Dear Editor, We are only a few months into the ‘Year of Mercy’, but I think it is already safe to say that it has been a huge success. So many other special years have passed with little effort being made in the Irish Church to publicise or mark them in anyway. This jubilee year really seems to have captured people’s imaginations, from your report on the initiative from Shannon parish offering Confessions in a shopping centre before Christmas (IC 26/11/2015), to last week’s round up of the large numbers of people who attended Confessions across the country as part of the ‘24 hours for the Lord’ (IC 10/03/2016).
We are all a little in need of mercy and forgiveness in today’s crazy world, and thankfully in Pope Francis we have a leader who recognises this and emphasises that Confession is not about guilt, blame or shame but feeling the warmth and strength of God’s love.
Yours etc.,
Bridget Cassidy,
Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.