Also read "Human Cruelty" by Hayden Carruth
As I am not Catholic, I have no experience going to a confession. But it is something I find myself thinking about often. A place you can go and tell all your secrets to, and then they tell you that you are forgiven. How do you know this person will keep your secrets? How do you know that they aren't telling them? As in this short story I picture an old man sitting in robes, getting bored by sitting there all day listening to people's lives.Who do the priests go to when they need to confess? Although as a priest I suppose you aren't supposed to sin, but if they do, who do they go to? Do they go to another church? I often wonder if priest judge those who go to confession.
I grew up Catholic, and I detest confession. I would skip it every time they brought in priests and corralled us into the chapel. Even when I had to go in grade school, I never said anything of substance, just (poorly) rehearsed lines and mantras. It was like a small play for me, and I was disassociated from the words and the meaning behind them.
ReplyDeletePriests confess to other priests.
I grew up Catholic as well and I didn't really detest confession like ML but it was more that I didn't really understand it and frankly I was never really sure what to say--of course I sinned but you don't have enough time to say everything when there are students lined up behind you (this is how we did it in catholic school). As ML says priests confess to other priests and they are bound by God and their vocation not to tell anyone's confession and it helps that they don't have wives to go home to at the end of the day to accidentally blurt something out. I'm likely going to connect somewhat with this piece. I wonder to if the priests judge, I always thought they must--of course they aren't supposed to but they're human, doesn't that just happen?
ReplyDeleteEven though I'm not Catholic, I have thought about going to confession, just to see what it's all about. I think it is human nature to judge people. I try not to do it, but it seems so natural. Thank you both for your feedback, I had asked one of my friends who is Catholic about this as well and he gave me the same response.
ReplyDeleteI was not raised Catholic either. The only glimpse into a confession (and I'm sure a distorted view of them) has been on television and in movies, where it usually is humorous. In fact, the last time I saw a confession scene was in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Anyway, the concept always seemed odd to me: confessing your sins to another sinner, but only he has the unique bestowed power to forgive you. I feel that forced confession (like Mary said happens in Catholic school) is completely pointless and ends up diminishing the importance of apology and forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteGood conversation here.
ReplyDeleteI like where you went with your post Kayla. Writing a mini-essay inspired by the essay you read. Any chance you could give a small summary and a small snippet of the language from it too?
DW