By Deirdre Cox Baker |
(Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times) The Rev. Anthony Farrell of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Davenport hears confession anonymously or face to face. The Sacrament of Reconciliation was developed by the church in 1215, according to Farrell, who previously taught at the University of Notre Dame. He said early Catholics used to take both communion and confession once a year with an emphasis on communion.
Church-going Catholics don't go to confession very often anymore.
"People just don't stand in line at confession like they used to," said Monsignor John Hyland, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport.
"It is an indication that probably we've lost a sense of the meaning of sin," he said. "Some have the opinion that they don't need to confess to priests, they can do it themselves to the Lord in prayer."
Hard statistics are not widely available, but Hyland thinks that trends in church attendance are tied to the decline in the use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation — a more formal term for confession.
The Gallup Poll tracked church attendance from 1939 to 2003, and it showed 74 percent of Catholics attended Mass once a week in 1957-58, while the number attending with that frequency had dropped to 40 percent by 2003.
About 42 percent of Catholics in 2005 said they chose never to participate in confession, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Just 2 percent participate once a month or more, and 26 percent go at least once a year.
Catholics in this area see the practice as restorative, especially during the Lenten season.
"It's a source of support and help, a way to heal," said Dolores Craff, Davenport, who regularly attends services at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
"It's a way to take yourself out of the darkness," agreed her friend, Daisy Newberry, also of Davenport.
The whole religious agenda for Advent and Lent is to move away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel, said the Rev. Mike Spiekermeier of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Davenport.
Although Catholics don't use Confession in the way they used to, he said, "you find a lot of people using it another way."
This sacrament was developed by the church in 1215, according to the Rev. Anthony Farrell of St. Mary's Catholic Church, Davenport. Farrell, who previously taught at the University of Notre Dame, said early Catholics used to take both Communion and Confession once a year, with an emphasis on communion.
In the early 1900s, Farrell said, Pope Pius changed church law to allow a child's first Communion at age 7, and to offer it every week and pair it with Confession in an effort to involve more young people in the church.
"People ultimately found that each week was a little too much for Confession," Farrell said.
Confession is required of those Catholics who commit serious sin, according to Hyland, noting the church recommends the practice more frequently to receive the grace that it includes.
Serious sin may be defined by a serious offense against one of the Ten Commandants or "when one has grievously hurt others with anger, vengeance, greed or selfishness," Hyland said.
Lines for Confession do grow longer as Easter approaches. Two priests are now hearing Confessions at both St. Mary's and St. Paul's, and the sacrament is widely advertised in church bulletins.
Special large "communal penance services" are scheduled in various area churches as a convenience.
"These are pretty well attended, especially as the Lenten season is a time of spiritual renewal and reflection," Hyland said.
Mary Ann Chouteau of Davenport thinks that the former practice of Catholics attending weekly Confession was unrealistic and not supported by historic church practices.
"It almost got too common and too much emphasis on minor faults and failings," she said.
Confession is a solace to Craff.
"Just to hear someone else tell you, `You are forgiven,' that's a comfort," she said.