Atlanta, Ga., Mar 28, 2014 / 03:09 am
The website GoodConfession.com aims to encourage Catholics to go to Confession more often, and to return to the "life-changing" sacrament if they have been away for some time.
"We, as practicing Catholics, need to help our brothers and sisters back to the sacramental graces that come through Confession," Tom Peterson, president of Catholics Come Home, told CNA March 26.
"When we do, the results are miraculous. We've seen lives change. It's like a weight lifted off your soul, but also off your back."
The website offers an explanation of the sacrament, guides people through the process of confession, and discusses "struggles with sin," providing an examination of conscience and confession times.
The website says that frequent confession advances one's self-understanding, helps overcome vice, brings peace, and helps penitents become more saintly and "more like Jesus."
The website includes testimonies from people "who took advantage of the sacrament and felt God's healing grace and forgiveness and are free," said Peterson, whose organization launched the website.
Peterson said that Confession might be "the most underutilized sacrament we have in the Church."
Studies indicate that even many self-described practicing Catholics have not been to Confession in five years, he said.
Thompson cited Benedict XVI's statement that the new evangelization begins in the confessional.
"I really want to encourage anyone of our readers who hasn't been to the sacrament of Confession in a while, I'd say in more than two weeks, to take advantage of it again," said Thompson.
"It's life-changing. It's eternity-changing."
He said that people who go to Confession "with a contrite spirit and a pure heart" encounter a God who "wants to wrap his arms around us and love us."
The website displays several videos on confession: "Sin separates us from God. But when we humbly repent in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God's mercy forgives, and his grace sets us free," says the video "Heavy Burdens."
"So experience a fresh start today. Come home, to discover the healing and peace that only comes from God."
Catholics Come Home hopes to broadcast the ad on television during Lent next year.
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