“Confession” is a word that strikes fear in the hearts of many who grew up under a stricter model than the Episcopal Church offers. We have the General Confession as part of our weekly service, but we also have private confessions available by appointment. This comes as a surprise to many, but I assure you it’s true. We don’t use little booths for confession, we hold them in more comfortable manner, such as in an office. Still, confession and pastoral conversations are ways to address some of the issues that surface during our meditations, issues that can reach anywhere from slight embarrassment to perhaps making us feel unloved or unworthy of the love of God. And sometimes the issues are not of a negative nature, but calls of discernment. Sometimes there are goals or projects or even life changes that are exciting and scary and silence brings them up too.
—The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe of Saint George’s Episcopal Church in Maplewood, New Jersey
Far from “striking fear” in my heart, I’ve found Confession, or more properly, the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, to be one of the joys of being a Catholic. BTW, Catholics can go to confession in a “comfortable” office, but kneeling on a hard board in confessional does have a way of focusing you on the seriousness of sin.