Of Daniel 3 and Golden Statues

Posted on 2 May 2026 by catholicsensibility

Ohio artist Alan Cottrill created a 15-foot-tall bronze and gold statue of Donald Trump, transported it to Miami and installed it at the Trump National Doral golf resort. Cottrill held the artwork until he received full payment from a crypto group that commissioned it.When I saw the story and pictures, my thoughts went to Daniel 3:1-6. Grass to fist is twenty-two feet–not quite Nebuchadnezzar heights, but impressive enough.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue made, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, which he set up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then ordered the satraps, prefects, and governors, the counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the officials of the provinces to be summoned to the dedication of the statue which he had set up. The satraps, prefects, and governors, the counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the officials of the provinces came together for the dedication and stood before the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. A herald cried out: “Nations and peoples of every language, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, double-flute, and all the other musical instruments, you must fall down and worship the golden statue which King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be instantly cast into a white-hot furnace.”

I read that PGA officials declined to pose in front of it. I had to wonder how many of them might end up in the white-hot furnace for that stance.

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BEM Baptism 11: Baptismal Practice

Posted on 2 May 2026 by catholicsensibility

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We come to a point of difference between Christians.

IV. BAPTISMAL PRACTICE

A. Baptism of Believers and Infants

11. While the possibility that infant baptism was also practiced in the apostolic age cannot be excluded, baptism upon personal profession of faith is the most clearly attested pattern in the New Testament documents.

It is important to refrain from unproven criticisms in particular cases. Some Christian parents do not baptize their infants or children and cite that a later decision–in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood–is appropriate. Young people raised in such homes absorb Christian values more from watching the practice of adults, rather than the fact of being baptized.

As for infant baptism, that practice can be grounded in faith and trust. It can also turn into a badge of membership in which subsequent sacraments are less a part of a spiritual journey, and more the markers of physical or intellectual achievement.

Catholics, of course, ascribe a supernatural character as part of the state of being baptized. It goes beyond original sin.

In the course of history, the practice of baptism has developed in a variety of forms. Some churches baptize infants brought by parents or guardians who are ready, in and with the Church, to bring up the children in the Christian faith. Other churches practice exclusively the baptism of believers who are able to make a personal confession of faith.

A middle way:

Some of these churches encourage infants or children to be presented and blessed in a service which usually involves thanksgiving for the gift of the child and also the commitment of the mother and father to Christian parenthood.

I remember a candidate for Full Communion who believed herself baptized and raised Protestant. When documentation from her parents’ church arrived, she had been blessed as an infant, not baptized. For many casual Christians, there might seem to be no difference between baptism, christening, blessing, or other various wordings of Baby’s First Church Outing.

All churches baptize believers coming from other religions or from unbelief who accept the Christian faith and participate in catechetical instruction.

And for Roman Catholics, this ordinarily means the Order of Christian Initiation.

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, the Faith and Order Paper no. 111 of the World Council of Churches is Copyright © 1982 World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Link available on this page.

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Synod Report on Women in the Church 8: The Essential Contribution of Women

Posted on 2 May 2026 by catholicsensibility

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Some might consider Christianity a male-dominated religion, but this is a naive reading, even if we just consider authority situations.

The Essential Contribution of Women

8. The New Testament and the two-thousand-year history of the Church bear witness to the essential contribution of women to the evangelizing mission of the Christian community.

Despite all the press it gets, the governing bodies of the Church are secondary to our mission of finding and making disciples.

This is well summarized in the paragraph already cited from the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality: “Scripture attests to the prominent role of many women in the history of salvation. One woman, Mary Magdalene, was entrusted with the first proclamation of the Resurrection. On the day of Pentecost, Mary, the Mother of God, was present, accompanied by many other women who had followed the Lord. It is important that the Scripture passages that relate these stories find adequate space inside liturgical lectionaries.

One important story is read on the Third Sunday of Lent, year A. The chopping of Lois and Eunice in two out of three Lectionary spots for the first verses of 2 Timothy 1 seems like an easy one to correct.

