2010 February archive at Being Frank

Archive for February, 2010

Feb

The pursuit of love – God and neighbour

By eyeWitness 3 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

The start of lent. Not such a fun time – but hopefully a very rewarding time if we make the effort to do it well. It’s a great time to put more emphasis on developing the virtues and spending quality time with God. I, for one, know that I am always a little bit soft on myself, make many excuses, and then regret that I probably didn’t grow as much as I could have.

Anyway, last week I was thinking about faith and love. I have a couple of friends who find it hard to practice their faith, or start to practice it more, because they have long-term boyfriends or girlfriends who don’t believe in the same things they do. There are Church teachings like not sleeping with your ‘partner’ until you get married, whether you want to get married at all for that matter, and contraception that can be pretty challenging to hold your ground on for a lot of people – and even more challenging to do if you’re someone you doesn’t believe in them.

It is even harder if you decide you want to come back to your faith while already in such a relationship. Of course you really love the person you’re with – and when you’re dating seriously that person can become the most important and significant person in your life – you depend on them so how do you stay with them and take on Church teaching if it’s going to really affect your relationship? It is a hard question for a lot of people and it really only has one extremely hard answer if your partner is keeping you from God, His teachings and the truth about life and how to live it well. Is the relationship right for you? It is of course different if you are actually married (in the Church) to someone though, because then you have made marriage vows before God. Where is the line there though, when making your marriage work between you and your husband conflicts with God’s teaching a lot or in part? I’m not sure?

A lot of people I know also find being single really hard and wonder if it is actually possible to meet someone you like and who shares your values and faith. It is easy to start to wonder if it’s possible in ‘real life’ sometimes. Is it possible to meet a nice Catholic boy / girl who is at least averagely good looking, has brains and some personality? Will you be waiting forever? The answer is, of course, that everything is possible for God in his time (and if not you could convert one perhaps?!). He could even change your heart to allow you to love someone you thought you might not, right? And even if you really don’t meet anyone, life is very short isn’t it to be compromising everything you believe in for a relationship? Because eventually you will always regret that you did. Suffering is never without purpose, and isn’t it better to live by your values even if it means a boy or girl you are attracted to won’t go out with you because of it? And what’s more isn’t it a GREAT test to see if they really like you for you so you can save a lot of hurt in the long run? …and people who are sure of themselves and what they believe in are actually much more attractive anyway. A real relationship is feeling and being more you and a better you – not compromising all your values and beliefs.

Relationships are so important to us, and they can be so complicated. Yet, in my experience if they are right, in that you feel peaceful about it and peaceful before God, then it doesn’t have to be as complicated after all…

Feb

Faith for Granted

By On the Road 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

I walk into a Church, beautifully built, music playing, but yet peaceful quiet, reverent, all things which bring me to my knees in praise of Him. Working across the street from a Church, I have the opportunity to walk in multiple times each day. It is a perfect break from the rush of the day and everything capturing my attention. But, how often do I walk in and out, without giving thanks or recognising that I am blessed to even have this ability to step foot in a Christian Church? Pretty much every day.

It is not until we step outside our bubble, get a glimpse of the ‘real world’ for the global population, that we understand just how belssed we are to have the freedom to praise God in a Church or to talk about our faith with our friends, to wear symbols that remind us of our faith, the list goes on.

From, a recent article about a report on religious freedom:

A striking fact that emerges from the report is that religious freedom is a comparative luxury in the world at large. Because the most restrictive countries include the most populous (notably China and India) nearly 70 per cent of the world’s 6.8 billion people live under highly restrictive regimes — despite, in some cases, constitutional and other written protections.

We are part of the 30% of countries with unrestrictive religious regulations in the world. NZ is in the top 30%?!? While the government does not expressly put restrictions around religious freedom, it can often seem in the culture of NZ, to raise your hand as a Christian invites mandatory mocking or scornful looks. To declare Truth, even in a loving manner, is certainly frowned upon.

