Why AA Works! The Value of Non-Sacramental Confession and House Groups, Part 2: AA and the Methodists

This posting is in two parts. In the first, which appeared on Tuesday, I considered the value of regular detailed confession, both outside and inside the Catholic Church, as evidenced by my own experiences. In this second part, I consider the value of the process of confession in others such as addicts and alcoholics in 12-step fellowships, and alcoholics in England in the 18th century whose reform came through the influence of the spiritual method of John Wesley and the Methodist Church. Then I consider why, given the effectiveness of these personal and lay practices of confession, we Catholics need to go to confession in the church at all, and should Catholics consider creating home groups of the sort seen in protestant churches today?

Confession in AA and the Methodist Church

I know that such an approach to confession is effective because of the transformation in my own life that occurred even before I became a Catholic, and the change in the lives of others who are not part of the Church but undertake a daily review of conscience. For example, I have seen people going through the Vision for You process report dramatic relief and change in their lives as a result of this. Also, I have met others - addicts and their families - who go through a similar process of what is called “moral inventory” in 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and who experience similarly dramatic changes in personality. The AA “moral inventory” process recognizes resentments and fears, and attributes them to self-centered impulses called “defects of character”. The vocabulary may be different, but it is a process of the recognition, repentance, and confession of sins nevertheless. The benefits of the AA process are so profound that the alcoholic or addict stops drinking or taking drugs.

To illustrate, the book Alcoholics Anonymous, the instructional text for the organization published in 1939, says (page 86) that the alcoholic who wishes to recover should do the following:

When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken.

A typical AA meeting with the book, Alcoholics Anonymous in the foreground. The organization does not own venues, but typically hires space weekly which is paid for by the contributions of the members who attend. Many take place in the halls of Catholic churches!

A similar malaise and solution were seen in England in the 18th century, when the country was undergoing an epidemic of alcoholism.

Gin Lane by William Hogarth, English, 1750. The gin house at bottom left has a legend over the door: “Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for tuppence, clean straw for nothing.”

The influence of the Methodist Church, founded by John Wesley, is credited with stemming this epidemic. It is worth remembering that the Methodist Church of this time still practiced the spiritual “method” for which it was named; Methodists met weekly and were expected to observe weekly repentance, confession, and accountability to each other. According to the Methodist Rule of Band Societies, published in 1738, they met “(t)o speak each of us in order, freely and plainly, the true state of our souls, with the faults we have committed in thought, word, or deed, and the temptations we have felt, since our last meeting.”

John Wesley Preaching to Native Americans, 18th-century engraving. 

Given this, why should Catholics go to confession in the church at all? 
These examples of the profound effect of personal and lay confessions raise the question as to why we should bother to participate in the formal Sacrament of Confession offered by the priest at our church? Perhaps it’s not necessary? The Church, of course, tells us that we must at least once a year, but is this always necessary theologically?

I will leave it to the theologians to answer this question precisely, but I offer some thoughts as to the value that I have been aware of. First, I have always felt that the power and effectiveness of personal and lay confessions is due in part to the presence of the Church on earth. At a personal level, participating in the Sacrament reinforces my sense of this, and helps inspire greater clarity and care in looking for sin in myself, and greater contrition. But I think it goes beyond this: regardless of whether or not those involved acknowledge the fact, they are participating in that sacramental process. One AA member who is a friend of mine once told me that he thought that Christ was present in an AA meeting in a special way. Referring to the fact that Jesus told us that whenever two or three gather in his name, He is there also, he thought that Christ was present in a meeting in the same way, except because it was AA, He was anonymous!

This being the case, my participation in the Sacrament does not only benefit me personally; it also helps to maintain the presence of the Sacrament on earth, and thus benefits others as well. This is a sacrificial act by which I participate, as a member of the Church, in the mystical body of Christ, in the work of the restoration of the kingdom, and the creative work of God. I personally am not necessary to this, but I can choose to participate in it for my greater joy.

Another benefit is that while Confession in Church is discreet, in that only confessor and penitent know what is said, it does take place secretly. We line up in church as visible signs of people acknowledging their need for forgiveness. Especially when this was done prior to and during Mass, it that emphasized for me the point that, even with all that I was given by God’s grace prior to being received into the Church, there is a greater joy and happiness available to me by participation the ultimate Sacrament, which is the Eucharist.

