Catholics and Confession

“When I was 7, 8 or 9 years old,” she said, “I found myself repeating the same sins over and over to the priest. It seemed to me they weren’t really sins but simply human nature. On the other hand, if I did something really serious, the guilt alone would drive me to confession.”

This quote is taken from an article by Ed Conroy, writer for the National Catholic Reporter, featured on Catholic Online about the decline in numbers of American Catholics participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. From this quote it seems that there must be some kind of warped view on what it means to be human. This woman said the sins she was confessing as a child did not seem sinful, but human. Sin is part of our human weakness, not our nature of inherent goodness as children of God. The pitfalls that seem to be part of our "human nature" are really those small sins into which it is easiest to fall. We have the blessed gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and we receive abundant graces from it to help us combat these sins in the future in addition to forgiveness we receive in the first place.

The article goes on to explain that one of the biggest reasons Catholics cite for their staying away from confession is ". . . the feeling they said that confession gave them [was that of] of being trapped within personal weaknesses, always guilty, always in need of forgiveness." It is exactly the opposite that is true. Without the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are ". . . trapped within personal weaknesses, always guilty, always in need of forgiveness." The focus of the sacrament is not the sins of the faithful, but the restoration of the human to a level of dignity appropriate to a child of God. Humans cannot be fully realized without purity of heart and soul, which is exactly what the sacrament helps us to attain. Now more than ever our world needs a renewed sense of purity, a complete conversion of the heart. Let that begin with Catholics worldwide, beginning with an increased participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The abovementioned article can be found at the following URL:
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=22951