Confession Makes a Comeback

Churches are encouraging sinners to repent by modernizing an ancient rite. Alexandra Alter reports.

By ALEXANDRA ALTER
September 21, 2007; Page W1

Sin never goes out of style, but confession is undergoing a revival.

This February at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI instructed priests to make confession a top priority. U.S. bishops have begun promoting it in diocesan newspapers, mass mailings and even billboard ads. And in a dramatic turnaround, some Protestant churches are following suit. This summer, the second-largest North American branch of the Lutheran Church passed a resolution supporting the rite, which it had all but ignored for more than 100 years.

Confession Makes a Comeback

This is really a great article! In the Wall Street Journal no less.. Who woulda thought?

Alexandra actually called me on the phone in getting this story. …. which was really neat.. I didn’t make it into print… but hey…. I was at least in on the working of it. I was like feeling.. “oh so important!”

I hope it does great things.. and like she says in the article.. which is really worth reading …. it does indeed seem to be making a comeback.

I think it is really neat that the Protestant churches are taking a serious look at it. Maybe we’ll start seeing we are not so far from each other as we thought!