Chateau Lloyd

Growing up outside the Catholic Church, many of the references I had for it came from popular entertainment.  Thus, the names (and purposes of) the Sacraments were based on TV shows or movies.  Catholics had "confession" for when they sinned and of course "last rites" when they were about to die.  I wasn't sure what "confirmation" was but it was mentioned in a Billy Joel song.

In the years since, I've gained a better understanding of how Sacraments work and the Church has also cleaned up the terminology and the teachings regarding them.  One of the most helpful (and necessary) reforms was using "reconciliation" rather than "confession."

There is a huge difference between the two.  While it is useful to confess one's sins, that's not enough to obtain forgiveness.  There's also the fact that confessions can be forced or insincere.

What is really going on is a reconciliation with God, and this involves both admitting ones sins and taking actions to remedy their causes and effects.  This approach is much more positive, and I've noticed that the clergy seems to find the change a welcome one as well.

If you think about it, psychological therapy is simply a secularized version of reconciliation.  In both cases you see a specialist (priest or counselor) who listens to your problems and then offers advice. 

The primary difference is that the priest derives moral authority from God as understood through sacred scripture and tradition.  The therapist has a degree from somewhere, and an expertise based on whatever the current understanding of science says is right.

The problem of course is that science is constantly changing, and nowhere is this more pronounced than in the behavioral sphere.  What was once seen as normal and healthy is now abusive and wrong.  It is sometimes hard to believe that we live in a time when people who are hailed as experts declare that the best way to help troubled teenagers who are suffering from an identity crisis is to pump them full of dangerous drugs and perform irreversible surgeries on them.

One might fairly call that demonic.

While technically one is only required to go to Reconciliation on an annual basis, as a practical matter people are invited to go as often as they like (that being said, our parish priests have made announcements that merely thinking about sins does not require reconciliation on a weekly basis).

All in all, I now find Reconciliation very helpful, no longer a time of guilt and self-recrimination but instead an opportunity to truly "get right with the Lord" and also make peace with those whom I may also have sinned against.

That's a key part of the process - to truly reconcile with people who were harmed by one's actions.  That's often the hardest part, but it also can offer rich rewards.