According to Time (10/13/ 67) Catholics are confessing less these days hut profiting from it more. The articie confirmed what priests them· selves have noticed- that the number of confessions they • hear has been falling off. One Pennsylvania pastor estimates that the use of the confessional is down about one· third. At the same time many renewal minded Catholics are approaching the confessional in a more meaningful way. They no longer view the sacrament as a mechanical means of cleansing their souls but Overview, 3: sacraments as a life-giving encounter -a talk given in Chicago with a forgiving God. That theology study days. final phrase epitomizes rather well an important develop· men! that has occurred in sac· + ramental theology in recent years. GEORGE J. DYER If we are to speak of the past and present of sacramen+ tal theology a good point of reference might be the two Catholic encyclopedias that have been produced in this country- the one in 1912 the other just this past year. In the old encyclopedia the sacraments are discussed in a way familiar to anyone who has ever taken the course De Sacramentis; the tractate is neatly compart· mentalized into "nature, origin, necessity, number, minister,
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