Next time I am walking down the street, praying the rosary with my wife on the way to mass, or I enter a Church to pray, I will remind myself how incredibly blessed I am to have such a freedom. When I feel so isolated in the practice of my faith from many of those around me, I will again remind myself that this freedom brings its own challenges, and creates a mission field, and while scornful looks can hurt, I at least have the chance to with their hearts without being persecuted under the law for it.

Feb

“Hmmm, ‘The Widowmaker?’ Oh, that one’s for the ladies. ‘Spinebuster?’ Boring! Ooh, ‘Colostomizer.’

By Methuselah's Beard 80 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

As I write this the Curling from the Winter Olympics is currently playing on BBC iPlayer. What an odd sport. It’s almost like they’re using those roman magic mops out there (yes I know it’s not a mop). It must be one of the only sports to showcase pseudo-mopping (cue sexist joke about why women are so good at curling…. wait did I really say that? It was my sub-conscious, I swear. Besides I like mopping, it’s one of few household chores that I actually enjoy. I could be good at curling, you never know).

Anyway, Westminster Cathedral is our weekly port of call for Sunday Mass. It’s quite interesting architectually and is rather grand actually despite it’s minimalistic and almost severe interior. We attended the Ash Wednesday service there this past Wednesday (obviously) at 5.30pm and it’s the first time I’ve actually seen the Cathedral full. It was a heartwarming sight though to see so many people ready to usher in the start of Lent. I have to admit that I had a little chuckle to myself while standing in line to receive the ashes. The source of my mirth were the people walking back towards me, all somber looking and with great big black smudges (and sometimes crosses) on their forehead and I have to say my first thought was ‘zombies’.

Another thought I had was about the readings we had. On the one hand, we were being told not to trumpet our good deeds to the world, and to fast, pray, and sacrifice in secret. And yet we were about to wander the streets of London with big blobs of ash on our heads? I was reading through some of the various comments on the blog this past week and I was almost certain I came across something about slavery and the Church’s prior stance on the issue. I think slavery, along with just war and female priests are kind of like the zombie topics on the blog. They just never die.

But that did get me thinking – maybe the Church has just created problems for itself by trying to have a stance on everything. Are we trying to play too big a part in the shaping of the world? The problem with issuing guidance or by taking a stand is that as times change, or our understanding of issues change, or societies view of something (like slavery) changes, the Church needs to revise it’s stance on some things (except the infallible teachings or it’s core doctrines) or it risks becoming irrelevant or draconian. Having to revise a stance on something then creates the expectation that everything is open to change in the future if circumstances demand. Wouldn’t it have been better if we just stuck to what Christ wanted? Love God and our neighbour? But I guess without a set of guidelines, humanity would be lost. Where would the world get its moral compass if not the Church?

I mean look at what humanity, unfettered and unhindered, comes up with? Curling.

Feb

Our need for God…

By Filia Day 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

I just managed to get to an Ash Wednesday Mass yesterday, due to a timetable that took a turn for the worst earlier in the day. I’m thankful that Lent is more than one day as I’m not sure I got off to a very good start! When we finally got to Mass, I was so sticky and had a terrible migraine (due to the humidity, I’m sure) that I don’t think I really took much in. As a complete and utter control freak (and someone who loooooves order), sometimes it’s good for these things to happened – it becomes more apparent that we are not the ones in control. Perhaps when viewed from this perspective, it was actually the best way to start lent! Anyways, I wanted to draw your attention to two things today – one positive and one to keep you on your toes a bit.

Firstly, did you know that each year the Holy Father write a Lenten message to us? I sure the great majority of you do but if your not aware of it, I encourage you to go to the Vatican website and have a read. I have posted an excerpt of Benedict’s message below, that I thought was particularly relevant to my situation above.

Christ, the Justice of God
The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: “But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (3, 21-25). What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that “expiation” flows from the “blood” of Christ signifies that it is not man’s sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the “curse” due to man so as to give in return the “blessing” due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his “due”? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from “what is mine,” to give me gratuitously “what is His.” This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the “greatest” justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.

