Reconciliation
Part 5 The Ritual: Chapter One
Chapter 51 Rite for Reconciliation of Individual Penitents
Preliminary QuestionsBibliography |
Variations of Rite One |
To Think About |
Preliminary Questions
Sacraments: Celebrations of Lived Experiences Contemporary approaches to the sacraments tell us that sacraments
"happen first
to the whole community". (Gula p 75) "In sacraments, we celebrate our experience already begun and, in
this way, deepen that experience by bringing it to a new level of
expression." [Gula p 44] Apply this statement to each of the seven
sacraments. Does it apply equally well to the sacrament of
reconciliation? "The practice of sacramental confession is a good example.
Confession has been plagued throughout its history with a narrow
legalism that turns the celebration of God’s mercy into a kind of
coldly clinical legal pardon for un-obeyed prescriptions. The decline
of this sacrament — which few people associate with festivity! — owes
much to our having recourse to it before some degree of
reconciliation or healing has taken place, and before the mercy of God
has been savored and experienced." The new Rite of Penance tries
to put the sacramental moment back into its correct context: "Faithful
Christians, as they experience and proclaim the mercy of God in
their lives, celebrate with the priest the liturgy by which the
church continually renews itself" (#11).
"Can Catholic people and their pastors reverse the trend of centuries,
and come to see the Sacrament of Reconciliation in this marvelously festive
way? I would urge that it cannot be done unless the people and their
confessors are firmly in touch with their own experience and stories. f I may paraphrase a saying of G. K. Chesterton, the
Sacrament of Reconciliation hasn’t failed; it mostly hasn’t been tried.
If legalism is one fruit of a sacrament’s becoming detached from its
natural cycle, the magical attitude toward sacraments is another.
(Tad Guzie. The Book of Sacramental Basics, pp
19-20.)
How often do you use the Rite for Reconciliation of Individual Penitents? Are your spiritual director and your confessor the same person? Why or why not? When you are seeing your spiritual director, do you also on that occasion go to confession? If were pastor of a parish, how many times during the course of a year do you think the active Catholics in your parish should celebrate the sacrament?
Bibliography
Rite of Penance. Introduction, especially numbers 15-21; and Chapter I, numbers 41-47.
Stasiak, Kurt. A Confessor‘s Handbook. New York: Paulist Press. 1999. $11.95. ISBN 0-8091-3914-6
The bishops of Pennsylvania (February 2002) published "A Guide to the Sacrament of Penance" which is available at http://www.pacatholic.org/bishops'%20statements/penance.htm
Gula, Richard M., S.S. To Walk Together Again.
Kennedy, Robert J. "The Rite for Reconciliation of Individual Penitents: Celebration of the Church" in Kennedy, pp 131-142.
Variations of Rite One
When we first studied the Rite for Reconciliation we saw that there are many "variations" on the sacrament today. Review: Forms (16) of the Rite of Reconciliation in Current Use
Note: Forms A-E are not distinct forms but are a continuum; the confessor must be skilled in adjusting and modifying his pastoral response to fit the needs of the penitent. In this course we will practice Forms B, C, and D. Form B is what you will, perhaps, most often experience in a parish on a typical Saturday afternoon. In your practicum I will present form C.
To Think About
1. The current ritual presents three rites for the Sacrament of Penance. What values are emphasized and what values are neglected in each rite?
2. Every rite possesses structure and elements. Name the structure and elements of rite one of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
3. Would you allow a couple or a family to come to you to celebrate reconciliation together? [That is, would you allow more than one person to celebrate Rite One and one time?] Why or why not?
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