Excerpts From the Manual of the
Eucharistic Crusade of the Apostleship of Prayer

Educating the Youth to Live the Mass

(slightly edited by Fr. Boulet)

EDUCATION IN CHRISTIAN LIVING:

3.REGULAR CONFESSION. (continued)

a) Instruction in the right use o f Confession: Stress the fact that confession should be essentially " perso­nal, " i.e. there need be no set scheme but that rather the sins should confessed in one's own words with one's own description of the kind of sin. This method is praiseworthy, for it avoids the danger that frequent confessions become mere routine. Nevertheless, this method cannot be recommended to all children indiscriminately and prudence and caution must be shown in proposing it. There are some who can use it with real profit. But there are many others who cannot. Often children lack the necessary maturity to be able, to pass judgment on their interior life with such liberty. These need some sort of outline for examining their consciences according to which they can rightly indicate their sins. Generally, therefore, it is best to advise the children to use some set formula for the examination of conscience. But in all their confessions they should customarily include one or two of their sins which appear to them more serious, explaining in their own words, perhaps, some aggravating circumstance. However in giving this advice, it must be stressed that only the confession of mortal sins is necessary for a valid confession, but that something may be freely added out of a desire for sincere contrition and in a spirit of penance.

b) Frequent Confession: For the immediate effect of the sacrament itself, children and adolescents should go to confession once or twice a month or perhaps weekly. For the full educational and formative effects of this sacrament they should regularly confess, at least twice a month. However in practice there may be great obstacles to this, especially shortage of confessors or the fact that the confessors have not enough time. Therefore it is often necessary to be satis­fied with the minimum, monthly confession. Monthly confession is not enough for many young people today, beset as they are with so many dan­gers. Further the educative influence of confession can be obtained only if confession is really frequent - -i.e. at least once every two weeks.

 (to be continued)