The Secrets of the Confessional
by Francesca Aran MurphyAt the heart of Catholicism is an experience—the experience of active and personal grace in the sacrament of reconciliation. Continue Reading »
At the heart of Catholicism is an experience—the experience of active and personal grace in the sacrament of reconciliation. Continue Reading »
The sacrament of reconciliation must remain a visible, objective sign of grace—despite those who wish to turn it into a mere subjective reality. Continue Reading »
The gripping film The Unknown Girl shows us a world where guilty people are desperate for the freedom granted by confession. Continue Reading »
Some time ago I was in a confessional booth whenThere was a moment I never experienced before orSince. It was a lovely terrible haunting moment andI continue to think there was something wonderfullyHoly about it. We’d paused in our conversation, thePriest and me, and then he covered his face with . . . . Continue Reading »
I made my first confession last month, and it was easier than I expected. Not that I enjoyed recalling misdeeds from 2010, or that I wasn’t nervous when I stepped away from the parishioners in the middle of Mass that morning in St. Vincent Ferrer and entered the dark quiet of the confessional. But . . . . Continue Reading »
If Crosby’s reform were enacted, priests would have to judge the souls of their flock. The remarried would be divided into those whose lives have a Dostoevskian tragic resonance, and those who are merely “common adulteresses.” This cruel charade would collapse before it began. Continue Reading »
A father knows he should be at times severe and at times merciful, if he wants to educate his son and accompany him toward full human and Christian maturity. Continue Reading »
A response to Rocco Buttiglione’s reading of Amoris Laetitia. Continue Reading »
“I would suggest that you not consider marriage again until you are at least ten years old.” Continue Reading »
Regular First Things readers know that the late Father Richard John Neuhaus never tired of arguing that the First Amendment contains not two religion clauses but one: “no establishment” and “free exercise” are not two free-floating provisions at occasional loggerheads with each other but . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things