Review article
Priest facing the challenge of the pastoral care of confession
Alojzije Čondić
orcid.org/0009-0008-6266-9128
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split
Abstract
At the beginning of the third millennium, social and cultural environment has been increasingly falling under the influence of secularism, relativism and technocracy. Consequently, viewing the world and human life in such a way, man is being moved away from the truth and Christian anthropology, so that spea- king about God’s mercy and need for the sacrament of Penance is becoming more and more abstract. Church and confessors are facing the new pastoral challenges and they are called to seek more appropriate pastoral solutions. Therefore, the call to keep rediscovering the depth and beauty of the sacrament of Reconci- liation is always actual and necessary. Because, culture, which is permeated with self-justification, is increasingly losing the sen- se of sin and the need for forgiveness as well as the nearness to God who is “generous with his mercy” (Eph 2, 4). Accordingly, the author first analyzes the approach to the sacrament of Reconci- liation from theological and pastoral aspect; then he points at its suppression in the form of sense of sin and feelings of guilt and also of some mental illnesses that confessors face with. Finally, he refers to the pastoral of indulgence and charity urging the necessity of pastoral metanoia.
Keywords
confession; confessor; sin; mercy/charity; absolution; pastoral care
Hrčak ID:
155292
URI
Publication date:
8.4.2016.
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