Archbishop regrets Catholic Church ‘confessional competition’ in Eastern Europe, Russia
When I saw the above headline I imagined something quite different than the actual story. The story is about the intensified activity of some Western missionaries in Russia and the conflict over the Russian Orthodox Church over this.
I had a whole different idea of what a confessional competition could be. We are by nature largely competitive and having a real confessional competition could be fun. One competition could be where multiple families compete against each other. They set a fix starting point and stop at multiple churches where at each stop one member of the family goes to confession at that Church. Then they drive to the next church and repeat. Of course there is a time limit and it is the time confession is available at most churches on Saturday from around 5 to 5:30 pm. Now that would be a race!
Family members could compete for least number of Hail Mary’s assigned as penances. Though you have to find a parish where the same penance isn’t assigned for pretty much anything.
Parishes could compete for which ones have the longest lines for confessions. This though could be inconvenient for some people who have a limited time so maybe they can also offer a confessional line for 10 venial sins or less.
It would be pretty hard though to have competitions for most contrite, best examination of conscience, or most improvement since the last confession. You would have to have a priest like Padre Pio or St. John Vianney and they wouldn’t be allowed to say who won anyway.
