Spending one-on-one time with a priest in the confession booth used to be a weekly habit of devoted Catholics 40 years ago, but now the norm is attending communal penance services twice a year during the current Lent season and Advent before Christmas.
Some Catholics, however, are feeling the need for more individual face time, as the Rev. Jack Ryan of the Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish discovered a few weeks ago. He apparently hit a nerve when he offered to counsel those who hadn’t felt worthy enough to receive Holy Communion for a long time, he said in an interview.
"I had just an overwhelming response of people after Mass and people calling me up. It was incredible," he said. "A lot of them really wanted to go to confession but stayed away for various reasons."
As part of the international Year of Faith declared by the Catholic Church, Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva asked that his parishes extend their hours and provide extra priests to hear confessions for Lent, the six-week period of fasting and penitence before Easter, Ryan said.
"We have a special place in our hearts for those who may feel alienated from the church. A lot of people find their way back to the church here at Newman," Ryan said, adding that outreach to students is a key part of the ministry. His congregation numbers more than 600 at four weekend services next to the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus.
Confession, which usually precedes receiving Holy Communion (consecrated bread and wine), requires deep contrition and a sincere intention to make amends for one’s sins. But people who are unable to rectify their problems should still stay close to God and consult a priest, he said. As an example, many who met with Ryan were worried about the legalities of their marriage status or living arrangements; some mistakenly thought people who were divorced could not receive Communion, he said.
"A lot of times people find out that they can work things out," Ryan said. "All of us are imperfect, but if someone comes in need of help, it is my role to do everything I can so they can have a deep relationship with Jesus. That’s what it’s all about; it’s love and forgiveness.
"The priest is not there as a judge; the priest is there as a healer, to communicate the love of God. The most wonderful experience for me as a priest is just helping someone take a big burden off their shoulders.
"The Eucharist/Communion is not a reward for being good; it’s a strength along the journey," Ryan said. "If you had to be perfect to go to Communion, none of us would be there. First of all, we don’t refuse Communion to anyone. In 36 years as a priest, there was only one time I refused to give Communion to someone, (and he was) absolutely drunk."
Communal services to fulfill the sacrament of penance or reconciliation became the norm for the two main celebrations of the year — Lent and Advent — after a decision by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, Ryan said. They were a more efficient way to serve a large number of people at one time, with homilies that primed parishioners to face their sins and narrow down the specifics for confession and absolution from a priest, according to various Catholic websites.
Extra priests would be recruited to hear hurried confessions after the service, spending only a few minutes with each person, and the regimentation eventually "sapped the penitential spirit of large numbers of parishioners," the Rev. Joseph A. Hughes wrote in an article on www.catholicculture.org.
Ryan said when people stopped going to confession every week or two, many ended up "carrying burdens for years, and it’s amazing, when you don’t tell someone about it, you can really build it up." Anger and bitterness created a stumbling block that only reconciliation and forgiveness can remove — "they gotta let go of it, or they’ll never be happy in life," he said. "That’s what sacraments are all about: helping people experience God’s forgiveness and to let go some of their burdens. … It’s very, very powerful."
In the Feb. 15 issue of the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Vicar General the Rev. Gary Secor explained why priests are a conduit to God: "It is true that we can pray to God directly for forgiveness. But it helps to be able to verbalize to someone in person our sins since it helps clarify them and also provides the opportunity to receive advice and support. Since we are human beings, when God wanted to save us, he sent a human being who is also God: Jesus Christ. So God offers a human face to forgiveness in the human person of the priest."
