ColumnsDon OkoloOpinion“Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned…” May I Just Take This Shot in the Dark?

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa: Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Catholics! Catholics…they never cease to amaze me. You should know, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic and wouldn’t trade this faith for another. Glad we have that out of the way. Somewhere at the beginning of Mass, those lines appear in a faith recital to absolve everyone in attendance of sins they might have committed.

As a result, under the Catholic tenet, you are cleared to participate in that Divine Supper, the eating of bread, The Body of Jesus Christ, and drinking of His Blood. That one moment in the celebration of the Mass is entirely evocative of the Last Supper…and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. For me, it is the most sacred moment in the entire request besides the Consubstantiation moment, and we Catholics refer to as the Consecration of the Bread and Wine…the transformation of the wine and Host into His Body and Blood.

Forgive me if I sound redundant. It is the extremely sanctified gestures of the belief that scares me half to death staring into the Host that I now believe is The Body of Jesus. That is the beauty of faith. The nineteen, nine-eleven bombers had it. Wait! Stay on your horses now! These men had a belief, one where it was a divine thing to do, to kill thousands of innocent people based on the faith they follow.

That is the faith I am talking about good or bad, fair or foul, because most ardent believers of the gospel, in anything, believe it to the core and sometimes to their deaths.

If you are still riled up, let me explain: just as the airplane was forty-something seconds away from ramming into the Trade Center, the hijackers were shouting ‘god is great’ ‘god is great.’ Implying that they believe that the God they were doing this for would welcome them into paradise. I will leave the seventy-seven virgins out of this. That bears some discussion with notable cocktails on the table. That is the faith I am talking about good or bad, fair or foul, because most ardent believers of the gospel, in anything, believe it to the core and sometimes to their deaths.

This essay isn’t about other faiths. I had to go on an excursion to pull you into the scheme that I have in mind about this one particular Catholic doctrine, I believe, should be rewritten: THE CONFESSIONAL. The booth itself and the Priest should stay. Your question is: What then, are you yapping about if the two aspects that necessitate a confession would still be in place?

Could the Pope have, inadvertently, advised on other prospective ideals in people’s, especially, Catholics…in their relationship with The Father? Maybe.

Here’s a second digression: Just recently, in Italy, a good number of Catholics there were worried that they couldn’t go to confession because of the massive shutdown. They petitioned Pope Francis, and the Pope in his wisdom told them that they didn’t need a priest present to confess their sins to God. ‘Talk to Him,’ the Pope said. ‘He is your Father.’ Could the Pope have, inadvertently, advised on other prospective ideals in people’s, especially, Catholics…in their relationship with The Father? Maybe.

The changes I am proposing could have me excommunicated. I am not sure how that would work. I would probably relocate from one locale to another, attend Mass and receive Holy Communion. That will be between The Father in Heaven and me. Right? The changes I am proposing are subtle; it will be a respecter of Top Secrets, designed to be only for The Ears of God.

The Catholic Church wouldn’t have to fight Law Enforcement on the sacredness of the confessional because the priests no longer are privy to the crimes of murder, sex with your neighbor’s wife, embezzlement of community funds and those flagrant, wayward escapades dillydallying with the Broads on Broad street. 

Here’s what I’m yapping about: You walk up to the booth and take both knees. “Father, forgive me for I have sinned,” you say. The Priest blesses you. If you are lucky, it will not be the Priest with insidious, despicable acts with an altar boy the previous week. If you knew he had done such things, you would agree with me that he isn’t qualified to bless you with dirty hands. Let’s keep going here. When your knees find the soft paddings, and you have asked God to forgive you, and you then shut your mouth and talk to God in your heart, the same way you say your morning prayers each time you wake up.

The sole responsibility of the Priest in attendance is twofold; one is to bless you, and the other –well, here it is: You say to the Priest, ‘I am done.’ His second reason for being there is to give you paper or papers with a list of all sins attributed to man. Each group of sins will have the penance attached to it. The Priest will advise you to find the categories where your sins fall into and make the recommended penance. Let’s say that the sins you have committed fall into five categories; you are obligated to do all five penance for complete absolution.

Let me hear you say, “Amen.”

♦ Film-Maker, Professor Don Okolo, is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. He is an author of many books.

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