Theologians, historian explore decline in confessions

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been two weeks since my last confession. ..." With that ritual formula once familiar to all Catholics, Boston College historian James O'Toole opened a daylong symposium on how the sacrament of penance has changed and how its chief form, individual auricular confession, has almost disappeared from American Catholic consciousness in the last 40 years. The symposium was held March 19 at The Catholic University of America. Historian Leslie Tentler of the university's Center for American Catholic Studies coordinated and moderated the event. O'Toole contrasted a New York City parish in 1896-97, where the seven priests on staff heard 78,000 confessions a year, with the typical parish today, where the bulletin may list a half-hour or 15-minute weekly time for confessions, or perhaps offer them "anytime by appointment."

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