A Post- Confession Rant in St. Peter's Square

Some thoughts (and some spleen) after making my confession at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. I leave the church, and then am standing on the side of the square opposite the papal apartments. You can see them to the right of the basilica during the video.

I'd arrived on pilgrimage in Rome the day before, after biking 1500 km across Europe from London and Canterbury, and I was emotionally and physically spent. That's why I can barely articulate anything.. I probably shouldn't post this at all, but against all better judgment vanity wins out.

I should probably clarify that my habit on the pilgrimage was to hear mass every day. The mass I missed was of course a Sunday mass, which Catholics are obliged to attend. The fact that I'd been to mass nearly every day the prior week (including the Saturday morning before) and nearly every day the week following, put me in a legalistic muddle.. I'm not making excuses for what I did, I just want to clarify it, especially for those of you who are not Catholic.

Note that this is not about me feeling guilty, for I have confidence in Christ's mercy. It's more about me trying to reconcile my interior conflicts, and my weakness, with my responsibilities toward God.




The camera quit on me at the end, so the clip comes to a rather precipitous finale, which is probably for the best.. I was just getting going, and would have ranted on for minutes, probably.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• St. Peter's Basilica
• Rome
• confession
• purgatory
• mortal & venial sin
• the Catholic Church

[fitzhamilton]

Well, actually I did confess to an Orthodox priest prior to my reception by charismation. I also did not consider myself to be leaving the Catholic Church, only a rejection of papal supremacy. Particularly as articulated in Vatican I, but also in documents dating back to the Gregorian reform such as Unam Sanctam..

[fitzhamilton]

I still have my reservations about both of those, as well as some other dissonant things in the Western Tradition. But I realized very quickly after my conversion that it wasn't working, and that my`mind, and what is more important heart, are both far too imbued with things like the rosary, scapular, exposition of the sacrament, and purgatory. I also could not keep from revering western saints. I'm just Catholic, Latin Rite, Novus Ordo, it's not something I can leave. It's who I am.

[mdstanzel1]

How could you have converted to Orthodoxy and not have gone to confession. They do not allow you to receive communion without gong to confession first. The Orthodox priests have valid sacraments.

Welcome home, and I hope you choose to stay.

[paintingangels]

Keep going. This is a beautiful rant.

I'm not Catholic, and that's probably good because If I ever started confessing all of my sins I'm pretty sure they'd never never get me to stop talking.