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Thursday, April 1, 2010

THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE ON GOOD FRIDAY AND HOLY SATURDAY? FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, YES!


There is an erroneous school of thought out there that the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) should not be celebrated on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, that this is some kind of liturgical principle or liturgical law.

It is not, although I have fallen into this trap on Holy Saturday (never on Good Friday). Pope John Paul II clarified this several years ago.

Usually those who pay scant attention to the "rubrics" of the Roman Missal, will always point to a place in the Missal that says the sacraments are not to be celebrated on Holy Saturday. This never applied to Confession. Pope John Paul makes that clear.

Priests who insist on not hearing confessions on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, while liturgically well-meaning and perhaps liturgically still in the 1970's,they are legally and canonically incorrect. Tisk, tisk!

So at St. Joseph Catholic Church in good old Macon, Georgia, we'll be hearing confessions on Good Friday, following our 12:10 PM and 3:00 PM Stations of the Cross.

On Holy Saturday, we'll be hearing confessions beginning at 3:00 PM until the last person (we normally conclude at 4:00 PM).

2 comments:

Seeker said...

Way to go Father! look what happen to the "good thief".

Marc said...

Thank you, Father! I'm hopeful many of our parishioners will take you and God up on the offer of Sacramental Reconciliation!

I love Sacramental Confession. It really shows how well God understands us, his creatures.