HONG KONG (CNS): The Sacrament of Reconciliation is so popular among Chinese Catholics, particularly in rural areas, that hundreds or even thousands are lining up for confessions on major Church feasts.
In the past, many Catholics insisted on receiving absolution before receiving Communion, and their insistence often delayed ordinary liturgies as priests and bishops had to sit for hours hearing confessions.
A parish priest in China said one Christmas Eve that he had no idea when he would begin the midnight Mass, because it would commence only after all confessions were heard.
Today, though, lay people in rural areas can more readily distinguish those sins serious enough to require confession, Fr Song Zunsheng of Urumqi diocese, in north-western China, told UCA News recently.
“Many Catholics confessed everything that happened in their daily life without specifying any concrete wrongful act. We have often told them there is no need to make a confession if they did not commit any sin,” the priest said.
Fr Su Yongdai of Zhanjiang diocese, in southern China, said that thousands of Catholics line up for confessions before major feast days.
“Last year, on the eve of the August 15 feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I heard confessions for four hours in the afternoon, two more hours after dinner and another hour the next day,” he recalled.