Crucial turning points in Church history confirm the essential contribution of women moved by the Spirit. Women make up the majority of churchgoers and are often the first witnesses to the faith in families. They are active in the life of small Christian communities and parishes. They run schools, hospitals and shelters. They lead initiatives for reconciliation and promoting human dignity and social justice. Women contribute to theological research and are present in positions of responsibility in Church institutions, in diocesan curia and the Roman Curia. There are women who hold positions of authority and are leaders of their communities.”

All true. It is often cited that in the US, the deeper one goes into the vector of Sunday Mass, daily Mass, first time volunteers, committed parishioners, leaders and into staff one finds more and more lay women compared to lay men. In every lay professional association I’ve been a member, I’ve always been a minority.

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858334 Gioacchinopecci

Posted on 1 May 2026 by catholicsensibility

ImageRecognize the name? It’s a recent asteroid discovery by Lithuanian astronomer Kazimieras Černis and Vatican Observatory astronomer Father Richard P. Boyle.

Gioacchino was the baptismal name of Pope Leo XIII, now the third of three popes who have lent a name to a minor planet. The prior asteroid was number 560974, given the original name of Pope Gregory XIII, Ugoboncompagni. You may recall he lent his regnal name to the calendar revision of 1582.

The third pope was Benedict XVI, so honored because he opened the Vatican Archives in 1998 so that scholars could research the case against Galileo. Look in the records for 8661 Ratzinger.

It probably doesn’t look like the fake image above, but I needed some illustration.

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BEM Baptism 10: Baptismal Responsibility

Posted on 1 May 2026 by catholicsensibility

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10. As they grow in the Christian life of faith, baptized believers demonstrate that humanity can be regenerated and liberated. They have a common responsibility, here and now, to bear witness together to the Gospel of Christ, the Liberator of all human beings.

Membership may have privileges, as the motto tells, but even if we see Christianity as country club membership, we still have responsibilities. Perhaps it is a gradual awakening, even if we began half asleep. Or in infancy.

The context of this common witness is the Church and the world. Within a fellowship of witness and service, Christians discover the full significance of the one baptism as the gift of God to all God’s people. Likewise, they acknowledge that baptism, as a baptism into Christ’s death, has ethical implications which not only call for personal sanctification, but also motivate Christians to strive for the realization of the will of God in all realms of life (Romans 6:9ff; Galatians 3:27-28; 1 Peter 2:21-4:6).

The limit of virtue is not the single self, but also an active life, grounded in God’s will. If we see God’s will to spread holiness beyond ourselves, then the baptized of the world have a mighty task at hand, don’t we?

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, the Faith and Order Paper no. 111 of the World Council of Churches is Copyright © 1982 World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Link available on this page.

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Synod Report on Women in the Church 7: Below?

Posted on 1 May 2026 by catholicsensibility

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One problem in the church and in this document is the wording, “from below.”

7. The following considerations, drawn from the listening process, are now presented, thus privileging an approach “from below.”

Here, the institution presumes it is “above” lay people, including women. This is part of the problem. I prefer Pope Francis’ terminology of center and periphery.

As a lay person, I don’t consider myself “below” in the sense of my calling, or the pilgrimage to holiness or sainthood. But like many women, I have felt at the periphery of church activity. We aren’t below in the sense of getting stepped on, but we are often relegated to the sidelines, even when our expertise is needed for the larger mission.

Inspired by the principle that “realities are greater than ideas” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium 233) and taking into account both the witness of Scripture and recent magisterial teaching on the subject, particular attention will be given to the fact that “the Church’s history is a history of salvation” (ibid.). Keeping in view certain concrete experiences lived by the People of God—past and present—this reflection seeks to trace possible directions for development that may help define new spaces for the participation of women in the leadership of the Church.

