Dear St. Rita Families,
It was a joy to celebrate 100 years with all of you last week! Thank you to all who were part of the preparation and execution! May the Lord continue to bless this parish for generations to come!
As we settle back into the regular course of parish life, there are a few items to address. The first is the email I sent last week about the “safe-haven” resolution passed unanimously by City Council this week. Thank you to all who reached out expressing your concerns. I neglected in my missives to share with you some of the various resources that are out there if you would like to learn more about this topic. Here are a few links that you may find interesting and helpful:
Bishop Burbidge’s Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology (2021)
CanaVox – Sex, Gender and Identity
Courage International (for those experiencing same-sex attraction)
Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine
The second topic I’d like to mention is the Confession schedule here at St. Rita. It’s a great blessing for you (and a privilege for the priests) to have Confession available so often. In order to keep our availability, however, I have found it necessary to make some modifications in the Confession schedule. The reason is two-fold. First, there are some meetings that can only happen in the evenings, and Fr. Schierer and I are not always free to have them. Second, when one priest is away for some reason (retreat, vacation, etc,), we regularly have to ask for outside help to cover our schedule. We ought to be able to cover our schedule in-house and not take other priests away from their parishes and flocks.
Therefore, beginning Monday, October 7, the Confession schedule will be modified as follows: We will only have one priest hearing Confessions in the evenings Monday through Friday, not two. Monday through Thursday, Confessions will be from 6:30 PM – 7:15 PM. At 7:15 PM, Father will leave the Confessional and will preside over Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by Mass. Confessions will resume after Mass, if necessary. Friday Confessions will move to 6:30 PM also and will continue through Vespers and Mass if necessary. The weekend Confession schedule will not change. I am hopeful that this schedule will maintain our availability for the Sacrament of Confession while enabling us to accomplish our other duties.
In order to facilitate this change, I will also provide some helpful ideas for making a good Confession. This Sacrament of God’s Mercy is a joy to celebrate for us priests, and we want you to get the most out of it, starting with your Sacramental reconciliation with God. Therefore, when you get to the Church, please make a good examination of conscience in the pew before you get in the Confession line. This will help to call to mind any sins you may have committed since your last Confession and will help things go more smoothly inside the box. You can find some good examinations of conscience here, here, here, and here.
You should know the difference between mortal (deadly) sin and venial sin. All sin is harmful and destructive to our relationship with God, but mortal sin is akin to telling God that you don’t want to be in relationship with Him anymore. It ends the friendship by turning your back on God and wins for you eternal damnation in Hell – precisely because you have indicated by this action that you don’t want to be with God in Heaven! God, of course, still desires friendship with you even if you commit mortal sin, and He never stops loving you and calling you back. But you have to turn from the sin to be able to receive sanctifying grace which enables you to enter Heaven.
For a sin to be mortal, 3 conditions must be met: 1) Grave matter (something serious), 2) Full knowledge, and 3) Full/Deliberate Consent. In other words, the sin must be something serious, you have to know it is serious, and you have to choose it. Mortal sin cannot be committed by accident, but don’t fool yourself either. It is both difficult and very easy to commit mortal sin. Read more on the three conditions here, and more on what types of sins are grave matter here.
As you know, all mortal sins (kind and number) must be confessed for your Confession to be valid. It is good to confess venial sins, but it is not required. If you have committed a mortal sin (please don’t), you should mention what the sin was (the kind of sin) and how many times you did it (the number). The only detail that is required is information that would change the nature of the sin. So, be clear about what the sin was. If you mention theft, but don’t mention that it was $1 million from the bank, you are obfuscating. But, if you mention theft and proceed to tell me indiscriminately all the details about how and why, you are rambling. These kinds of details (what needs to be mentioned and what doesn’t) should be parsed in your examination of conscience. Only mention what constitutes a different or different kind of sin, or if it makes the sin more or less serious. Also, you should mention if you received the Eucharist while in the state of mortal sin (please don’t), since that is the mortal sin of sacrilege: in this case, trying to unite God to your sinfulness.
Lastly, because Confession is also a deeply intimate moment with the Lord, and because (frankly) life is hard, you may be bringing into Confession the weight of your whole life. It is good to lay all of your burdens at the feet of Our Lord who is infinitely merciful and loves you! Likewise, do not be afraid or ashamed if you find yourself unloading everything in that moment of reconciliation. Only please be aware that Father will be able to offer some brief encouragement for you at that time, but not a long conversation. Hopefully with some more free evenings, he’ll be able to meet with you outside of the Confessional to address those things!
Please know of my prayers for you always!
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen