​In the various phases of the Plenary Council process nostalgia for the third rite of reconciliation has re-emerged. It is one of that trio of things that never seems to go away (third rite of reconciliation, married priests, women priests) despite having official definitive pronouncements from Rome to the contrary.

In the Catholic Church the Sacrament of Penance may be celebrated in three different ways, called rites.
The first rite is individual confession to a priest.
The second rite is where a group of people gather together and listen to the Word of God, go through a guided examination of conscience together, then go and confess to one of several priests gathered for the rite, and finish with a hymn of thanksgiving and a priestly blessing; it is also known as the communal rite since it is done as a community of faith.
The third rite is an rite for emergency situations only, and carries the understanding that those who received the sacrament under this rite will present themselves to one of the other rites as soon as practicable after the emergency is over.

The third rite is a provision for situations like going into the frontline of battle at short notice. In such situations it isn’t possible to give the first rite to all those who desire it, due to time constraints, and yet they are facing the danger of death. It was used to good effect by priests who made themselves available for the first responders (firefighters etc.) who were on their way to help those trapped in the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. There is also some rationale for using the third rite in nursing home situations where residents are gathered for Mass and many of them no longer have full cognitive abilities. All of them are facing death in the not so distant future.

But during the 1980s and 1990s somehow the third rite became mainstream in parishes prior to Christmas and prior to Easter. There was normally a single celebration of the third rite in the week or so prior to Christmas and in the week or so prior to Easter. It seemed like the answer to the dwindling numbers of priests (many left the priesthood in the 1970s) and the dwindling numbers of people coming to the first rite of reconciliation. The clergy loved it because they didn’t have to spend so many hours in the confessional. The laity loved it because they didn’t have to say their sins out loud. Consequently, whenever there was a celebration of the third rite in a parish, it was standing room only.

At first the people were reminded that this was a conditional rite, and the condition was that they sought out an opportunity for first rite or second rite as soon as possible. As you may imagine this condition was observed poorly, and towards the end of this era the condition wasn’t mentioned at all.

Filling a church swells the hearts of both priests and laity, and those standing room only experiences are remembered fondly.

However, I’ve never read a single conversion story that includes a third rite of reconciliation as its turning point. I’ve never heard an anecdotal one either. If the third rite of reconciliation was leading people to conversion to Jesus and commitment to Him, then there should be conversion stories a plenty. Use of the third rite pandered to a consumerist approach to faith. All you had to do was show up, sacrifice around an hour of time, and hey presto, you had a clean slate with God. Like a car going through a car wash, and emerging cleaner but unchanged. It didn’t call anyone to missionary discipleship. It felt good, too, the atmosphere at the start was solemn and expectant, and the atmosphere at the end was joyful and light-hearted.

Use of the third rite didn’t lead to an increased use of the first rite, in fact it led to significant decrease in use of the first rite, and significant decrease in the regular parish times for the sacrament of penance.

Worse still, those who had participated in the third rite of reconciliation didn’t know for sure which sins had been forgiven and which sins hadn’t been. No one talks about it, but they all experienced this hopeful unknowing. We all hoped we had completely clean slates with God, but we didn’t know for sure.

With the first rite and the second rite, you do know for sure. That’s because you have described those sins out loud and have heard absolution of those exact sins out loud.

This hopeful unknowing was detrimental because it was unwittingly reducing the sacrament to a sacramental. A sacrament does what it says, independent of the faith of the recipient. (eg. Baptism changes a person into a child of God. Ordination changes a man into a priest.) The effect of a sacramental depends on the faith of the participant. In practice when the third rite of reconciliation was celebrated those with more faith and more contrition had less hopeful unknowing and more confidence in God’s pardon; and those with less faith and less contrition had more hopeful unknowing and less confidence in God’s pardon.

