Confessing Sins Online

[Paladin D]

Wait...

Is it a good thing, or bad, to have a screen in the confessional?

[M.SIGGA]

I'm less nervous when there's a screen, but I think priests give better counseling face to face b/c the sacrament becomes a more personal encounter.

[megrc]

I tested it out and it said I had to do a ton of Hail Mary's and other stuff. I think it's good for an examination of consience, but that's about it. It lists out a lot of sins that I had forgotten about, but other than that, I don't get how anyone could do it and think it's real confession!!!!!

[Paladin D]

But does a Priest have to actually lay hands on the person? If so, how would the priest be able to do that, if there's a screen in the way?

[Ash Wednesday]

How utterly strange this thing is. I hope this isn't supposed to be for people too embarassed or scared to go to a priest.

Usually I face the priest, but one time I confessed behind the screen because I was so embarassed -- I confessed to the priest that as a teenager some friends and I raided the church kitchen and got into the food and took sips of some beer we found during movie night with our youth group. I told the priest this from behind the screen and I could tell he was he quietly laughing. Maybe he recognized my voice. :lol:

Edited December 3, 2003 by Ash Wednesday

[hyperdulia again]

:o

Edited December 3, 2003 by hyperdulia again

[BLAZEr]

But does a Priest have to actually lay hands on the person?  If so, how would the priest be able to do that, if there's a screen in the way?

you are absolutely right. The priest does not need to actually lay hands on you. It's a nice gesture, but its not necessary.

What is necessary is that you actually present yourself personally before God through the preson acting in persona christi.

On your part what is needed: Honesty, True Contrition, Resolve not to sin again

On his part: Saying the words of absolution. (I absolve you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.)

Those are only the minimum requirements. Of course there is counsel and penance and that stuff but that stuff is not formal matter in the confessional.

[cmotherofpirl]

THe punishment for murder is a 5 day fast.

Are they trying to confess us or kill us?

[Khet]

I guess they are trying to tell you that it's a bad idea to kill someone then.

[hyperdulia again]

i got 848 hail marys and 40 hour fathers for venial sins.

i have to fast for three weeks for mortal sins.

ya, it's a good examination of conscience, but having machines issue penances is not such a good idea.

[cmotherofpirl]

So what sin are they committing by this and what penance shall we give them? :rolleyes:

[ironmonk]

Sorry guys... I could have swore it was the laying on of hands reason... but this was a few years ago... Here's an article I found:

Vatican to rule out online confessions

By Philip Willan; IDG News Service

We've heard of the separation of church and state, the secular and religious, but what about the sacred and the technological?

While businesses fight to keep commercially sensitive information from leaking across the Internet, the Catholic church is preparing to ban traffic in information of a more personal nature: Online confession will be off the menu for connected members of the congregation.

The Internet is an excellent instrument for evangelisation and religious dialogue, but it cannot be turned into an online recycle bin for sins in place of traditional face-to-face confessions, a senior Vatican official said last month.

The red light to online confessions is contained in a document being prepared by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, which broadly welcomes the Net as a powerful instrument for evangelisation, the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

The sacrament of confession, by which the Roman Catholic faithful receive pardon and absolution for their sins, must always take place in "the sacramental context of a personal encounter," Archbishop John Foley, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Com-muni-cations, told the Italian Catholic news service SIR.

"The Internet offers the church the opportunity to make the saving message of Christ accessible throughout the world," Foley told the agency. "In societies that don't allow the presence of priests, nuns, religious or lay missionaries, the Internet can offer people undertaking a spiritual quest, or even just the curious, a chance to obtain information or find an inspiration that would otherwise be impossible."

The Internet, like all communications media, offers more opportunities for good than temptations for evil, Foley was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera. "It depends on how you use it," he said.

Foley's statement is simply an update of church regulations to keep pace with technological progress, said Father Paolo Floretta, a Franciscan friar who runs a website allowing the Ca-tholic faithful to send prayers to Saint An-thony of Padua from all around the world. "The sacrament of confession requires the physical presence of the priest and the penitent," he said in a telephone interview. "Privacy is absolutely not guaranteed on the Internet, and there is no certainty as to the identity of the two parties to the communication. You can't have confession by e-mail, any more than you can have it by telephone or letter."

