Readers may be acquainted with the old saw about “lies, damn lies, and statistics.” But whether or not we put much stock in the statistics generated by sociologists and their polls, well known social and ecclesiastical trends would lend credence to the statistics I read in our local newspaper, which carried an article originally appearing in The Record of Hackensack, N.J., “Catholic Church and faithful see confession in a new light”:
Decades ago, most Catholics confessed their sins regularly to a priest at church. Now, just 2 percent of Catholics do so once a month or more often, according to a 2008 survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University [CARA].
About 26 percent of Catholics say they participate at least once a year; 30 percent say they go less than once a year, and 45 percent say they never go at all.
The original CARA study was based on a poll that “surveyed 1,007 self-identified adult Catholics in the United States” and “has a margin of sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points.”
The two percent that are go once a month or more often are part of the 26 percent that go once a year. If you add that 26 percent to the 30 that go less than once a year and the 45 that never go at all, you have 101 percent, so there has been some rounding off somewhere. And let us not forget the margin of error.
Assuming the poll’s accuracy within the norms of such studies, what are its ramifications?
In the old Canon Law, there was an excommunication for someone who missed his Easter Duty of receiving Holy Communion. Since that code also mandated that a sacrilegious communion did not satisfy the Easter duty, it consequently made sacramental confession an annual obligation, under pain of excommunication, for someone in the state of mortal sin.
About this, the Catechism of the Council of Trent says:
Lest any be kept away from Communion by the fear that the requisite preparation is too hard and laborious, the faithful are frequently to be reminded that they are all bound to receive the Holy Eucharist. Furthermore, the Church has decreed that whoever neglects to approach Holy Communion once a year, at Easter, is liable to sentence of excommunication.
As the CARA study claims, “Three-quarters of Catholics report that they never participate in the sacrament of Reconciliation or that they do so less than once a year.” If the old Canon Law were now in effect, 75 percent of self-identified Catholics in the United States would find themselves excommunicated every year, with only 30 percent of them remedying that situation some time in the next year. The other 45, who never bother going to confession at all, would not remedy the excommunication at all.
But the point of that law was not to be draconian and evil. Remember that excommunication is primarily intended to be medicinal in nature, not merely punitive. (This is what Deitrich von Hildebrand called “The Charitable Anathema.”) That missing one’s Easter Duty of Communion (and often, of confession) would actually excommunicate someone from the Church was intended to bring to people’s minds that they were playing Russian Roulette with their souls if they kept aloof from Christ’s saving sacraments.
The current 1983 Code (Can. 920) does not make the omission of the Easter Duty an excommunicatable offense.
Whether or not they find themselves excommunicated, their persistence in grave sin while refusing to avail themselves of the remedy instituted by Christ has its effects — and they are dreadful. It cannot be proven by the sociological methodology of CARA, but, for someone with the Faith, the most obvious and tragic ramification of the reality behind these statistics is the loss of immortal souls.
Those who obstinately refuse to avail themselves of the Sacrament of Penance cannot be remitted of their grave sins with an act of perfect contrition, for such an act implies the willingness to confess. Refusal to confess is an obstacle to forgiveness. True, we do not know that those 75 percent have all committed grave sin, but given the widespread laxism of the day (82 percent of American Catholics say that contraception is morally acceptable and only about a quarter attend Mass on a weekly basis), it would be a bit naïve of us to assume otherwise.
Knowing full well that God’s Providence is not limited by the laws of probability and the statistics provided by CARA, we are still left with the sorrowful prospect that a majority of our own Catholic brothers and sisters are in perilous danger of the loss of their eternal souls because they persist in grave sin while rejecting the God-given remedy to that condition.
This suggests to us one very concrete way of being a missionary in America: to remind Catholics of the necessity of confession. We cannot count on the clergy to do this. Lay apostles must come to the Church’s aid
For this purpose, here are some talking points.
- Jesus instituted this great Sacrament Himself, as is recorded in John 20:21-23.
- This passage has been interpreted by Christians of subsequent ages to refer to the office of priests to forgive sins in the Sacrament of Penance. (See here, too.)
- The Council of Trent infallibly taught the truth about the Sacrament in the face of the Protestant heresy.
- Contrary to the false claims of many heretical members of the clergy, the Church still mandates confession. Indeed, she cannot change this, since it is of Divine Foundation. Here is the way current Church law states the necessity of Sacramental Confession: “Can. 988 §1 The faithful are bound to confess, in kind and in number, all grave sins committed after baptism, of which after careful examination of conscience they are aware, which have not yet been directly pardoned by the keys of the Church, and which have not been confessed in an individual confession. §2 The faithful are recommended to confess also venial sins.”
- Most “group confessions” or “reconciliation services” are invalid. Unless it is an emergency, general absolution given to a group of people who have not individually confessed their sins is invalid. If there is a real emergency and the faithful thus absolved survive, the requirement to confess their sins individually remains. (See Canons 960-963 of the Code of Canon Law.)
- All that a penitent needs to bring to the confessional are his sins to confess (confession), a true sorrow for his sins accompanied by a firm purpose of amendment (contrition), and the willingness to carry out (and to actually carry out) the penance he is given by the priest (satisfaction). Again, one’s sins, along with confession, contrition, and satisfaction, are all that is required of the penitent. More specifics — including a detailed examination of conscience — are provided in Fisheater’s excellent guide to Confession.
- Some helpful articles on the subject include The Mass and Confession Explained to Protestants, Saint Alphonsus’ Sermon on True Penitence, and — concerning the related “virtue of penance,” my own little Lenten reflection: Let Us Do Penance.
- Among the numerous good books on confession are Confession: A Little Book for the Reluctant, and Tempered Optimism and the Grace of Confession.
God’s justice is offended by sin. (God hates sin.) By sin, He is denied His rights, and the tribute of praise and glory that He ought to receive from His creatures is diminished. In addition, scandal often occurs to our neighbor by our sins. But the Mercy of God has given us a remedy. The honor and glory of God are vindicated by Penance, His justice satisfied, our neighbor edified, and — more immediately — our own personal burden of sin is removed. And all this by the power of the Holy Cross, which is our only hope.
This is a ripe field for the lay apostolate. Surely we who are not priests cannot administer the sacrament. Not being shepherds, we can still be “sheep dogs,” who try to direct the wandering sheep back to the fold, where the shepherds will tend to them. In fact, when the priest encourages confession, the erring soul might think his activity is motivated by self interest, as if the priest himself is an interested party with something to gain. In such cases, the witness of the layman can be more effective. All the more reason to equip yourself for this valuable apostolate.
Need an incentive? “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).
Not a bad promise.
