A third of non-practicing Catholics in a South Korean diocese cite confession as their reason for staying apart from the Church, according to a recent survey.

The Preparatory Committee for the Cheongju Diocesan Synod interviewed 661 non-practicing Catholics in seven randomly selected parishes of the diocese from March 1 to April 15 and has published the results. Cheongju, where the diocese is based, is 115 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The synod, scheduled to begin Oct. 1, will mark the diocese's 50th anniversary in 2008. The agenda is being prepared.

According to the committee, this is the first survey in the country for which only non-practicing Catholics were interviewed. The Korean bishops use the term "non-practicing" for Catholics who go three or more years without making the pre-Easter or pre-Christmas confessions the local Church requires.

To the survey question asking for a Church-related reason why they left the Church, 32.6 percent of respondents said they find confession "uncomfortable." Another 10.6 percent cited problems with other Church members. Eight percent pointed to "meaningless/tiresome liturgy," while 7 percent said it was an "economic burden to support the Church."

In another question, the respondents were asked to give a personal reason for leaving the Church. The two most common responses were "having to work on Sundays," at 20 percent, and pressure to "behave well in society like a good Catholic," at 15 percent. Nearly 10 percent said they could not find a convenient Catholic church after relocating to another neighborhood while roughly the same number said they were hampered by the "grim realities of their life" in practicing their faith.

Asked about what keeps them from returning to the Church, 21 percent answered that they feel "afraid to make a confession," 18.5 percent said they have to work on Sundays and 15.1 percent replied that conflicts with pastors or other parishioners had not yet healed. Nearly 12 percent categorically stated they have no intention of returning to the Church.

Conversely, 86.5 percent of the non-practicing Catholics interviewed said they believe in God, and 90.3 percent acknowledged the validity of the Catholic Church.

"The survey clearly shows that non-practicing Catholics have scruples about confession and it urges us to address their concern," Father Casimir Song Yul-sup, committee secretary, told UCA News on June 25. "It is human nature to hide our own faults and feel reluctant to reveal ourselves to others," he added. "However, we have to overcome this human weakness to receive God's grace. That is our faith."

Priests need to make an effort to help people see the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a grace from God and make it easy for them to confess, Father Song suggested.

Francis Xavier Park Jung-sub, the information technology professor at Cheongju University who led the survey team, told UCA News June 20 that it was not easy to conduct the survey, which used face-to-face interviews. "Since we didn't know their whereabouts and they tend to avoid Church people, it was not easy to locate them. Most of those who left the Church more than 10 years ago refused to join the survey," he said.

According to Father Song, the rate of non-practicing Catholics in his diocese is higher than the national average. "So we raised the matter as an important subject for the synod."

According to the statistics released by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, the number of the non-practicing Catholics in Cheongju diocese as of the end of 2006 was 59,138, or 43.1 percent of the 137,344 baptized Catholics. The national figure is 36.7 percent of 4.8 million Catholics.

Source: UCAN
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CNA The Vatican newspaper, "L'Osservatore Romano," has sharply criticized an article published by a weekly Italian newspaper based on a series of false confessions throughout Italy, calling it an "attack on religious sensitivities,” and a breach of “professional ethics.”

In order "to reveal" what Italian Catholic priests teach in confessionals on certain matters of ethics and morality, reporters of the weekly "L'Espresso" acted as penitents - an act the Church considers sacrilegious given the sacred nature of the Sacrament of Penance.

An editorial in L'Osservatore Romano denounced the act, saying it "has desecrated the sacrament...attacking the religious sensibilities of the faithful and deceiving the good faith of priests, seriously wounding the inviolability of pastoral ministry."

The Vatican newspaper called the report "shameless" and a "seriously unheard-of episode" accusing the weekly of crossing "the imposed limits of professional ethics."

Years ago, the Italian communist newspaper L'Unitá resorted to a similar method "to uncover" the political inclinations of Italian priests. The sacrilegious experiment, in both occasions, proved to be a useless journalistic abuse, as the results showed that an overwhelming majority of Italian priests teach in the confessional exactly what the Church preaches publicly.

Q. On a couple of occasions at our church, we've had a "general confession." The priest told us to examine our consciences and then proceed to one of several priests in different parts of the church. He then told us to confess one of the sins we'd committed to the priest and return to our pew. All of our sins were forgiven.

Also, twice when I was sick and in the hospital, a priest came to my bedside and did not ask me to confess my sins. He simply gave me absolution saying, "your sins are forgiven you." -- A.M., Plattsburgh, N.Y.