Grace may be free, but it is far from cheap. It was purchased by the sorrows, humiliations, wounds, blood and death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the Cross. Accepting the forgiveness and pardon of God, purchased at such a price, is supposed to fill us with such gratitude that we freely decide to devote our whole lives to His service. It is supposed to fill us with a desire for holiness and an ongoing commitment to seeking greater holiness and freedom from sin – with the help of His grace.

While I fully understand the nostalgia of many for those experiences of full churches and joyful and light-hearted atmospheres, it is like the nostalgia that a reformed addict has for his/her addiction of choice. It’s far from helpful, and reminiscing on it does us no good whatsoever.

Thankfully Rome saw the bad fruit coming from the misuse of the third rite of reconciliation and returned it to its original purpose - for large groups in significant danger of imminent death.

Jesus is the good shepherd, and we are His sheep. When a shepherd tends the wounds of his sheep, he does so sheep by sheep, individually. Likewise, Jesus the good shepherd and doctor of our souls treats us individually, one by one, in the sacrament of penance (first rite and second rite). He listens to us (we confess our sins), He diagnoses the source of the soul sickness, He often gives us words of advice and encouragement to continue the battle with sin, He grants us absolution, and He gives us a something to do as a token of our desire to be fully converted to Him (act/s of penance). Jesus is able to do this through the priest, because the priest in the rite of ordination has completely surrendered his life to Jesus, and therefore what the priest does in the sacraments is done ‘in persona Christi’. Yes it is a mystery, but Yes it is also the reality we experience.

Are there lots of conversion stories that feature the first rite of reconciliation? Yes there are, and they are rather plentiful in stories that feature the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (R.C.I.A.) in their conversion stories. Preparing for the first rite of reconciliation prior to the Easter Vigil is often a major undertaking, well beyond a person’s previous experience, dreaded in advance, because it does require confronting the reality of personal sin, but greatly rejoiced over afterwards.

Nothing, but nothing beats individually hearing these priestly words after confessing our sins,
‘God, the Father of mercies, through the death and the resurrection of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, has reconciled the world to Himself, and sent the Holy Spirit among us  for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’

If we remember Rev 3:16 ‘Since you are only lukewarm, I will spit you out of My mouth’, then it will be easy to reject any practice that smacks of ‘What is the least I’ve got to do to scrape into heaven?’. God wants sons and daughters in deep relationship with Him, and rightly has some antipathy towards those who want His priceless gifts with as little effort as possible and with as little relationship with Him as possible. When a parent only sees a child when they want a cash advance, and not at any other time, the parent still deeply loves that child, but is so disappointed about the might-have-been’s, the shared experiences that didn’t happen, the heart to hearts that never had a chance to begin.

The sacrament of penance makes sense when it is a regular part of a deep and ongoing loving relationship with God. It also makes sense when a prodigal returns and wants to re-start such a relationship with God.

Granted, many of those who came to the third rite of reconciliation no longer knew that more was possible. Many may not have been in a confessional since they were at school. Fear of facing and admitting our sins is a deterrent we all experience. That fear doesn’t go away, but it does lessen if we overcome it on a regular basis. Those who do overcome that fear and confess to a priest (first rite or second rite) experience the wonders of God’s mercy, compassion and help. It is reprehensible that we speak so little of the benefits and blessings of individual confession. It is reprehensible that we promoted the misuse of the third rite of reconciliation and did so little to promote the first and second rites.

Please may this nostalgia for the misuse of the third rite of reconciliation cease. Amen.
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Please may the wonders of God’s mercy to be found in the first and second rites of reconciliation be proclaimed effectively and without ceasing. Amen.

Many parishes are stuck in what seems to be an endless, and fruitless, cycle of sacramental preparation for children; First Penance, First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

It doesn't seem to make any difference whether in a diocese First Holy Communion comes before Confirmation, or vice versa. Even delaying Confirmation until the teenage years makes no difference.

Lots of parish resources are poured into the sacramental preparation of children, and then we don't see those children and their families again.

Because they don't know how else to do it parishes feel stuck, and all parishes seem to be doing much the same kind of preparation.