Posted in synodality | 2 Comments

On My Bookshelf: The Water Will Come

Posted on 30 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized WorldThis is a very disturbing book. It might give rise to nightmares except for the science-deniers laughing it off –the ones who still think of the planet as a steady-state affair and that the annual instance of snowfall disproves climate change.

Written in 2017, it projects a hurricane putting Miami to death in 2037, swamped by sewage, cholera, and soaked, crumbling buildings. After that fictional account of the possible, the author takes us on a tour of vulnerable spots through the world, Venice, the Marshall Islands, New York City (believe it) before circling back to Miami.

Mr Goodell’s companions include scientists, but also notables such as Barack Obama trekking in Alaska and being all presidentially pragmatic. But I think he’s smart enough to know the surety of the world as we’ve known it is doomed.

One takeaway: the powers that be have neither brains, stomach, or nerve to do what might be done to curb warming. Mr Goodell suggests it goes against our evolutionary development to regard imminent threats as important and the long-term as something we can put off.

More expensive will be rebuilding after valuable coastline property gets flooded. Think New Orleans in 2006 times a few hundred. You know that if anything is going to be saved, sandbagged, walled off, or lifted up, it’s going to be the 1%. The ninety-nine will swim to the new shore. Cities will be triaged. If Wall Street is deemed more valuable than the Battery in South Carolina, so be it.

Given the likely long-term fallout from the US Trump Administration, I’m going to predict that we will have neither the money, nor the courage to mitigate carbon dioxide or build islands for communities on the coast. That leaves one option for the twenty-second century.

Defeat. I think the human race will lose the war against climate. And nearly everybody will retreat to high ground. New York, Boston, and Charleston will follow Miami. In the next century, plan to visit the new Venice of Europe: London. Wealthy humans will simply relocate, taking a hit to their investments. Everybody else will be refugees in their own country.

Sometimes, it’s just easier and cheaper to surrender. The victor isn’t a human or a country, so we can deceive ourselves into thinking “act of god.” Unless my nation develops some sort of charity to supercede its current divisions, I don’t think the last third of this century will be very pretty. But I’ll be long dead, no doubt. If the waters come for me then, my body won’t notice.

I recommend the book. But take it slowly.

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BEM Baptism 9: A Moment and a Life

Posted on 30 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

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Of course baptism is a memorable single experience. For those old enough to perceive it. A case for age of reason might be made if that were all it was.

Ideally, baptism spurs a continuing conversion to Christ, and a life that is marked by stages of conduct that is closer to the ideal of Christ. As the text of paragraph 9 observes, those stages are often marked by human struggle of drawing closer and getting lost.

9. Baptism is related not only to momentary experience, but to life-long growth into Christ. Those baptized are called upon to reflect the glory of the Lord as they are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, into his likeness, with ever increasing splendor (2 Corinthians 3:18). The life of the Christian is necessarily one of continuing struggle yet also of continuing experience of grace. In this new relationship, the baptized live for the sake of Christ, of his Church and of the world which he loves, while they wait in hope for the manifestation of God’s new creation and for the time when God will be all in all (Romans 8:18-24; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28, 49-57).

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, the Faith and Order Paper no. 111 of the World Council of Churches is Copyright © 1982 World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Link available on this page.

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More Slop

Posted on 30 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

Minnesota Orchestra FREE Tickets for Kids - Thrifty MinnesotaI stopped in at the slop thread at CMAA earlier today to see it has diverged from critiques of imagined “folk” music to imagined classical fare. It suggests to me that few of the commenters there (Liam as an exception) are directly exposed to folk music or classical music or contemporary sacred music. Some people operate from memory, and most of those, it seems, have an imagined world that has embittered them.

A pseudonymous comment on so-called high art:

Classical music is in deep trouble right now in the USA, and I would guess the rest of the Western world. The overlap between Classical music and traditional Sacred Music means that much of this trouble is going to arise if you attempt to force exclusively traditional Sacred Music on a congregation that hasn’t already self-sorted into the one destination trad parish in your local area.

