|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
Confession reached its peak attendance in the early 1950s, but by
the end of the Second Vatican Council, the popularity of the
sacrament plummeted. While this decline is often noted by
historians, theologians, priests, and laity alike-all eager to
provide possible explanations-little attention has been paid to
another dramatic shift. Coincident with the decreasing popularity
of the sacrament of penance in the United States were changes to
non-sacramental penitential practices, including Lenten fasting,
Ember Days, and the year-round Friday meat abstinence. American
Catholics-sometimes derisively called Fisheaters-had assiduously
observed Friday abstinence, regardless of ethnicity or geographic
location. In 1966, the bishops in the United States released a
statement implementing Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution on
penance. Eating meat on Friday transformed from being a mortal sin
to not being regarded as sinful at all. This apparently overnight
change to one of the most long-standing practices, one that could
be used to identify Catholics in the U.S., confused many of the
faithful and resulted in Fridays becoming just another day. The
decline of the sacrament is best seen within the context of the
decline of a larger penitential culture among American Catholics,
and both are best understood in reference to the changing notion of
sin at this time period. Sin became a more abstract, general
concept, contrasting sharply with the actual and personal "shopping
list" of sins that the faithful had frequently enumerated in
earlier decades. Accompanying this change in the perception of sin
were criticisms of the practice of penance, and both sacramental
and non-sacramental penance were found wanting as both legalistic
and superficial. The attempts to revitalize penance through greater
choice-whether in the confessional or on Fridays-actually furthered
the decline in American penitential practice. For some, penitential
practices are the buried treasure of the church that await
rediscovery. For others, they were experiences that had to be
endured and that are best forgotten. Morrow, in a thoughtful,
even-handed way, traces how the perception and emphasis changed
during this critical and controversial time in the church's
history.
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.