However a few parishes have begun experimenting with different models for the sacramental preparation of children, and the initial fruit is good even though the different models require significantly more man-power and teamwork.

If you don't mind reading through cathartic layers of grief and pain explaining why the current models don't work as a lead in to a description of these experimental models, then these 9 pages are for you. P.S. There's a bit of ranting included too.

But our human grief and pain is only a drop in the ocean compared to the grief and pain of God at this situation. The desire of His Heart is for life-long relationships of deep intimacy with these youngsters, not for the precious sacramental gifts won by His Passion and Death on the Cross to be disdained so thoroughly.

If we desire to please Him, then we must whole-heartedly seek fruitful alternatives to replace our currently fruitless models of sacramental preparation of children.

Dear God, please send Your Holy Spirit to help us pioneer effective new ways of bringing children into the fulness of the sacramental life which You long for them to experience. Amen. 

Lord Jesus, grant us a holy dis-satisfaction with the way things are, and sufficient holy frustration to do whatever it takes to find and implement the new sacramental preparation pathways You have for us. Amen.  

Yes, it has happened again. Another Divine Mercy Sunday Mass that should have been reaping the spiritual harvest from the previous nine days of grace, and what happened? In the middle of the homily the priest mentioned it was Divine Mercy Sunday. That was it.

It was a far cry from what Jesus confided to St Faustina: 'No soul will be justified until it turns with confidence to My Mercy, and that is why the first Sunday after Easter is to be the Feast of Mercy. On that day, priests are to tell everyone about my great and unfathomable Mercy….Tell the confessor that the Image is to be on view in the church…By means of this Image I shall be granting many graces to souls; so let every soul have access to it.' From passage 570 'Divine Mercy in my Soul'

Maybe they lack homily ideas that enable them to preach about Mercy from the liturgical texts.

If so, here is a sample homily:

First Reading Year B: Acts 4:32-35

Something utterly amazing happened to the first Christians in the days and weeks following the first Pentecost. They were spontaneously generous with each other.

Do you remember the passage in Luke chapter 7 when Jesus tells Simon the Pharisee that the woman who had been weeping over His feet and covering them with kisses must have been forgiven much because she showed such great love? These first Christians were just doing what comes naturally after you have had a life-changing encounter with God's Mercy.

Do you remember how cut to the heart the first Christians were after St Peter told them that not only had they colluded in the death of an innocent man - they had colluded in the death of the only begotten Son of God? Many of them would have been in the crowd that Good Friday calling for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus. Some of them may have been in the group that went to arrest Jesus. Some of them may have taken part in the tortures of Jesus that took place with the permission of the Sanhedrin. They knew they had done serious wrong. They knew they owed God big time. And yet Jesus offered them a place in His Kingdom if they repented and were baptized. For what they had done, major punishment was logically expected. And Jesus offered them peace, forgiveness and an eternal share in His divine life.

These first Christians experienced the unexpected mind-blowingly generous Mercy of God. Therefore they loved much.

And Jesus still offers this today. There is a woman with four grown sons, who back when she was much younger went through four abortions. She knows with certainty that Jesus rescued her from the abyss. Each year Jesus continues to heal deeper layers of her soul. She knows she owes God big time, and her heart is full of love for Jesus her Saviour. Her life she has happily placed at His disposal, generously serving and encouraging all those Jesus brings into her life. Her life still has major challenges, but her trust in the Mercy of Jesus gets her through all of them.

If your life isn't being fueled by constant gratitude to God, then today is the day to have a good long think. How conscious are you that you owe God big time? Because we all do.

Look today at the Image of Divine Mercy. Look at the wounds in the hands, feet and heart of Jesus. They are His promise to us that if we come to Him with all of our sins, wrongdoings, and crimes, that He will forgive us and make us dance with joy. There is nothing that cannot be forgiven through the power of the wounds and blood of Jesus our merciful Saviour. Absolutely nothing that cannot be forgiven.