I don’t think that classical music was ever out of trouble in the US, where there has never really been a culture of appreciation. And where the classics of Europe did take root among select ears, the American expressions were shown the door. In church music, I think of the marginalization of American originals like William Billings in favor of hymnody from Europe.

Classical music is facing the predictable consequences of destructive decisions made in the 1960s. The avant-garde embraced atonal music and orchestras started playing large chunks of music that charitably can be said to inspire the mind, not the heart,

When I was in college in the late 1970s, I attended many concerts at the Eastman School. Lots of twentieth century composers where I was exposed to music that was decidedly not atonal–Schwantner, Copland, Respighi, Holst. When I wanted music for the mind, as it were, I went to something in the Musica Nova series. But the same smaller venue also hosted a Brandenburg marathon one night, and I enjoyed that one too.

It seems that many music critics from the traditional hill are still living in the 60s, even a few who weren’t even born then.

My experience has always been positive, like here. where the dissonance was Baroque, the solo instrument was Asian, and the climax was out of this world.

Consequently, the general public stopped going to orchestra concerts.

I think there are a lot of reasons why attendance may be falling for some orchestra concerts. Some that would not surprise me:

  • Entitlement. The same feeling that many church musicians have, that their concerts and special music programming should be more popular than contemporary slop. And that people are idiots for not showing up.
  • Lack of marketing. If you don’t advertise your concert, people won’t know about it. If they don’t know about it, they won’t come. It doesn’t always happen like Kevin Costner’s Iowa ballfield. Perhaps you are doing a good job selling season tickets, in which case subscription folks might pick and choose when they attend.
  • Lack of outreach to schools, for the past two generations. One of my earliest memories was a fourth grade field trip to the symphony for a special afternoon concert.

I remember as a kid struggling to understand why our local orchestra programmed so much music from modern composers that I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy (I was blessed to have parents that frequently took me to orchestra concerts). I also remember hearing second hand weird comments that orchestra musicians thought Beethoven and the other old masters were passe, and viewed it as slumming it to program the stuff that brought in big audiences, like Beethoven’s 9th.

As with “slop,” my experience was somewhat the opposite. Perhaps American musicians question why we play Germans when we have composers from the New World.

Meanwhile, artists like Taylor Swift make money hand over fist selling out concert venues sometimes hours after ticket sales open.

Wrong argument. Ms Swift has a lot going for her. She is an exceptionally good songwriter who has tapped into people and their lives, especially females, of her generation and the one to come. The young miss (who is not a hardcore swiftie) said that she is so popular because she is “relevant.” People find what she sings about aligns with their personal experiences. That’s seems less than music for the mind and more for the heart. Though I suspect it is deeper than that.

She is also an entertainer–her shows, like many of those in popular music, have to do more than simply present the songs, take a bow, and count receipts. A concert today is an experience. People attend for more than the music. Has classical music caught up? There are ways it could catch up without costumes and dance routines.

That being said, I do recall a Halloween Pops concert with orchestra musicians dressed up, and a few extra pieces of entertainment added. It was fun. And the music, though mostly pops fare, was well executed.

If I were to offer a blanket criticism of some traditional church musicians and some aspects of classical music is that they aren’t serious. They think they deserve and audience and accolades, but have forgotten one must work for this. It’s a very modernist thing, when you think about it.

Posted in Commentary, Music | 1 Comment

Synod Report on Women in the Church 6: Local Analysis

Posted on 30 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

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As described here, local analysis makes sense, though I would wish that analysis was expanded to a local examination of conscience. Where have specific persons–especially bishops and pastors–committed serious offenses in employing women as professionals and as volunteer leaders? 

6. It must also not be overlooked that different situations depend on the cultural context in question, so that no single solution applicable to all contexts can be proposed. It is therefore necessary that the effort to achieve greater participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church be accompanied by specific analyses of local ecclesial contexts.

