What privacy?

[douloijohanna]

Steve and his friend Gerry rode along in the pickup truck, talking. Gerry, a somewhat lapsed Catholic, was listing his complaints against the Church while Steve listened. Occasionally Steve responded, but for the most part he kept silent.

"I just don't feel comfortable confessing my sins to a priest. It's so embarrassing. There are just some

Comments

[ext_85660]

Even if no sin will be private in the future, what's the harm in keeping it between you and God right now? I thought Catholics did confession because the priest intercedes between you and Jesus.

Personally, I wouldn't want to confess my sins to a stranger. Who knows if he has a tape recorder in there with malicious intentions. A priest is still human. I'm usually at peace after confessing my sins to God in a prayer. I think if I had to do it to a stranger, I'd be paranoid that he'd go tell someone and have a good laugh at my expense or my voice would be broadcasted on some website. But that's just me.

This has nothing to do with confessions, but I found Nancy's yogurt at HEB. I'm going to make some frozen yogurt with it next week.

[douloijohanna]

A few thoughts, in no particular order, and fairly incomplete:

1) Yay for the Nancy's Honey Yogurt!
2) Even the Bible admonishes us to confess our sins to one another and pray for each other so that we may be healed. (James 5:16)
3) By not confessing our sins to others, we lose out on a lot of good things:
- accountability
- wisdom (others may have experience conquering particular sins, and may have wise counsel)
- humility
- awareness of "the great cloud of witnesses" that is the Body of Christ, the Church
4) There's also a lot to be said for this idea of exposing our soul to the light, of getting it accustomed to the light, of "training" it for what Heaven will be like. In Orthodoxy, that's a lot of what the Liturgy is -- training for and authentic participation in heavenly worship.
5) If a priest EVER shared what someone confessed to him in private, he'd be defrocked (i.e. not a priest anymore). It's a really grievous offense, and it basically NEVER happens.

[ext_85660]

It's great to confess your sins to people, but wouldn't you rather it be to a person you know and trust? Maybe it's because I don't see priests, pastors, or anyone else on the church's payroll any differently than a random stranger I see at the store. A priest would have severe consequences for disclosing what was said during confession, but so would molesting children. I don't think all priests or even most priests are child molesters. I just think they're human capable of sinning just like everyone else.

I would hope it'd be different exposing our sins on earth now than when we're in heaven. I hope no one in heaven laughs at me.

[douloijohanna]

I can't imagine a priest laughing at someone during confession. :)

I think you hit the nail on the head, with your admission that you view priests as strangers. In Orthodoxy, your parish priest is usually your spiritual father (basically like a counselor who gives you spiritual direction and advice). So, the relationship can be quite close, and is usually nothing at all like that of a stranger.

Of course the exposure of our sins in heaven will be different than what we experience here on earth, BUT in many ways it will be similar. And, in those ways, it is beneficial to our souls.

[eric_james]

I like this post. The idea that our sins are private is nefarious, can lead to addicitions and all other kinds of self-deceptions.

BTW. I only realized recently that you are in Medford. Is there a parish there now? When I was first looking into Orthodoxy in 1992, I attended Reader's services in Ashland a few times. I lived in Klamath Falls at the time. Once or twice a month a priest would come down from Portland, Fr George Gray or something like that...

[douloijohanna]

I am no longer in Medford, but Austin, TX. There is a great little OCA Mission parish in Ashland, OR that manages to pay for a full-time priest, Fr Isaac Skidmore. (www.saintgabrieloca.org) Fr Isaac's been there since about 2000. They meet in the Newman Center's chapel at the SOU campus, as they are not yet able to afford the increasingly expensive southern Oregon real estate. Short of a miraculous donation of land or money, I don't know how they'll ever afford a permanent home.

[eric_james]

Oh, right, Austin! Sorry, now I feel like a schmuck. The first Orthodox service I ever attended, a Reader's Vespers, was at the Ashland mission. They were meeting then, I THINK, at an Episcopal church near downtown Ashland. Orthodoxy is spread pretty thin in the Pacific northwest, it seems.

[douloijohanna]

You're not a schmuck. I write about Medford enough to confuse anyone! I really miss living there, even though I was born and raised in TX and all my family is here. I loved the Ashland parish, and I hope they get a permanent home soon. The first Orthodox service I ever attended was also at the Ashland mission! Neato, huh? But it was a Liturgy on a Sunday morning, served by Father Isaac. The Newman Center chapel is a good fit for them for now b/c they can have most services at their normal times as the chapel's not its own parish with regular and conflicting services. Plus, it's really cheap! But it's small and cramped and an odd mesh of Catholic and Orthodox stuff, so they'd do well to have their own space.