
GordW
Posted on: 02/08/2011 15:24
It would (of course) depend on the place and the people. SOme of my colleagues have a Prayer of Confession/Assurance of Pardon every week (and you never have one without the other btw--that would not be the message we want to send). Some of us have them 50-75% of the time. SOme almost never have them.
Whenever I write one i include a time of silent prayer because both collective and individual confession is important. Interestingly, the practice when I arrived here was to call it a Prayer for and Assurance of God's Grace Rather than using the Confession Language. Same prayer, different name. But the different name suggests a different emphasis.
When I was in my final year of seminary I was leading a Bible Study in the congregation where I was attending. One night we were talking about worship and one participant named that there are Sundays where he could leave after the Prayer of Confession and feel he had gotten what he needed that day. That made me rethink how often to have them.
LBmuskoka
Posted on: 02/09/2011 06:45
When I was in my final year of seminary I was leading a Bible Study in the congregation where I was attending. One night we were talking about worship and one participant named that there are Sundays where he could leave after the Prayer of Confession and feel he had gotten what he needed that day. That made me rethink how often to have them.
Perhaps it would be better to put them at the end
I confess - no pun intended - I too have found the Prayer of Confession/Assurance of Pardon the most meaningful part of some services. The really great days where when the Prayers/Pardons melded with the sermon so I would leave the church feeling deeply moved.
LB ....
forgive me fah'ther, its been 6 days since I last charged my device