How an American diocese promotes individual confession

Contents - Apr 1999 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Many matters in need of attention - Peter Westmore Adelaide Archdiocese on the brink over general absolutions - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World What the census statistics on religious affiliations reveal - Michael Gilchrist How an American diocese promotes individual confession Bishop Heaps' book: a mistaken view of the Catholic Church - Stuart Rowland Presenting Catholic apologetics to a wider Australian public - AD2000 Report Bringing the Faith to life for children - Matthew Greenrod BSJ Extending general absolution: why such a move is out of the question - Fr Peter Joseph A new R.E. consultancy service for the Church No living together before marriage: new research supports Church teaching - Mary Kenny 1999 Thomas More Summer School: another resounding success Why modern Biblical scholarship affirms the Resurrection - Richard Dunstan

In a campaign to bring Catholics back to the Sacrament of Penance late last year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia started a confession hotline for people who have not confessed their sins recently and who have questions or misgivings on the subject.

The hotline is one of a number of programs in Philadelphia to prepare Catholics for the new millennium, and to refamiliarise them - or, for many Catholics, to introduce them - to a Sacrament which has fallen out of regular use.

In the first days of the hotline, the chancery, which is staffed by archdiocesan priests, was flooded with calls.

"We're flabbergasted at the number of calls on the very first day,