Got sin? YouTube, shredders your modern confessional

New ways to confess your sins point to a revival of the ancient religious rite

This February at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI instructed priests to make confession a top priority. U.S. bishops have begun promoting it in diocesan newspapers, mass mailings and even billboard ads. And in a dramatic turnaround, some Protestant churches are following suit. This summer, the second-largest North American branch of the Lutheran Church passed a resolution supporting the rite, which it had all but ignored for more than 100 years.

To make confession less intimidating, Protestant churches have urged believers to shred their sins in paper shredders or write them on rocks and cast them into a "desert" symbolized by a giant sand pile in the sanctuary. Three Capuchin friars now hear confessions six days a week at a mall in Colorado Springs., Colo...

Some Protestants now air their sins on videos that are shared on YouTube and iTunes or are played to entire congregations...

Confession is no longer strictly a private matter between a sinner, a priest and God. More than 7,700 people have posted their sins on ivescrewedup.com, a confession Web site launched by an evangelical congregation in Cooper City, Fla.

Perhaps with the right direction, some may come to see the benefits of the Sacrament of Penance...