Poor old bishop Kieran Conry (in the UK) has recently made a bit of a twit of himself (in an article in a UK Catholic Paper – the Catholic Herald, discussed on almost every British Catholic blog – eg Holy Smoke, Hermeneutic of Continuity). For example, he advises against frequent confession, and minimises the importance and authority of Humanae Vitae.
He has fallen victim to what I call the listing barque syndrome.
Some years ago (1950s) it seemed that the barque of Peter (aka The Catholic Church) was leaning a little too far to the right. The Second Vatican Council suggested a few minor and moderate changes to stabilise the ship, but the main message was steady as you are. However, a few of the watch leaders over-reacted and rushed to the left, calling everybody to follow them. The crew, being largely obedient types, followed suit, with the inevitable result that the boat lurched to the left.
Some observant souls noticed this, and rushed to the right to counter the list; unfortunately, some went too far and fell off altogether (eg into sedevacantism). Seeing this, the watch leaders leaned further to the left, not noticing the thousands of souls behind them falling off to the left.
And every time anyone suggests that there is a problem, they say ‘Look, we can’t go back to the right, look what happens!’ pointing at the unfortunate few who fall off the barque that side.
And thousands continue to fall off behind them on the left.
And bishop Conry is still telling us that regular confession is a bad thing because (conceivably) in the 1950s some people went out of habit… And of course adherence to the traditional Mass is very dangerous; whereas altar girls, innumerable extraordinary minsters, liturgical dance and so on are necessary correctives to the dangerous tilt to the right (which may have been almost discernible more than 50 years ago!).
I used to think that we needed to await the next generation of English bishops for this silliness to pass- and by and large I think that’s true. But the bishop of Lancaster has proved me wrong, at least in one case: most recently by his brave and necessary decision to sever links with (soi-disant) Catholic Caring Services, as despite all his efforts they are determined to follow an anti-Catholic path.
I’m curious how this compares with the situation in the USA (and elsewhere)
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How can he advise against frequent confession? That's like advising against frequent bathing.
How indeed?I think he's lost the plot…
The only thing I can think of is people going constantly out of scrupulosity; people who can't believe that they are forgiven, or who think that absolutely everything is a sin.
Nod, I think that's the kind of thing he may have had in mind – but the way he talks seems so out of touch – he's reacting to the problems of 50 years ago rather than those of today. At least hat's how I see it, which was rather the point I was making. Certainly here in the UK the overwhelming problem with Sacramental Confession is people not going, rather than going too often.