Vatican 2, Sin and Confession.

Photo:  St. John Bosco hearing Confessions.

What did the Vatican II do to sin? They made him cardinal i.e. the late Card. Jaime Sin. And they framed sin in the context of love. A serious sin ended the relationship while the less serious type strained it. So, the focus was not on the law as much. And gone are the distinctions between mortal and venial sin and the drawings of a totally vs. partially blackened heart in the Catechism and prayer books.

For me, it makes little or no difference because, I try to go and bring my family to the practice of frequent Confession. One does not need to have serious wrong-doings to approach and benefit from the sacrament. The popes have consistently taught this about the confession of devotion and the saints, specially St. John Bosco have used this to produce other saints.

Now if we can only have more priests hear Confessions for a longer time. I live in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. and I want to tabulate the amount of time each parish dedicates to this sacrament on my blog. But living in this town for over 25 years, I have absorbed enough diplomatic sense to know better. So, I just hope our priest remembers the Cure D’Ars, St. John Vianney, who spent countless hours in the confessional.