One reason why I began to investigate the Church in the first place was the desire for something greater, on seeing people lining up for Confession; the message was transmitted to me that what I had already been given was seen by the Church as mere preparation for something even greater. I understood as a result of my catechesis that I should go to Confession before taking Communion, but the point was made so much more profoundly on the rare occasions that I saw people in lines before the confessional before and during Mass itself. This is the consummation of all that had gone on before.

Creating fellowship and community that directs people to the Church

One of my motivations in writing The Vision for You book was the hope that it might inspire lay groups to take the exercises in the context of groups of the sort that has already been proven to change society - as evidenced by the 18th-century Methodist Church and 12-step fellowships. It is written so as to connect explicitly such spiritual exercises, which offer community and fellowship and a life-changing encounter with God, to the Sacraments of the Church. Why not replicate this in such a way that engages people from all backgrounds, which primes them psychologically for reception into the Church?

Home groups of lay people are common in Protestant churches, but don’t seem to occur in Catholic groups, which seem to rely on the presence of the priest for everything. How much more profound would the effect on society be if we could offer such groups that are more connected to the life of the Church! I have tried to create such a group in my own home. My small group meets at my house regularly to sing Choral Evensong, in accordance with the form used by the Ordinariate, and to discuss the practice of the Vision for You process. It is attended regularly by people of a variety of backgrounds. We have one who does not attend church regularly, a Southern Baptist, an Anglican, several Presbyterians and myself, the only Catholic. I have invited them to attend my church as a result of this contact and so far, some have dipped their toes into the vivifying Catholic water, so to speak. They know why I invite them, and I always try to do so in a way that makes it easy to say no so they don’t feel pressured.

When the Catholic Church makes apparent that it gives us what we desire, through signs - the images, the liturgical practice, the music - that speaks to our desire for a union with God that all people feel, then we can see something more powerful and dramatic than either the change in British society in the 18th century or in addicts today. This is driven by a mystery that all these component parts direct us to if we wish to make them apparent. They speak of a profound unity that is the fulfillment of our faith. We are part of a unity that is from above and is closer and more intimate than any fellowship of man, but certainly does not exclude such fellowship . It is the mystic unity of the Holy Trinity, which we are admitted to by the Eucharist, and which illuminates all aspects of fellowship and unity that it transcends.

Tents house the homeless in Portland, Oregon; the modern version of 18th-century London’s Gin Lane? If it is true, as often claimed, that many of these people are homeless because they are mentally ill or addicts, perhaps the answer to this problem is as likely to be spiritual as it is social or political? Unfortunately, outreach projects, even by churches, have policies of avoiding offering any sort of spiritual guidance.

People must see Jesus if they are to choose Him

Why AA Works! The Value of Daily Non-Sacramental Confession and House Groups, Part 1: Avoiding Scrupulosity

This posting is in two parts. In this first one, I consider the value of regular detailed confession both outside and inside the Catholic Church as evidenced by my own experiences. In the second part, which will appear on Thursday, I consider the value of the process of confession for others, such as addicts and alcoholics in 12-step fellowships, and alcoholics in England in the 18th century whose reform came through tthe spiritual method of John Wesley and the Methodist Church. Then I consider why, given the effectiveness of these personal and lay practices of confession, we Catholics need to go to confession in the church at all, and whether Catholics should consider creating home groups of the sort seen in protestant churches today.

Bill Wilson and Bob Smith were Protestants who founded Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1930s. Under their inspiration, thousands of gatherings take place weekly in which a program that contains a systematic approach to confession allows alcoholics to recover from their addiction.

I began a process of daily examination of conscience long before I became Catholic and made my first confession to a priest. I did this as part of a series of spiritual exercises given to me by a Catholic layman, which are described in my book The Vision for You, and the sense of freedom it gave me was dramatic. As I result, I came to the point where I couldn’t imagine a happy life without incorporating such a process into my life.

