‘Be not afraid’ – priests encourage reconciliation

By LORI BERGLUND
Special to Lumen Media
 
            Even saints go to confession. In her earthly life, Mother Teresa was often referred to as a living saint.

            “I must go to confession with love because I have an opportunity to make my soul clean, to become pure,” said St. Teresa of Calcutta.

            Throughout the Diocese of Sioux City, active and retired priests work together to provide ample opportunities for Catholics to cleanse their souls through the sacrament of reconciliation. As the Advent season approaches, such opportunities will increase for the faithful to spend a little time in quiet reflection and to prepare one’s soul for the birth of our Lord again at Christmas.   

            “I think it’s one of the most life-changing sacraments that we have,” said Father Thomas Hart, retired priest living in Humboldt.

            Hart volunteers as parishes in both the Sioux City Diocese and Archdiocese of Dubuque to help offer Sunday Mass and provide additional times for the sacrament of reconciliation.

            Beginning three weeks before Christmas and three weeks before Easter each year, Father Hart can be found in the confessional at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Fort Dodge, where he hears confessions between the Sunday Masses.

            “I hear a lot of confessions,” Father Hart said, as it seems to be a particularly convenient time in today’s busy world. “When I hear confession between the 7:30 and 10 a.m. Masses, I never get a break. Sometimes Msgr. McCoy or Father Ross has to come and help.”

            But Father Hart is grateful for the line, happy to providing such an important sacrament.

            “People come and bear their souls,” he said. “It’s that unburdening of sin that weighs them down in life. They leave the confessional uplifted, with a renewed, more joyful sense of life.”

            If the opportunity presents itself, Father Hart said he likes to offer a little spiritual direction during confession. Helping people look at things in a new way, or reexamining their prayer life, is something he hopes they can take with them when they leave the confessional.

            Sometimes, there are sins that a person has carried a long time, finding it difficult to confess. Father Hart encourages people to take the burden to the Lord in confession.
Father Hart            “One of the things I deal with quite often is grudges that people are holding against another person,” he said. “We talk about grudges, and how that robs them of happiness in their life. I will share with them that a grudge is something you can’t take with you into heaven.”
            Indeed, he noted, nothing of sin can enter heaven. All the more reason to let go of those burdens in confession.

            “I tell people, ‘You can’t take sin into heaven. You have to let it go,’” Father Hart explained. “They will say, ‘I never thought of that.’”

            Afraid to confess something? ‘Be not afraid,’ is the priests’ encouragement for the faithful.

            “I don’t know if I’ve heard it all, but nothing surprises me,” said another retired priest, Father Merlin Schrad, who now makes his home at Carroll.

            As Father Schrad sees it, confession is a time to draw closer to Jesus, to build a real friendship with our Lord. And if it has been decades since one’s last confession, the joy may be that much greater.

            “Sometimes people will tell me, ‘The last time I went to confession was 20 or 30 years ago,’” Father Schrad noted. “I tell them, you’re not going to remember everything. I want to thank you for bringing that here. Just tell me the things you know are more serious, and just turn that over to the Lord. I never give any big, outstanding penance. I try to give them something helpful and be thankful that the Lord has called them here tonight.”

            In addition to hearing additional confessions at the holiday times, both retired priests hear confessions regularly at Catholic schools in their area. The two are gratified when young people begin building a relationship with Jesus through the sacraments. It is their hope that frequent confession will become a habit for a lifetime.

            Father Francis Makwinja, is parochial vicar at the Fort Dodge/Webster County and Humboldt parishes. On a recent Sunday, Father Makwinja had the opportunity to baptize two babies. It is a sacrament they will receive once and only once, and one that can never be removed, but the sacrament of reconciliation is one that can and should be celebrated often.

            “It helps us draw closer to Jesus,” Father Makwinja said. “People need to be reminded, from time to time, of the wonderful sacrament of reconciliation. It’s one of the means of graces that God has given us to help unite ourselves to him.”Father Schrad stays busy in his retirement

            It doesn’t have to be a holiday to lead the faithful into the confessional. As so many saints have testified, frequent confession is a habit that helps build holiness. Parishes throughout the Sioux City Diocese offer weekly confession times that can be found in bulletins and on parish websites. One need not go to one’s own parish, but can go to any Catholic church and come back to the sacrament.

            Confession, said St. Teresa of Calcutta, “Is a place where I allow Jesus to take away from me everything that divides, destroys.”
 
Berglund is a freelance writer based in Dayton. She is a member of Holy Trinity Parish, Webster County.