Liturgical musicians and publishers have begun to grapple with this, as they might. Women make up the majority of people involved in the ministry. They make up a fair percentage of directors, though I would guess in most dioceses a lower percentage than women in choirs. The percentage of published composers is smaller. Smallest of all might be leaders and bosses at publishing houses. Music ministry rates a serious self-examination. It is just one aspect of Church life that spills from an institutional level to the local parish.

This does not diminish, from a general perspective, the need to recognize that “women continue to encounter obstacles in obtaining a fuller recognition of their charisms, vocation, and place in the various areas of the Church’s life. This is to the detriment of serving the Church’s shared mission” (Synod Final Document 60). There is a risk that failure to listen to and address the present discomfort of many women could compromise the Church’s fidelity to her mission.

The risk is real and it’s happening today.

Posted in synodality | 2 Comments

Old Testament Canticles: Isaiah 66:10-14a

Posted on 29 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

ImageLet’s continue with the songs of the Old Testament that landed in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Thursday morning of week IV finds us at the end of the second-longest book of the Bible. The prophet Isaiah (or his future disciples) gives a twofold oracle to cap his testimony. The Liturgy of the Hours spares us a bitter critique of God’s warning to the ungodly (verses 1-6). Verses 7 through 9 introduce a point of logic: would God have redeemed a people, brought them to a return on their land, their religion, their culture, only to snatch it away? The following verses are meant to console the faithful souls who truly honored God:

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;
Exult, exult with her,
all you who were mourning over her!

Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
that you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!

For thus says the LORD:
Lo, I will spread prosperity over her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like an overflowing torrent.

As nurslings you shall be carried in her arms,
and fondled in her lap;
As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.

When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,
and your bodies shall flourish like the grass;

Commentary:

Note the liquids:

  • a milk of tender intimacy and comfort
  • a water (or even a flood) of change and upheaval that tilts the world to the faithful in need.

This canticle is placed between Psalms 143 and 147A. Respectively, a lament of trials past and a song of praise for the return from Exile. They make for a neat trilogy when prayed in sequence.

The unspoken goal of this passage (to be found in the rest of the book) is a return and restoration of the entire world on Mount Zion. No longer will God be focused exclusively on the Chosen People. The endgame for the Almighty involves the redemption of the entirety of humanity.

The “peace canticle” of Isaiah 2:2-5 and the mothering of 66:10-14 are musical bookends for a remarkable, dense, and varied work of sacred text. In the former we are all on pilgrimage to God. Here, we find ourselves sated with nourishment like a child in parental care. (Cf. Psalm 131) That’s not a bad place to be on an otherwise ordinary Thursday morning.

Posted in Liturgical Music, Liturgy of the Hours, Scripture | Leave a comment

BEM Baptism 8: Baptism and Faith

Posted on 29 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

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Three brief paragraphs discuss BAPTISM AND FAITH. These are important reflections, as they touch upon ecumenical suspicions. In a way, this line of thought will carry us into the tension between infant baptism and believer baptism, and exactly what happens to sin in the act of baptism. All good questions, and across Christian lines, often a struggle to find alignment.

We begin with the obvious, that baptism is grace from God as well as a personal commitment.

8. Baptism is both God’s gift and our human response to that gift. It looks towards a growth into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). The necessity of faith for the reception of the salvation embodied and set forth in baptism is acknowledged by all churches. Personal commitment is necessary for responsible membership in the body of Christ.

The full passage from Ephesians 4 gives us context:

The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature (adulthood), to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love. (4:10-16)

The discussion of charisms leads us into the recognition that no baptized person is ever really a finished product. Baptism is a liminal event, taking a human being from one realm into a new one. Even after crossing that threshold, a Christian is still at times vulnerable, and is in a process of growth and development. Saint Paul suggests this cannot happen apart from the Christian community. There, every believer has access to the support and the charisms of other Christians–the most common means for God’s grace to continue to activate in a person’s life.

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, the Faith and Order Paper no. 111 of the World Council of Churches is Copyright © 1982 World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Link available on this page.

