Boy, is NewsTalkZB talk back fascinated with Confession today! Sean Plunkett, mostly after 11am (looks like it's unavailable) and Danny Watson between 12:15 and 3pm (link to week on demand - Wednesday).
Update 8: Starts at 1:10pm with a lead in by Danny Watson
"If I'm right the point of confession is to verbalise something that you've done that was wrong, and it's to ally some of your guilt by doing that. And whether you do that with the priest, whether you do that with a confidant, whether you're doing that with your god or whatever, it's all about the person that is confessing. There is value and merit in that. However, at the same time, what if you are confessing about a murder, a rape. What about if it's a paedophile that's telling a priest or someone else, some of the heinous things they've been doing. Doesn't the person listening have a responsibility back to the community at some level? I understand the confession wouldn't happen unless the confidence was there. But surely the person listening has a responsibility to the rest of us? And, to the victims of those crimes!"
He goes on to talk about prisoners, when they are ready to move on and take responsibility for their crimes, confess in public, not in silence, and not hidden (implying confession to a priest, here). He wants callers to phone in if they've ever been told something that they needed to tell someone else about, and what do people think about the debate that is going on in Australia, about forcing priests to tell about what is told to them in Confession?
Update 9
He brings up Lindsay Freer, the Catholic spokeswoman for the Auckland Diocese who says that priests would rather go to prison than to break the Seal of the Confessional.
Then they have a short interlude, during which a portion of Madonna's song, Like a Prayer, is played. I didn't really notice that at first, the connection of the song to the subject. Very nice. Except Madonna is not Catholic even though she grew up as one. Gregorian chant would have been much more overt, though. Maybe next time?
The first caller is Russell who works with children and adults who commit sexual crimes, and he talks about a limited confidentiality which he thinks needs to apply across the board. Limited confidentiality means that if there is any harm done or anything that needs to be taken care of, they're not bound by the confidentiality.
My thoughts after listening to everything
There is power in the Confessional that is unlike confessing to just another person. Those who are absolved are given Grace by God to directly struggle and overcome those sins confessed. Have personally experienced this many times where it's obvious to me that it's been happening. The opposite is telling someone (not a priest) about something you've overcome and then the temptation to do it comes on even stronger.
More thoughts later. As everyone can most likely see from the number of updates, this post keeps changing as I add more and go through the audio more carefully. I've also downloaded some audio editing software, so I might be able to get the more interesting parts of the two hours or so (minus ads and boring people) onto You-Tube! Once I've finished, I'll write another post, so don't worry if you're not keeping up with this one.
Update 8: Starts at 1:10pm with a lead in by Danny Watson
"If I'm right the point of confession is to verbalise something that you've done that was wrong, and it's to ally some of your guilt by doing that. And whether you do that with the priest, whether you do that with a confidant, whether you're doing that with your god or whatever, it's all about the person that is confessing. There is value and merit in that. However, at the same time, what if you are confessing about a murder, a rape. What about if it's a paedophile that's telling a priest or someone else, some of the heinous things they've been doing. Doesn't the person listening have a responsibility back to the community at some level? I understand the confession wouldn't happen unless the confidence was there. But surely the person listening has a responsibility to the rest of us? And, to the victims of those crimes!"
He goes on to talk about prisoners, when they are ready to move on and take responsibility for their crimes, confess in public, not in silence, and not hidden (implying confession to a priest, here). He wants callers to phone in if they've ever been told something that they needed to tell someone else about, and what do people think about the debate that is going on in Australia, about forcing priests to tell about what is told to them in Confession?
Update 9
He brings up Lindsay Freer, the Catholic spokeswoman for the Auckland Diocese who says that priests would rather go to prison than to break the Seal of the Confessional.
Then they have a short interlude, during which a portion of Madonna's song, Like a Prayer, is played. I didn't really notice that at first, the connection of the song to the subject. Very nice. Except Madonna is not Catholic even though she grew up as one. Gregorian chant would have been much more overt, though. Maybe next time?
The first caller is Russell who works with children and adults who commit sexual crimes, and he talks about a limited confidentiality which he thinks needs to apply across the board. Limited confidentiality means that if there is any harm done or anything that needs to be taken care of, they're not bound by the confidentiality.
My thoughts after listening to everything
There is power in the Confessional that is unlike confessing to just another person. Those who are absolved are given Grace by God to directly struggle and overcome those sins confessed. Have personally experienced this many times where it's obvious to me that it's been happening. The opposite is telling someone (not a priest) about something you've overcome and then the temptation to do it comes on even stronger.
More thoughts later. As everyone can most likely see from the number of updates, this post keeps changing as I add more and go through the audio more carefully. I've also downloaded some audio editing software, so I might be able to get the more interesting parts of the two hours or so (minus ads and boring people) onto You-Tube! Once I've finished, I'll write another post, so don't worry if you're not keeping up with this one.
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