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| Pope John Paul II - Hearing Confession |
This weekend I attended a meeting in the
Bryanston Parish. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the Alpha Course
to the parishes of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg. There was a great deal of
talk and emphasis, during the meeting, on “conversion”.
Surprisingly the subject of the Sacrament of
Penance did not feature as having any major part in the conversion process. It
was blatantly obvious that, although Alpha was being presented as a tool for
Catholics to use for evangelisation, Alpha did not place much value on the role
of the Sacrament of Penance. I shudder to think about their views on the other
6 sacraments.
The subject of the Sacrament of Penance only
featured at the end of the meeting when a few people, among them priests,
raised the subject of confession, along with their other concerns about Alpha. As
preposterous as it may seem, the priest, who I believe is the chaplain for the
Alpha Course in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg, actually responded to these
concerns by, amongst others, dismissing the need for such emphasis on the
Sacrament of Penance. All I can say to him is “SHAME ON YOU!”
There are two points I would like to make
regarding conversion, which is the objective of Alpha’s evangelisation program.
The first is that for Catholics, unlike for
most Protestants, conversion is an on going process. It is most certainly not
the “once saved always saved” message which Alpha portrays. The Catechism of
the Catholic Church teaches us that, “Jesus
calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the proclamation of the
kingdom: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."…
Baptism is the principal place for
the first and fundamental conversion.”[1]
After this first conversion, “Christ's call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church
who, "clasping sinners
to her bosom, (is) at once holy and always
in need of purification, (and) follows
constantly the path of penance and renewal."”[2] So we strive continually
towards the achievement of personal holiness.
The second point I need to make is that the
Sacrament of Penance is needed, in this on going journey towards personal
holiness, because “the new life received
in Christian initiation has not
abolished the frailty and
weakness of human nature, nor
the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which
remains in the baptized…”[3] “The confession (or
disclosure) of sins, even
from a simply human point of view, frees
us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he
is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in
order to make a new future possible.”[4]
“When
Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they
undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and
knowingly withhold some, place
nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation
of the priest, "for if the sick
person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal
what it does not know."”[5]
My message to Catholics, who are considering
the implementation of the Alpha course, is this. If you leave the Sacrament of
Penance out of the conversion process, you do so at your peril and at the peril
of those you convert. Consider what you are missing:
“For those who receive the
sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition,
reconciliation "is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience
with strong spiritual consolation." Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation
with God brings about a true "spiritual resurrection," restoration of
the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most
precious is friendship with God.”[6]
Alpha is a Trojan horse, parked outside by the Anglicans, being pulled in by dissenting Catholics.
ReplyDeleteIt is just another religious entertainment; there to "numb" the brain.
The fact that the Sacrament of Confession is ignored or undermined is a case in point.
You will never find me on a Alpha Course. I am too much of a Roman Catholic for that! What have they got which the Roman Catholic Church does not have? Divorce? Contraception? Henry VIII?