You Go First
In every Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC during Lent you can go to Confession on Wednesday evening from around 6:30-8pm. It's a campaign they are doing every year advertised in a campaign they stole from Motel 6 or 8 (a French owned parent company by the way) saying they will leave the light on for you.
I confess I have had mixed results with Confession and generally don't approve of the policy- while I know I need prayer to get over that sentiment. I much prefer just talking to any priest I trust. On the whole its generally a good idea but I am not convinced you need to do it to a "Priest." Your mother, your best friend, or better yet, the person you think you may have offended might be just as good. There goes my Presbyterian roots showing. The Catholic world believes it is imperative that a "priest" be the confessor because they are supposed to be (*cough*) more holy. Some truly are-Some are not. Some are smarter than you. Some are not. Some have better spiritual intelligence than you, some do not. Some are 12 when it comes to understanding women's emotional construction. They dismiss anything they can't understand from an emotional perspective as too earthly minded and missing the mark of heaven-sounds good. They have a distorted view of all sexuality generally, they have not experienced successful intimate relationships for the most part and so wouldn't know how to conduct themselves in one if the blessed mother asked them for coffee, they justify all their own sins and want you to tell them yours.
Sometimes the confessor replies "where is the sin in that-sounds like just a bit of dubious judgment." Sometimes they say "sounds like you are looking more for counselling, see the spiritual director" sometimes they just want to probe you for more information- because they take notes and prisoners. I have often wondered if there was a bug and secret mike in the box.
The good ones will ask you to pray for them- because they need it as much as you do and they know it. The bad ones will make you feel exposed like you never should have befriended them in the first place. The really bad ones insist you need to go to confession when they can't see the logs in their own eye and want you to grovel to justify their own stupidity and insensitivity. All types exist. They are just people- they are ALL men.
So my recommendation- Dear Abbey might help you solve your problems quicker. The biblical command to "Confess your sins one to another" doesn't mean just the guys with the white pin on collars, and the best policy for making amends is actually fixing the issue with the person you think is upset with you (something often priests never think to tell people to do.) The right to bind or release sins is really for Jesus to do and protestants maintain it isn't a corporate right of the church hierarchy- It is a right invested in all believers.
I know I will get in trouble for this post, but I don't recommend attaching your psyche to the mesh square of a dark box when you haven't seen the emotional resume of the person on the other side. He could be a serial emotional adulterer for all you know- everything but the sex.
In every Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC during Lent you can go to Confession on Wednesday evening from around 6:30-8pm. It's a campaign they are doing every year advertised in a campaign they stole from Motel 6 or 8 (a French owned parent company by the way) saying they will leave the light on for you.
I confess I have had mixed results with Confession and generally don't approve of the policy- while I know I need prayer to get over that sentiment. I much prefer just talking to any priest I trust. On the whole its generally a good idea but I am not convinced you need to do it to a "Priest." Your mother, your best friend, or better yet, the person you think you may have offended might be just as good. There goes my Presbyterian roots showing. The Catholic world believes it is imperative that a "priest" be the confessor because they are supposed to be (*cough*) more holy. Some truly are-Some are not. Some are smarter than you. Some are not. Some have better spiritual intelligence than you, some do not. Some are 12 when it comes to understanding women's emotional construction. They dismiss anything they can't understand from an emotional perspective as too earthly minded and missing the mark of heaven-sounds good. They have a distorted view of all sexuality generally, they have not experienced successful intimate relationships for the most part and so wouldn't know how to conduct themselves in one if the blessed mother asked them for coffee, they justify all their own sins and want you to tell them yours.
Sometimes the confessor replies "where is the sin in that-sounds like just a bit of dubious judgment." Sometimes they say "sounds like you are looking more for counselling, see the spiritual director" sometimes they just want to probe you for more information- because they take notes and prisoners. I have often wondered if there was a bug and secret mike in the box.
The good ones will ask you to pray for them- because they need it as much as you do and they know it. The bad ones will make you feel exposed like you never should have befriended them in the first place. The really bad ones insist you need to go to confession when they can't see the logs in their own eye and want you to grovel to justify their own stupidity and insensitivity. All types exist. They are just people- they are ALL men.
So my recommendation- Dear Abbey might help you solve your problems quicker. The biblical command to "Confess your sins one to another" doesn't mean just the guys with the white pin on collars, and the best policy for making amends is actually fixing the issue with the person you think is upset with you (something often priests never think to tell people to do.) The right to bind or release sins is really for Jesus to do and protestants maintain it isn't a corporate right of the church hierarchy- It is a right invested in all believers.
I know I will get in trouble for this post, but I don't recommend attaching your psyche to the mesh square of a dark box when you haven't seen the emotional resume of the person on the other side. He could be a serial emotional adulterer for all you know- everything but the sex.
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