Father Floretta's site (http://www. carosantantonio.it/) has received thousands of e-mail prayers since it began operating a year ago.

And in a further stamping of its authority, the Church earlier ruled that its steeples are reserved for the cross, and not for mobile operators.

Italy has an estimated 100,000 churches and the largest mobile phone market in Europe. But a circular signed by Bishop Ennio Antonelli, secretary general of the Italian Bishops' Conference, which governs the Roman Catholic Church in Italy, will restore the cross to uncluttered pre-eminence on religious buildings throughout the country.

The use of church buildings for purposes unconnected with worship would violate church law and could jeopardise the fiscal exemptions and other privileges currently granted.

---------------------------------------

Bullish on Internet´s Role in Evangelization

Counseling, But Not Confession, Seen as Possibility

VIENNA, Austria, JUNE 7, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Internet offers great potential for evangelization, especially in countries that ban priests, religious and even lay missionaries, said the head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

At a conference here for journalists and communicators, Archbishop John P. Foley said, "The Internet offers the Church the opportunity to make available to everyone in the world, with access to the Internet, the saving message of Jesus Christ."

To those in restrictive societies, "the Internet can bring to those engaged in a spiritual search or even to those who are merely curious, an opportunity for information and inspiration to which they otherwise would not have access," the archbishop said.

He added, in "a manner that has not yet been fully and formally developed by the Church, the Internet offers an opportunity for dialogue, response to questions, interactive instruction and even pastoral counseling."

He hastened to add that Internet "does not offer the opportunity for online confession, which must always be done in the sacramental context of personal encounter."

Archbishop Foley noted that Internet offers many temptations: "invasion of privacy, violation of copyright, distribution of pornography, exposure to sexual predators and to those interested in larceny."

"There also exists the problem of a type of addiction to the Internet," he said, "in which young people especially can be tempted to spend hours in front of their computer screens in pursuit of unending distraction." However, it "offers more opportunities for good than temptations to evil. It is all a question of how we use it," the archbishop emphasized.

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications is preparing two documents on Internet.

The first, entitled "Ethics in Internet," is addressed to all people of good will. It continues the series of reflections initiated with the documents "Ethics in Advertising," and "Ethics in Communications."

The second document, Archbishop Foley said, "will be devoted to the effective use of the Internet by the Church itself, as a marvelous instrument for evangelization and pastoral service."

Archbishop Foley pointed to the example of the Internet Communications of the Church in Latin America (RIIAL) project as an example of the Church's use of new technologies.

RIIAL was launched a dozen years ago by the pontifical council and the Latin American bishops' council (CELAM). At that time, Internet was used by a privileged few, sharing information "from and with Rome, and among the bishops' conferences and, inDouche, dioceses of Latin America," the archbishop said.

RIIAL also developed programs for dioceses and parishes, to offer news services to the Church. ZENIT, in fact, was founded to respond to these needs.

Your Servant in Christ,

ironmonk

[VeraMaria]

THe punishment for murder is a 5 day fast.

Are they trying to confess us or kill us?

that's sad though.

i hope catholics don't start thinking they can confess sins online. :ph34r:

[God Conquers]

HAHA! They asked me to fast for 3 WEEKS! I forget what I put in though. This is silly.

[Norseman82]

but having machines issue penances is not such a good idea.

Have you ever seen the TV show ""Dave Allen at Large"? It was very popular in the 80's if you had PBS. Dave Allen was an Irish comedian on BBC. He had a section of his show devoted to Catholic humor (mostly tasteful). One skit dealt with automation replacing humans, specifically with a computer replacing a priest in the confessional and the priest was sweeping the floors. Well, the priest got fed up and went into the confessional and started making a weird bogus confession to the computer, which broke down and when issuing the penance instead of "5 Hail Marys" you heard "5 male Harrys...5 male Harrys..." (as smoke starts spewing from the computer)

Edited December 8, 2003 by Norseman82