America's Largest Catholic Newspaper
During this Year of Mercy, we have seen the advent of spiritual practices and programs meant to encourage Catholics to avail themselves of God’s mercy, especially in this holy season of repentance and renewal.
Witness the six Saturdays of Mercy being conducted this spring and fall in different regions of the archdiocese. Each features spiritual talks on the subject by Cardinal Dolan, staff and volunteers of archdiocesan agencies such as Catholic Charities and ArchCare as well as the missionaries of mercy appointed by Pope Francis to bring forth God’s mercy in a special way this year. Their lessons are delivered in a prayerful atmosphere in which the sacrament of reconciliation is emphasized and readily available.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral will step to the fore this Friday, March 4, with its own “12 Hours of Mercy” event, as our story on Page 4 describes. Joining with the Holy Father’s “24 Hours for the Lord” initiative taking place that day and the next, the cathedral will host a day emphasizing devotions and practices such as Eucharistic Adoration, recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and a Eucharistic procession outside the cathedral and then back through the Holy Doors that Cardinal Dolan blessed in December to open the Jubilee Year.
The cardinal also recently weighed in with his own prescription for an important element of God’s mercy as expressed in the sacrament of reconciliation, which he shared with Catholic New York.
The cardinal, in his “Pastores Dabo Vobis” letter to clergy in the archdiocese, encouraged them to “examine our pastoral praxis in promoting the sacrament of penance and embark on some energetic initiatives of renewal.”
The following are a few of His Eminence’s recommendations:
Expanding the availability of the sacrament beyond one hour on Saturday afternoons. The cardinal notes that priests who have reported recent successes in attracting people to the sacrament say they hear confessions after weekday Masses. One pastor told Cardinal Dolan that he schedules the sacrament from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Fridays when parents are coming to pick up their kids from school, or during religious education classes when parents might be waiting anyway.
Preaching about the sacrament of reconciliation during homilies. As the cardinal forthrightly expressed to the clergy, “Instead of vague, cerebral notions about ‘conversion of heart’ or ‘reconciliation,’ let’s bluntly invite people back to the sacrament.”
Pairing a return to the sacrament with the “hunger for spirituality” that is “all around us.” One priest says that when parishioners speak about a spiritual thirst or a frustration that things aren’t quite right in their relationship with the Lord, he simply asks, “How about celebrating the sacrament of reconciliation?” The question sometimes sparks quizzical looks, as if to ask how that would address their spiritual quest, but if they take him up on his offer, they come away with the spark they were seeking—and they spread the word.
Cardinal Dolan also offered other common sense suggestions to his priests before concluding with the admonition that “we ourselves frequent the sacrament.” He offered Pope Francis’ own example when he first met with the priests of Rome shortly after his election as pontiff. The Holy Father took his turn as a confessor to his brother priests, but before doing so, he made his own confession.
Catholic New Yorkers should feel fortunate that so many opportunities exist to experience God’s mercy.
We urge our readers to take advantage of at least one invitation during the Year of Mercy, and to prayerfully consider the cardinal’s words about the sacrament of reconciliation during Lent. In fact, an ideal time may be Reconciliation Monday, March 21, when the sacrament will be offered in parish churches across the archdiocese from 3 to 9 p.m.