The second thing, I would like to bring to your attention is a practice that has become rather common in some of our churches over the Lenten period, that is the removal of holy water from the fonts in our churches. Father Z wrote to the Congregation of Divine Worship and received the following reply – just a little something to wet your liturgical appetite!

Dear Father:

This Congregation for Divine Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.

This Dicastery is able to respond that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:

1. The liturgical legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.

2. The encouragement of the Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of the [sic] of her sacraments and sacramentals is to be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The “fast” and “abstinence” which the faithful embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The practice of the Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water at the Easter Vigil, and it corresponds to those days on which the Eucharist is not celebrated (i.e., Good Friday and Holy Saturday).

Hoping that this resolves the question and with every good wish and kind regard, I am,

Sincerely yours in Christ,
[signed]
Mons. Mario Marini

Feb

Part two of watching the good Congolese samaritan(s)

By Tuppence 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

Ash Wednesday isn’t yet here for me…so the Thursday poster can have that for a topic…instead, for those who are interested, here’s part two of our adventures watching the good samaritan story unfold in the Congo…

Saturday morning came round and my friend and I met up, honestly not sure what the day would hold. We knew we couldn’t leave Keby in the hospital any longer, the hospital justifiably needed him out. We had no idea where he could go. We didn’t think he had any family willing to recognise him. We had two leads, a centre for handicap artisans and the neuro-psychiatric unit at the university hospital, and I like to think a whole lot of Divine Providence to back us up.

The centre for handicap artisans couldn’t take Keby. But their brilliant cooperative initiative was a gem of a discovery. The president said “We just need a hand with marketing…we have internet access too…” Does anyone smell a free, simple blog with some nice photos coming on? We were already buzzing to see such a grass-roots initiative still surviving after the many years of wars and pillages. The centre for handicap artisans told us about a formation centre for handicap people, again still not live-in, and a centre run by Brigidine sisters to help diagnose and treat mental illnesses and epilepsy.

The directions we’d received to get to these establishments were typically Congolese…meaning very little mention of street names and some unusual landmarks. Just to give you an idea, directions could often go something like… “Go until the railroad tracks [which haven't been used in 50 years, more easily spotted by the fact that many people are walking down them and you may feel an ever so slight bump as you drive over them] and branch to the left [in lieu of using the verb 'turn', one commonly 'branches' here…]. After a little while, there is a man selling home-made TV aerials. Just when you pass him, on the right you will see a narrow dirt alleyway [as opposed to the slightly wider dirt road I'll already be on?]. Go down there and be sure not to get stuck in the mud…and then it’s at the end of the alleyway.”

Anyway, jokes aside. For two ex-pats with rather broad brush knowledge of Kinshasa geography, we knew we were fooling ourselves to think we might find the places. So cue Father Jean, a priest that my friend met during a work-related rendez vous. Fr Justin is parish priest to 800 Congolese living in one of Kinshasa’s tightly packed dirt-track neighbourhoods.

We call Fr Jean, he’s just hanging out, helping his driver-cum-mechanic fix the car. He knows of the centre run by the sisters for those with mental illnesses and epilepsy. So in lieu of us two just cold-call passing by, he joins us for the ride and calls ahead to Sister Germaine to let her know we’re coming.

After winding through ever-narrower and more challenging terrain, we arrive in the depths of another typical Kinshasa neighbourhood to the small property with the trademark neatness and homeliness of religious sisters. Sr Germaine, a Cameroonaise who speaks both English and French, greets us with a stunning laugh and gigantic smile…you know the sort only sustained by some awesome grace of God and by a life lived in the Spirit.

