Going to confession can be scary When Director of Campus Ministry Teri Gonzales announced to the Campus Ministry Council that they would be organizing a Sacrament of Reconciliation prayer service during Lent, the girls took a deep and anxious breath. “My first reaction was that I was excited to have a Reconciliation service because it’s new for Mayfield,” said Emma Weidman ’19. “But I was also a little worried if students would be open to the idea of confession.” Mayfield’s Campus Ministry Council made history when they organized the biggest-ever celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The major undertaking involved bringing 10 priests to campus, planning an inclusive service that respected the beliefs and sensitivities of all, and offering every student the option to go to confession.
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Mrs. Gonzales said. “We are reconciling not just with God and ourselves but with one another. We hurt and harm each other and through this beautiful sacrament we are reminded not so much that we are sinful but that we can be more kind, loving and healing to one another by God’s grace and mercy.” She said renewing our awareness of the sacrament is aligned with Pope Francis’ call to celebrate mercy, not just as individuals but as a community and Church. The students’ concerns about organizing a prayer service in which they would invite classmates to confess their sins before a priest challenged them to create a teenage-friendly experience.
Students danced, made origami, watched a slide show and listened to Gospel readings and music. To ease any trepidation, the Campus Ministry Council even prepared a handy “cheat sheet” of instructions about confession.
Campus Ministry Council member Trinity Gomez ’18 said she had “mixed feelings” about the service. On one hand, her Catholic friends would have an opportunity to receive a sacrament “that is often forgotten or put off.” On the other, she and other leaders were worried that non-Catholics would feel excluded.
Mrs. Gonzales said her goal was to present the girls with a joyful experience of God’s unconditional love and mercy through this often misunderstood sacrament. She hopes to make the service part of Mayfield’s Lenten tradition.
“This affected how we planned the service because we knew there needed to be a variety of ways to reflect on the meaning of mercy,” Trinity said. “We wanted to express a universal theme that Lent is a time for inner reflection.”
“We need to shift our understanding of Reconciliation—it’s no longer sin-oriented but love-oriented and community-centered,”
Compounding their challenge, these young ministers know the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not popular.
POSTSCRIPTS 2018
Indeed, 70 percent of American Catholic women go to confession less than once a year or never, according to a first-of-its kind survey of U.S. Catholic women, published in the Jesuit magazine America in January 2018. Also of note, “The number of women who attend Mass and participate in the other sacraments is much lower at the younger end of the age spectrum,” the magazine said of the survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Mrs. Gonzales sensed the girls’ hesitation and unfamiliarity with the sacrament while helping them conceptualize the service. Campus Ministry leaders—Angeli De La Cruz ’18, Bella Paine ’19, Lauren Spensiero ’18, and Emma Weidman, along with others—worked for weeks on the service and when students assembled in Pike Auditorium they felt confident it would resonate with their classmates. Trinity opened with this prayer: “We have been given an opportunity to ask forgiveness for our sins, for missing the mark, for being selfish, for separating or isolating ourselves. This is an invitation to return to our merciful and loving God
