Archbishop: Confession is evangelization

Washington (CNS) -- Using the Sacrament of Penance makes each Catholic "an evangelist for the forgiveness of Christ and a witness to God's wondrous mercy," said Archbishop Donald Wuerl in his first pastoral letter as head of the Washington, D.C., Archdiocese.

"When we face daily frustrations and struggle to be good, we need to recall the teaching of the Church that we have the power to triumph over sin because we have God's grace within us," he said.

The letter, issued for Lent, is titled "God's Mercy and the Sacrament of Penance." Coinciding with the letter is an initiative encouraging Catholics to receive the sacrament during Lent.

'God's love'

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, Archbishop Wuerl said in the letter, "is the story of God's love that never turns away from us. It endures even our short-sightedness and selfishness. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, God waits, watches and hopes for our return every time we walk away."

In an interview, he said, "In a way, confession has become a forgotten sacrament. There are a lot of people who aren't as familiar with it as they ought to be or would like to be."

A goal of his pastoral letter, he added, "is to remind people of God's mercy and how readily available to us it is, and how easily we can get up from a fall."

Whose at fault?

One reason use of the sacrament has fallen off, Archbishop Wuerl said, is "there's so much in our culture that says, 'Whatever happens can't be our fault. It must be all right or somebody else's fault.' We live in a culture that tries to justify whatever individuals do.

"People say, 'It can't be a sin, because I like doing this.' We tend as a culture to justify what we're doing, rather than examine it in the light of the Gospels."

To people who have not been to confession in a while, Archbishop Wuerl said his message is: "Why carry all that excess baggage when you don't have to? Why make your way through life without Christ's help when He's standing there, waiting to help you?"

(2/15/07) [[In-content Ad]]