She listens intently as we explain the situation and promises within 48 hours to have some ideas for us. First off, she says, in terms of providing support and treatment for Keby’s mental illnesses and epilepsy…no problem, the sisters can work direct with him, and his family when they can be tracked down. The big question was, where could he stay? Indeed, it seemed we needed a miracle at that moment. Keby, unable to fend for himself, ney even walk more than 20 metres without needing to sit down, was not likely to do well by going back to the streets.

We leave Sr Germaine’s feeling very much encouraged, knowing that if some of his family could be tracked down, and the situation was carefully handled, they may willingly take him back if the needed support would be provided.

Fr Jean mentions that we’re very close to his family now…a ‘short drive’ from the sisters. Why not pop by for a visit? Ah why not. ‘Short drive’ is at least half an hour after we wind our way out of the sisters’ neighbourhood and wind our way deep into another neighbourhood where his family is. He proudly presented us to his mother and father, and various extended family including the little bubba recently named after him. His parents bring out a large framed picture of them flanking him on his 10th anniversary of ordination. His mother wears glasses, which seems unusual since so few people can afford glasses here. Unfortunately, she’s still almost entirely and irreversibly blind. His father still works at a business that has been out of business for 17 years. Yes, that means he’s not been paid in over a decade, but he still goes and others still go…almost as if to maintain routine to maintain sanity.

After that little visit, we start the drive back to central Kinshasa to visit Keby in the hospital. We’ve got some good news, but not the answer we needed. Where could he go today? We’re hoping we can pay the hospital just to keep him a few more days until we hear from Sr Elisabeth.

We get to the hospital and find Keby looking like a totally different person. He has been treated for acute malaria and his body has gone from fragile and emaciated to fleshy and far from the verge of death. However the challenge is far from over, as he maintains severe epilepsy and as yet undiagnosed mental challenges. The two handicap boys who took charge to be by his side are there still, faithfully ensuring he is fed, clean, clothed, able to relieve himself and take a few delicate steps. That’s already a miracle. We left them a certain amount of money to look after him with the promise to return and compensate them at the end of the week. And they’re still there. Extraordinary.

To our great relief and surprise, they introduce us to Keby’s brother who has come to collect him, also a man bound to crutches for life with two fake legs. I’m guessing he was a polio victim. The very first, and sad, thing he says to my friend and I when we arrived is “It’s going to be expensive to look after my brother. We’ll need $300 to do that…” That’s about five month’s salary for a guy like him. We have our concerns that his intentions are not all that honorable. Taking back an entirely ‘useless’ and frankly ‘burdensome’ family member is understandably not the most attractive option to a family already living in poverty. However, spotting that there’s a couple of ‘blancs’ involved in the whole affair suddenly means it could be a lot more lucrative to take him home. A little bit sickening, but pretty standard here.

In a place like DRC, those suffering from mental illnesses and epilepsy are often considered ‘possessed’ in traditional sorcery or animist terms and can be subject to terrible torture and left for abandon. This is evident by the extraordinary scars that have now become so clear with the return of Keby’s face from that of being severely malnourished to plump and fleshy. Scars all over his body are quite likely silent memoirs of previously being stoned. One scar on the left side of his face stretches from his forehead to his chin and looks suspiciously like someone got at him with a machete.

After Fr Jean diplomatically explains to the brother, in front of us and the boys, that he’d be given a much smaller sum of money to look after his brother for a week, and that Fr Jean would be back later in the week to visit and see how he was doing, Keby, his brother and the two boys headed off in a taxi back to Keby’s original home.

A few days later and Sr Germaine has even managed to find a more permanent place for Keby to stay. My friend has also had a call from Keby’s brother, already wanting more money…still throwing out this $300 figure. What’s the best option in this situation? Staying in his family could lead Keby back to where we found him yet in the long term reintegration into the family would be the most ideal outcome. Who knows what progress his could make with a little while of intense live-in care?

If anything, it certainly brings to the very fore the pertinent questions of the value of life, even one that by society’s standards appears ‘useless’ and a ‘burden’. Hopefully little by little, with the help of the sisters, the family could learn not only to support Keby, but most importantly learn to integrate him lovingly as a person as worthy of a chance at life as any other that God has lovingly created.

