Dedicating the new year to the development of holiness and virtue seems like an appropriate way to begin 2025. It is the quarter-century mark of our new century and millennium, which invites us to establish habits and behaviors of which we can be proud. The old habits and behaviors may be the very actions that led to sin, which required us to seek the sacrament of reconciliation.
Legislation that would require clergy to report child abuse or neglect in Washington state failed for the second year in a row in that state's Legislature. Some have expressed concern that without exceptions for clergy-penitent privilege, the bill could place Catholic priests at odds with civil law in order to uphold church law regarding the seal of the confessional.
The grace that God bestows on a bride and groom on the day of their marriage is not a one-day gigantic salvo of sacramental grace given once and only on their wedding day. Rather, it is a grace that God renews and resupplies each day for the rest of their married lives. The secret to success is to cooperate with God’s grace. And the way to cooperate is for a couple to take steps to strengthen their love and commitment to each other.
When I made my first confession, I clutched an index card with sweaty palms. On one side, I'd copied the act of contrition, dutifully memorized -- but what if I tripped up in the heat of the moment? On the reverse was a detailed list of my sins, anxiously scribbled lest I miss one.
While the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial seems to have brought a conclusion to a very tense chapter in our local history, the work of reconciliation — repairing and restoring right relationships with one another and with God — has to be ongoing.
Administering the sacrament of reconciliation via cellphone is impermissible under church teaching, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship.
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