What Does It Mean to Say “I Absolve You”?
by Gerhard Ludwig MüllerThe 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 First Responder
by Eve TushnetThe gripping film The Unknown Girl shows us a world where guilty people are desperate for the freedom granted by confession. Continue Reading »
In the Confessional Booth
by Brian DoyleSome 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 »
Our Canaanite Woman
by Mark BauerleinI 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 »
A Distinction without Discipline
by Dan HitchensIf 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 Pastoral Approach
by Rocco ButtiglioneA 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 »
Healing Through Repentance
by Robert A. Gahl, Jr.A response to Rocco Buttiglione’s reading of Amoris Laetitia. Continue Reading »
Confessions to Father Newman
by Brian Doyle“I would suggest that you not consider marriage again until you are at least ten years old.” Continue Reading »
Free Exercise, Penance, and Delaware Court
by John M. GrondelskiRegular 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 »
Hamlet the Confessor
by Kenneth ColstonTwo millennia ago, a Jewish rabbi declared that he had the authority to forgive sins or “send away mistakes” and transferred that authority to his closest followers. An early follower, Tertullian, called the action of repentance and forgiveness a “plank” for a “shipwrecked man.” The . . . . Continue Reading »
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