Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that Penance can take place in the framework of a communal celebration, writes Cathal Barry
Like all the sacraments, according to the Church, Penance is a liturgical action.
The elements of the celebration, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, are ordinarily these: A greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.
The Byzantine Liturgy, according to the Catechism, recognises several formulas of absolution, in the form of invocation, which admirably express the mystery of forgiveness:
“May the same God, who through the Prophet Nathan forgave David when he confessed his sins, who forgave Peter when he wept bitterly, the prostitute when she washed his feet with her tears, the publican, and the prodigal son, through me, a sinner, forgive you both in this life and in the next and enable you to appear before his awe-inspiring tribunal without condemnation, he who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.”
Communal
The Sacrament of Penance can also take place in the framework of a communal celebration, the Church teaches, in which the faithful prepare together for Confession and give thanks together for the forgiveness received.
Here, according to Church teaching, the personal confession of sins and individual absolution are inserted into a liturgy of the word of God with readings and a homily, an examination of conscience conducted in common, a communal request for forgiveness, the Our Father and a thanksgiving in common.
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, states that this communal celebration “expresses more clearly the ecclesial character of penance”.
“However,” the document states, “regardless of its manner of celebration the Sacrament of Penance is always, by its very nature, a liturgical action, and therefore an ecclesial and public action”.
Recourse
The Church teaches that in the “case of grave necessity recourse may be had to a communal celebration of Reconciliation with general Confession and general absolution”.
“Grave necessity of this sort can arise when there is imminent danger of death without sufficient time for the priest or priests to hear each penitent’s confession,” the Catehcism states.
“Grave necessity can also exist when, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors to hear individual confessions properly in a reasonable time, so that the penitents through no fault of their own would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time,” the key teaching document adds.
The Second Vatican Council decreed that individual, integral Confession and absolution “remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of Confession”.