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March 07, 2010 - French Confession: Call It In

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

Leave it to the French to make Confession sexy, or at least, even a bit MORE mysterious. Yeah, I know a lot of you haven't gone to Confession in a very long time, but now there's a dial-a-confession hotline in France called CORD TO THE LORD for those of you who may want to test the waters. It was launched for Lent. For fifty cents a minute you can spill your guts to an answering machine that greets you with soft organ music playing in the background. There’s a Scripture reading, your confession, some prayers and even an Act of Contrition at the end. Just like the real thing. Except it’s not. Even the creator of the hotline admits that. There’s no priest and no absolution from the sin. But the idea is that maybe you might feel better just getting it all out. Well, the Catholic Church in France isn’t feeling better and has denounced the telephone confession as confusing to the faithful. But the hullaballoo got me to thinking about what’s really missing from this GALlic enterprise. It’s the human touch. That’s what’s always been special about Confession to me, on whichever side I’ve sat. It’s a person receiving the words and in some way helping to carry the burden. And whatever your theology of whether the priest represents the Church or Christ, the fact is that somebody shares your struggle and tells you that you’re going to be okay. And they even put their hands on your head just in case you’re still hanging it too low. An answering machine just can’t do that. And neither by the way can a Twitter account or a Facebook page. The more we use Social Networking venues to connect, the less we seem to be REALLY CONNECTING. Maybe Diana Ross had it right all along. Sometimes you just have to reach out and touch somebody’s hand. Or let them touch yours.

To watch Father Beck give the above Reflection, click here.