All we have to do is to humble ourselves, enter the door of the confessional, and in pouring out the miseries of our souls to the priest, encounter the never-to-be-forgotten Mercy of Jesus.

If there is very little joy and generosity in your life, it is a pretty safe bet that you haven't seen the inside of a confessional for quite some time. Jesus is waiting for you there. Do not be afraid. His Mercy is limitless. He wants to heal you. He wants to restore you to full friendship with Him. He wants you to experience the joy and transformation of His forgiveness.

As soon as Mass is over I will be heading straight into the confessional. I will stay there as long as you keep coming. It is not a hardship for me. Every time someone comes to meet Jesus in the confessional, in this wonderful sacrament of Divine Mercy, Jesus shares with me some of the joy He feels when someone seeks His Mercy. It is the joy a junior scrub nurse feels doing her tiny bit to help the great surgeon transform severely mangled bodies into clean healthy bodies.

In Rome, and in many diocesan cathedrals around the world - and hopefully some parish churches as well - preparations are being made for 24 Hours For The Lord at the end of this week (13/14 Mar 2015). It is a wonderful initiative of Pope Francis, to keep the lights on and the doors open for a full 24 hours, and to invite people to come and pray and to return to the Sacrament of Penance. Many generous priests will be giving up sleep over those 24 hours to be used by Jesus to bring His Mercy to all those who seek it. May they be richly rewarded for such service.

In many other churches there will be opportunities to attend the sacrament of Penance under the 2nd Rite of Reconciliation in these final weeks before Good Friday. At those times the community gathers, prays, listens to Scripture and has an opportunity to think about those areas of their lives that are not in harmony with God's love before going up individually to one of the several priests available to confess their sins, followed by a time of prayer and communal thanksgiving.

The big question is: How can we make it easier for people who haven't experienced God's personal Mercy in a long time to take that daunting step into the confessional?

For starters you need a team of well-prepared parishioners outside the doors of the church building. People need a friendly face on the outside of a church as they do the 'Will I or won't I go in?' battle. The courage it takes to get over a church threshold is formidable, and the battle happens outside not inside. They become a visual reminder of the Father waiting for the prodigal child to return home.

You need people outside, so that someone can come up and ask, 'What's going on inside?' 'Why are there lights on at 2am?' and so an answer can be given, 'Pope Francis has asked us to have open house for 24 hours so that people can pray and so they can experience God's Mercy in the sacrament of Penance. If you wanted to go inside, you would be most welcome.'

Then if someone says, 'But I don't know how to pray' or 'I have forgotten how to go to confession' or 'Can you tell me what sin is, so that I know what I need to confess?' your team can help them.

If you can have a similar team on the inside of the church as well, that's even better. You need people on the alert for those who have become emotional before and especially after the sacrament of penance. Do you have a ready supply of tissues? Do you have people on alert for those going through the 'Will I or won't I risk going through the confessional door?' battle who can pray silently, and can encourage when appropriate. Do you have people ready to listen to those who have just experienced God's Mercy? Do you have people who can get up to a microphone every hour or so and give testimony to how prayer and the sacrament of Penance have changed their lives?

In the confessionals themselves, have the priests been supplied with printed material to hand out to penitents? Things like Parish Welcome kits (with information on parish groups, how to contact the parish office, Mass times, Reconciliation times, RCIA and how to enroll a child in a Catholic school etc), How to Pray pamphlets, small booklets of the Compendium of the Catechism and Gospels. Anything that will assist a penitent to keep going forward in the grace they have received help from God's Mercy.

Person to person interaction is best, but even that needs paperwork support, so here are some resources to download:

Sin is when we do not love God and others as Jesus taught us to. That's the answer our children going through sacramental initiation receive. Pondering our lives in the light of the Ten Commandments is valuable when preparing for the Sacrament of Penance. These documents are A4 size, one for adults and one for children.