Feb

Private opinions in Catholic school newsletters?

By The Dumb Ox 234 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Last week, through a friend of a friend, I heard about an item that was included in a school newsletter that was sent out from Carmel College, a Catholic high school for girls based in Auckland.

Now the newsletter I am going to be referring to here today is freely available here on the Carmel College website, and with it being so openly and freely available in the public domain I don’t think that there is anything too controversial or earth shattering about discussing its contents here.

In fact, the author of the article in concern states, at the end of the article, that it’s contents “will provide some food for thought and discussion”, so it seems only too appropriate that we discuss it here.

The article that caught my eye was the opening address to parents (and students?) from Carmel College Principal, Kath Deady.

It starts with this…

“There are no doubt many challenges ahead this year, but I’d like to focus on two of them.”

She then goes on to raise her first issue, the introduction of the new National Standards, but it is the second issue which Principal Deady raises in the Carmel College newsletter that I think is worthy of discussion here today.

Here’s what she has to say on the second issue…

“The second issue is similar, but my judgement – and I emphasise that it is my personal judgement – in this case is definitely in favour of delay and dialogue.

Our bishops, priests and religious educators have already begun discussion about the new translations of the Roman Missal (the words we say to pray the Eucharist) that will soon reach final stages of approval by the Holy See – the official Vatican endorsement. The changes that I have seen, for example in the London Tablet, put heavy emphasis on the versions of English that are closest to Latin. For example, instead of saying “of one being with the Father”, we will say “consubstantial with…” and instead of an “offering” we will speak of an “oblation”.

The groundbreaking document from the 2nd Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, which gave to bishops’ conferences the authority to produce their own translations for approval by the Holy See, is, it might seem, in the process of being dismantled.

My initial fear is that the Church will be seen to be attempting to turn back the clock, but my deeper fear is that the Church will be seen broadly as irrelevant and out of touch with the real issues of today. I find myself agreeing strongly with Fr Michael Ryan, of Seattle, who has set up a website urging some time of reflection and possible trialling of the new translations in specific parishes. (www.whatifwejustsaidwait.org)

More than 13000 people have signed a petition to this effect, to support our bishops and our liturgy. If you log on to the website you will be able to access Fr Ryan’s articles in the London Tablet and America Magazine. At the very least, they will provide some food for thought and discussion.”

Some points about what Principal Deady has released into the public domain via the Carmel College school newsletter…

Firstly – the actual issue she raises…

Any expert in matters of liturgy, Latin or Catholic theology, who is worth their salt, will tell you that many of the early English translations of the original Latin liturgical texts were rushed, and that this led to loose and imprecise translations of the prayers of the Mass in the resulting English versions.

The new Missal will simply correct these mistakes, and therefore take due care to ensure that the English translations are more correct and precise in what they proclaim, and that’s what these changes to the Roman Missal are actually all about.

It isn’t at all fair to suggest that Sacrosanctum Concilium is “in the process of being dismantled” by the coming changes to the Roman Missal.

In fact, not only is such a claim very, very unfair and unfounded scaremongering, it is actually the total opposite of what is really going on here.

Anyone who has read Sacrosanctum Concilium can tell you that the coming changes to the Roman Missal are actually an act of total fidelity to Sacrosanctum Concilium, which states in paragraph 21…

“In order that the Christian people may more certainly derive an abundance of graces from the sacred liturgy, holy Mother Church desires to undertake with great care a general restoration of the liturgy itself. For the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change. These not only may but ought to be changed with the passage of time if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it.

In this restoration, both texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify…”

Secondly – the forum in which these issues have been raised…

Two questions that stick in my mind regarding this issue are:

1. Is it appropriate for a Catholic school principal to be publicly promoting websites and movements like this?

I know that Principal Deady has stated that this website, and it’s associated movement, is designed to “support our bishops and our liturgy”, but if you visit the website it is very clear that they are opposed to the changes to the Roman Missal, and they are indirectly opposed to anyone who supports, or is participating in their implementation.

