Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!samsung!rex!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: conan@twinkies.berkeley.edu (David Cruz-Uribe) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Sin and Reconciliation Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 91 08:51:06 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department. Lines: 46 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) writes: >During Sunday school, we talked about confessing our sins during prayer. >One of the topics that came up in this regard was what is sin. Several >folks saw sin as being the specific acts that we do that are wrong. A >few said that sin is what motivates us to do what we do. One person >pointed out that you can do good for all the wrong reasons and felt that >this was as much sin as doing something like stealing. I'd like to start a tangent from this discussion. Next month, I am giving a talk in my parish on penance and the (Catholic) sacrament of reconcilation (formerly known as the sacrament of penance / confession). As you may or may not know, this is one of the least utilized sacraments in the Catholic Church today. I am not so arrogant as to believe I can reverse this trend single-handedly; I would be satisfied if I could come to understand forgiveness and reconciliation better myself, and then share this with others. I would appreciate a variety of perspectives, both Catholic and non-Catholic. You can either post them, or e-mail them to the address below. If there is any interest, I will post my talk, or an outline of it, next month. Thank you in advance, Yours in Christ, David Cruz-Uribe, SFO e-mail: conan@math.berkeley.edu [This seems consistent with Protestant experience. Of course most Protestants never had confession, but I think in many ways confession was analogous to what Protestants call "church discipline". They both are based on the concept that the church is responsible for guiding members in their relationship with God. Beginning in the 18th Cent., at least in the U.S., it became increasingly difficult to get most congregations to accept church discipline. Some groups still practice it, but I think it's unusual. Although this isn't quite the same thing as the Catholic sacrament, I think the general congregational desire to avoid detailed clerical supervision of their lives is the same. It's hard to carry out church discipline without being perceived as being either busybodies or people interested in control. It can be done -- my home church recently used church disipline with a church employee and really seems to have helped a difficult situation. But most Americans just aren't prepared to accept it. To resist this tendency, I would think it would require very well-trained clegy, informed lay involvement in setting the groundrules, and very careful congregational education. --clh]