Going to Confession can be scary. Here's how Mayfield students are trying to change that.

Going to confession can be scary

Here’s how Mayfield students are trying to change that.

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.

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.

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.

“We need to shift our understanding of Reconciliation—it’s no longer sin-oriented but love-oriented and community-centered,”

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.

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.

“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.”

Compounding their challenge, these young ministers know the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not popular.

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 and to be reconciled with one another in our families and communities. God is constantly welcoming us back… and desires that we live together with mercy, kindness, joy and peace… Today let us quiet ourselves and prepare our hearts and minds to experience God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

A second, palm-sized cheat sheet included the “Act of Contrition” prayer for those who may have forgotten the words they memorized as children. But it also assured students that “any spontaneous and heartfelt prayer that expresses you are truly sorry for your sins” is OK, too.

During the reflection time, three students played the flute, another group performed a graceful dance to contemporary music. Everyone was invited to make origami doves as a sign of mercy and healing.

Inside Strub Hall and Pike Auditorium offices, priests met with all the girls who chose to confess.

“Reconciliation can actually be a really great experience, especially because we had such nice priests,” said Sara Lydon ’19. “I learned that so many girls at Mayfield do value their Catholic faith and the Sacrament of Reconciliation because so many of them chose to go.”

Trinity said the experience brought new light on the sacrament for her.

“While planning I learned that confession does not have to be scary,” she said. “I learned that the whole idea behind it is to become better, kinder people...The truth is we can receive God’s mercy by learning from our sins or the things that hold us back from becoming better people.”

“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.”

— TERI GONZALES, Director of Campus Ministry

THANK YOU TO OUR CONFESSORS:

Rev. Blaise Brockman (Holy Angels Church, Arcadia)

Rev. Michael Callanan, M.M. (Annunciation Catholic Church, Arcadia)

Rev. Chris Cartwright, S.J. (House of Prayer)

Rev. Enrique De Los Rios (St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, Altadena)

Rev. Denis Maher (Holy Family Church, South Pasadena)

Rev. Marlon Mateo (Holy Family, South Pasadena)

Rev. Mark Menegatti, O.S.A. (Our Mother of Good Counsel, Los Angeles)

Rev. Paul Nguyen, S.D.B. (Salesian Retreat Center)

Rev. Alan Phillip, C.P. (Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre)

Rev. Paul Sustayta (St. Andrew Church, Pasadena)