In light of this positive experience, the insistence upon the need for confession was one of my main reasons for later becoming Catholic. There were a number of other reasons, but the most important was not one of them; only after becoming Catholic did I come to understand that it is the worship of the Father, through the Son in the Spirit that crystallizes what the Church is and my part in it, and that this is what opens the door to the fullness of joy available to me as a Catholic. The gradual realization of this came in part through my experience of being a worshipping Catholic, and partly through continued reading and study of what the Faith is. However, it was my appreciation of the value of this lesser sacrament that it became a sign of a hierarchy of sacraments, of which the pinnacle is the Eucharist.

I reflected recently on just how much the Sacrament of Reconciliation was a sign that directed me to the Sacrament of Sacraments when I was asked questions about the value of a daily personal review of conscience. These questions came from Catholics who are already participating in the Sacrament on a regular basis, and are going through The Vision for You process. Many heard about it after I gave a series of presentations on the VfY spiritual exercises for the Institute of Catholic Culture, and were worried that a daily review of conscience might encourage scrupulosity. This worry about scrupulosity typically seems to arise from two aspects of the Vision for You spiritual exercise in particular.

The first is that it guides us to look at our consciences in such great detail. If I am going to analyze every minor feeling of guilt and unhappiness and attribute them to sin, then the worry is that searching for them unearths and magnifies these things unduly, and I spend my life preoccupied with minor emotions unnecessarily.

The second is that by ascribing all unhappiness to sin, as the Vision for You spiritual exercises do, it seems to be saying that we are to be blamed for our own unhappiness. Surely, people respond, I can’t help being unhappy? This seems to be a double whammy, they would say: not only am I unhappy, but it seems to be telling me that my unhappiness is my fault, which makes me feel guilty for being unhappy. This just serves to intensify my unhappiness even more.

As Catholics we are required to go to the Sacrament of Confession a minimum of once a year, but how necessary is it theologically and what is the relation of the sacrament to personal and lay confessions?

My experience with this process is that it does not encourage scrupulosity at all, but gives greater freedom and greater happiness. I will deal with these points one at a time in explaining why I think this has been the case for me, and so can be for others too.

1. A daily and detailed examination of conscience
One of the luxuries of the VfY process is the ability to address the minor sins as well as the major ones. I would say that, provided that the sins we highlight are true, acknowledging them and asking for forgiveness is a good thing, which gives us a clearer conscience and a closer relationship with God. Other things being equal, this increases happiness and holiness.

The danger for me is not when I confess such sins, but when I do so with a lack of faith in God’s love and mercy. It is almost impossible for me to fully grasp what infinite love and mercy can be like. The tendency, as a fallen person, therefore, is to create a false God in my own image. Just as I struggle to forgive others, I start to doubt that God forgives me. To overcome this doubt, I might start to assume that forgiveness depends upon the quality of my confession in a false, perhaps even neurotic way. This has led at times to my anxiously presenting the same sin in several different ways or in unnecessary detail, so as to ensure forgiveness by making sure nothing is left out. This is tantamount to my trying to manipulate God, or the priest into forgiving me through the sheer effort and care I put into a confession.

I realize now that this is not necessary. I only have to do my best to explain the nature of it briefly and succinctly, and God will forgive me if I am sincere. When I do my daily examination of conscience at home, I try to make each request for forgiveness brief, to the point, and done once. Then I draw a line under each item and move on. To be preoccupied with my sins afterward only serves to increase my self-centeredness and to separate me from God. This is the hope of the devil who wants to reduce my capacity to serve God and others happily.

The Good Shepherd, wall painting from the catacombs, c200AD

With this in mind, I thought you might be interested in a letter from my pastor encouraging us to Confession and what he was expecting from us. This is a Melkite Catholic church:

steliasmelkite.org

Dear St. Elias Faithful,

With the new year before us and all of us trying to clean up and have a fresh start, we should also have a desire to cleanse our souls and have a fresh start spiritually through the reception of the Holy Mystery of Reconciliation. This is a wonderful Mystery (Sacrament) and goes by different names: Confession, Penance, Reconciliation. I like the last one since it best describes this Mystery, but whatever the case, it is important to understand what it does. It is, in essence, a restoration of our baptismal grace and thus a reconciliation of our relationship with God.

Have you ever wished you could be re-baptized and start all over again? Well, this is what this Mystery provides, a renewal of God’s life-giving life within us. Some of you are in the habit of receiving this Mystery weekly. This is excellent. But if you are unable, due to time, you should at least come once a month, and as an absolute minimum, once a year! If you haven’t been for a few years then it's time to get washed and clean things up!

