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<\/a> In the hush of a warm afternoon, Father Larry Solan waits for sinners. <\/p>\nThe veteran priest sets aside a half-hour every Saturday to hear the failings of his flock at St. Mark Catholic Church. On a typical week, he sees two penitents, perhaps three. Some weeks, no one comes.<\/p>\n
Today, Solan waits 10 minutes, 20. <\/p>\n
Two little boys take a bench in the lobby, bowing their heads over a bag of crackers as they wait for afternoon Mass. Their parents chat with friends. Still, Solan’s confessional is empty.<\/p>\n
Confession is not what it used to be in the Roman Catholic Church; cultural and theological shifts have pushed the age-old sacrament aside. In the mid-1960s, 38% of Catholics said they went to confession at least once a month. These days, just 2% do. More than 40% never go.<\/p>\n
Church leaders have tried to revive interest in the sacrament with tactics as varied as radio ads (this spring in Washington, D.C.) and a strip-mall chapel dedicated solely to confessions (a few doors down from a tanning salon in Albany, N.Y.). More priests are also doing away with the traditional wooden confession booth in favor of relaxed, face-to-face encounters.<\/p>\n
Outside the Catholic church too, the rite of confession is being reshaped, this time by Protestant megachurch pastors who see the ritual as a self-help tool for the lost and lonely — and a marketing opportunity for themselves.<\/p>\n
Click over to IveScrewedUp.com, and a black-and-white, Goth-tattoo-style graphic bursts onto the screen. You’re invited to type in a description of your sins, along with your age and hometown. Click “send” and it’s done; you’ve confessed — to the webmaster of Flamingo Road Church, a Florida congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n
“I’m a patholgical liar. About everything. To everyone.”<\/p>\n
“I have a compulsive shopping disorder, I spend way too much money on dresses.”<\/p>\n
“I constantly smoke marijuana while I am supposed to be looking for a job. . .”<\/p>\n
“I’ve slept with 11 guys and only 1 of them I actually loved.”<\/p>\n
“just been a jerk”<\/p>\n
The confessions are screened for obscenities or identifying information (but not for typos), then posted for all to read. They fill page after page. Some are wry; some are frightening; many are so sad. Some writers are curt and achingly precise. Others type on and on, as though pounding years of pain into their keyboards.<\/p>\n
“A friend of mine was shot and killed last weekend, by a black guy. I’ve always been a bit racist, despite the fact that I knew a few very nice, caring, chrisitan black people. But now that this has happened, I feel like I’ve just lost all respect for them. . . . I really need strength to be able to forgive.”<\/p>\n
Though they write anonymously, many sinners ask for help — from God, or from a stranger who might see their posting and pray for them. <\/p>\n
“It does break your heart,” said Flamingo Road pastor Troy Gramling. He and his staff pray over every confession.<\/p>\n
“It makes you realize, even in line at Starbucks there are so many hurting people,” Gramling said. “We all get really good at wearing masks.” <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The link goes on to explore some of the websites. I’m reminded of something a parishioner asked me a couple weeks ago after mass: “You ever think of having confession over the phone?,” he asked, earnestly. <\/p>\n
Meantime — and totally off-subject — when I saw the picture of the priest from the LA Times above, my first reaction was: what’s up with the blue vestment? What liturgical season is blue? <\/p>\n
Photo: Fr. Larry Solan, by Carmel Zucker, Los Angeles Times <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Confession isn’t quite what it used to be. These days, it’s more apt to be known as “reconciliation,” and the long lines of penitents on a Saturday evening have dwindled to only the most devout (or, some priests will tell you, disturbed.) The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the power of the penitential…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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