[Leica] Re: bless me lug for I have sinned

[reid at mejac.palo-alto.ca.us (Brian Reid)]

It's clear to me that you guys learned your confessional dialog from movies.
RC confession in North America went like this, and it works best to be 
kneeling:

You say "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been (amount of time) 
since my last Confession".

Then you say what you did, and try to sound penitent. Confess to the most 
dire things first, and be precise. The priest is supposed to get you to be 
quantitative.

Then you say "For these and all the sins of my past life I am truly sorry".

Then the priest assigns you some penance, and you say an Act of Contrition 
such as:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you and I detest all my 
sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. But most of 
all because I have offended you, my God, who are all good and deserving of 
all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace, to confess my 
sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.

The priest will, unless your sins are really out of control, pronounce 
absolution, at the end of which you cross yourself. A traditional absolution 
is:

"God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son 
has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for 
the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you 
pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

He sometimes ends with "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good," to which 
you say "For His mercy endures forever." If he says "Allah akhbar", which 
means more or less the same thing in another language, it's probably best to 
leave quickly.

I'm Anglican, not Roman Catholic, but I read a lot and most countries that I 
visit don't have Anglican churches in them.

I'm the closest thing we've got to a priest in this sorry saloon, so I guess 
it's my job to assign penance and pronounce absolution. Your penance is to 
post good photographs and to enter the monthly contest.