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Synod Report on Women in the Church 5: No Longer Feeling At Home

Posted on 28 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

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It is striking that given how long women were seen as properly “in the home” in their role rearing children and managing a household that the Report mentions no longer at home. Here, a mention of a leaning to insensitivity in some aspects:

5. At a deeper level, one of the reasons for the discomfort mentioned above is the still-limited sensitivity that exists in certain ecclesial settings regarding this matter. In this regard, it must give pause that an increasing number of women, of every age group and in different parts of the world, no longer feel “at home” in the house of the Lord, to the point of leaving it altogether. These signs, however, are not to be read primarily in statistics on departures, but rather in the fact that the “question of women” is present precisely as a demand or expectation of equality in ever broader portions of the Church throughout the world (cf. Christus Vivit 42).

That report from the Charlotte confessor supposedly quizzing teen girls about sex, but not boys. Teens are certainly attuned to fairness, and they also communicate with each other. If the institutional church is struggling with teens, why would we expect that rough start to be easily reversed?

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BEM Baptism 7: The Sign of the Kingdom

Posted on 28 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

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E. The Sign of the Kingdom

7. Baptism initiates the reality of the new life given in the midst of the present world. It gives participation in the community of the Holy Spirit. It is a sign of the Kingdom of God and of the life of the world to come. Through the gifts of faith, hope, and love, baptism has a dynamic which embraces the whole of life, extends to all nations, and anticipates the day when every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

The ecumenical view of baptism looks to the future here. Certainly, the Reign of God seeps into the world this day, any day. Saint Martha testified that Christ was “Coming into the world,” implying a process of development, not nearly complete. Perhaps barely started. Still, it is a process that every Christian does well to embrace and anticipate.

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, the Faith and Order Paper no. 111 of the World Council of Churches is Copyright © 1982 World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Link available on this page.

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Sex Questions

Posted on 28 April 2026 by catholicsensibility

ImageI see some concern in North Carolina about a confessor asking female teens about sex during confession. The diocese has found no problem with reports that a priest queried multiple adolescent girls.

Confession is a sacrament meant to address sins so a priest can offer a penitent absolution and guidance. A variety of topics come up during confession, and according to Church norms, a priest may ask clarifying questions and, if necessary, assists the penitent to make a complete confession.

The key principle here is “may ask questions,” but it is not required. Adults asking sex questions of kids is nothing new. I remember a high school guidance counselor who asked questions about sex of every boy who saw him. We avoided him. Everyone had a required intake interview and a senior year chat. I don’t know that any of my friends expanded beyond that. The guy wasn’t taken seriously, except to keep a straight face, answer neutrally, and keep one’s facial capillaries as empty of blood as possible.

Prudence suggests that we look at the setting and consider the consequences of the situation. There are many consideration that suggest that confessions be succinct, and that they stick to the liturgical script. Lots of kids and not much time. A visiting priest is not a pastor to penitents. A chaplain assigned to duty at a school often isn’t full-time. The older man/female teen dynamic is fraught with difficulty. Talk about Venus and Mars? It’s more like Venus and Pluto, and I can confess it being so being the father of a teen daughter for seven years.

Another priest and former high school chaplain who also wished to remain anonymous told EWTN News that it is possible there was a misunderstanding, because young people, “especially teen girls, are often embarrassed to speak of sins of a sexual nature and are sometimes not clear during confession, requiring the priest to ask clarifying questions.”

Again, not a requirement. Sometimes when the channel of communication isn’t clear, perhaps it is best to give a simple penance: read the 11th chapter of Luke; make three kind gestures to underclass students you don’t know; spend fifteen minutes in the school chapel and have a conversation with God about your biggest worry.

Confessors who probe are usurping the role of a spiritual director. I think that is appropriate for an adult penitent, especially one known fairly well to the priest. Occasional adult to a teen? Pope Francis was on target to say, “Don’t ask too much.” In some instances that might be for the confessor’s safety as much as anything.

Posted in Liturgy, Rite of Penance | 1 Comment