In short, this website and it’s associated movement, doesn’t actually support the NZ Bishops (who are currently in the process of implementing these changes), and it is unclear how it supports Catholic liturgy (this group opposes changes which will make the liturgy more precise, so it opposes something beneficial to the liturgy).

2. Is it appropriate for a Catholic school’s newsletter to be used as the forum for promoting opposition to the movements of the Catholic Church and opposition to her leaders?

It is laudable that Principal Deady started by clearly stating that she is expressing a private opinion on this matter, but the problem is that her private opinion here is in opposition to the Catholic Church, and therefore to her employers/seniors, the Catholic Bishops of NZ.

I can’t imagine any corporate setting where it would be considered an appropriate or acceptable practice for private opinions, which oppose company policy and direction, or management decisions to be raised publicly in company newsletters, websites, broadcasts, etc.

It just seems to me that it would be more appropriate for a Catholic school principal to raise private concerns/oppositions on matters of theology/ecclesiology directly with their local bishop, or bishop’s conference, and not in their official Catholic school publications.

I would be interested to hear what others think about this issue.

As a side note: I know of at least one NZ priest who has promoted and endorsed this website to his congregation as well.

Feb

Where have all the sinners gone?

By James the Least 17 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

This post will be the most recent post for the first 12 hours of Shrove Tuesday this year, and that has got me thinking about sin.

Not the most enjoyable topic in the world, but bear with me.

All I knew about Shrove Tuesday as a child was that we got to have pancakes, and that it was the day before Ash Wendesday. I enjoyed the pancakes, but the next day signalled the start of 40 days without lollies (usually), so it was kind of a last hurrah for me back then. (By the way, Mum, if you’re reading this, thanks for all those years of pancakes! :) )

As I got a little older, I found out that the reason why we were eating pancakes was because, traditionally, it was a way to finish off the last of the eggs and milk and sugar and other niceties that didn’t really “belong” in the Lenten season.

However, I only very recently discovered what the word “shrove” means. It’s derived from the verb “to shrive” which means, basically, to obtain absolution by going to Confession. Turns out that the traditional idea was to go to Confession before spending 40 days focusing on turning back to God.

Huh. What a novel idea. ;) Actually, I’m only half kidding. I’m starting to get the feeling that, in this modern age, maybe this is a novel idea after all.

I wonder if we as a society have lost (or are losing) the concept of sin. Maybe it’s an extension of moral relativism; maybe it’s just that if you speak your mind and your opinion is contrary to the “life choices” of others, that’s now frowned upon; maybe it’s just that we’ve got really, really good and justifying our actions to ourselves and one another…

Maybe it’s all of that? But think about this: when was the last time you went to Confession? Whenever that was, was the queue of people waiting to see the priest out the door? Maybe…but probably not. Well, not in my experience usually.

Why is that? We’re told that we have less priests per Catholic than any time in recent history, and one doesn’t have to look far to see “loose morals” and Commandments being ignored. Is there a secret cadre of confession-hearing-only priests I’m not aware of?

So, if we can suppose that Confession attendance is down on, say, 100 years ago, what would be the consensus on sin compared to 100 years ago? Obviously we’re past the realms of objective statistical measure here, but bear with me again: I don’t think I would be going out on a limb in stating that we, collectively, probably aren’t any better at avoiding sin than our great-great-grandparents. Maybe we’re not any worse, but I think that if we’re honest, there are plenty of opportunities to sin that didn’t exist 100 years ago, whereas most of the ways they had are still with us. I’m just sayin’…

So, if – if – there is as much or more sinning as a pastime going on vs. 100 years ago, and if we are attending Confession less regularly than those who went before us…

…I don’t like where this is heading.

Maybe we should all make a bit of extra effort and dust off the ol’ Act of Contrition this Lent?