I always try to provide an opportunty for this Mystery before the Divine Liturgy each Sunday. So if you would like to receive it, try to come at least a half-hour before. That will help ensure that you have a chance. Sometimes the lines can be quite long so don't wait until the last minute. But if you miss that chance then let me know when you receive the antidoron (bread after Divine Liturgy) and I’ll make sure to stay in the church afterward for you. When you do come up for the Mystery, I will be standing just to the left of the cross. I leave the space in front of the cross open for you. Come right up and stand next to me while facing the cross. When you come I will immediately begin praying with you the penitent's prayer: “O God be propitious to me a sinner and have mercy on me.” Together, we will say this three times with bows while making the sign of the cross. I am saying this with you as a fellow sinner. So this is a prayer you should be saying as well.

Next, I will bless you making the sign of the cross over your head and say, “Have you asked Jesus for the forgiveness of any sins you may have committed.” The hoped-for response is, “Yes,” since before you come to this Mystery you should have already asked God for forgiveness of whatever sins you have on your conscience.

I will then ask, “Are there any sins you feel you need to confess at this time?” I am saying this because, while we all have many sins that we deal with on a regular basis, there are usually some that stand out and it is for these reasons that you are probably coming for reconciliation. So, the answer would be, “Yes, I........etc.” This is when you explain to me the more significant things with which you are struggling. There is no need to get into major details but just enough for me to understand some of the issues so that I can offer some help. But the basic principle regarding details here is: less is better. I’ll ask if I need to know more.

I will then attempt to give you some recommendations, maybe it is some advice about the issues, maybe it is a Scripture passage to read, or maybe it is about improving your fasting as a way to increase your willpower to resist temptation. After I have given you the recommendations, then I will say, “Now bow down your head and pray for God's blessing.”

You then bow toward the cross and I will put my epitrachelion (stole) over your head and say, depending on time, a long or short variation of the following prayer, “As God, through the hand of Nathan the prophet, forgave David when he confessed his sins, so may the same God, through the hand of me a sinner, forgive you all the sins which you have confessed in this life and in the world to come and cause you to stand uncondemned before his awesome judgment seat.”

I will then make the sign of the cross over your head and remove the epitrachelion saying, “Now having no further care for the sins which you have confessed, depart in peace.” At this point, it is traditional to kiss the cross on the epitrachelion and then the hand of the priest and embrace as a sign of your reconciliation to God. As you depart I will ask you to pray for me. Please remember to do so since I also am a sinner!

I recommend starting out this year with the Holy Mystery of Reconciliation. You never know when it will be your last year to do so.

May God grant you a happy, healthy, and HOLY New Year!

In Christ,

2. Unhappiness is caused by sin
One of the great blessings of the VfY spiritual exercises is to be able to analyze all my unhappiness and to see that it arises from my sinful tendencies. In my experience, every unhappy thought can be attributed to a selfish response to events around me. This can be manifested as resentment about past events, in the form of anger, irritation, annoyance against others, and guilt, remorse, and shame about my own past actions and thoughts. Or in fear and anxiety, which occur when we anticipate that something unpleasant will happen in the future. Such fear and anxiety can be attributed to the same self-centered impulses.

The Penitent St Peter, by Jose Ribera, Spanish, 17th century. 

Many who go through the Vision for You process say to me that while they acknowledge these reactions and see that they arise from self-centeredness, they say also such reactions are not voluntary, and so they feel that it is somehow unjust to call them sins. This arises from a misunderstanding, which I once held also, that all sin arises from voluntary actions. In fact, sin is any disruption to our relationship with God and can be voluntary or involuntary. If we accept that happiness arises from a union with God, then we must accept that unhappiness arises from separation from God and therefore that sin, defined as any rupture to our relationship with God, is the cause of all unhappiness. While it is vital to acknowledge willful acts of sin, many of our sins are involuntary too - they are instinctive and self-centered reactions to events around us.

In this sense, we are like sheep who stray from the flock and so the watchful eye of its shepherd. No shepherd blames such a sheep for being disobedient or blameworthy, but that doesn’t save it from danger. As the desire for greener pastures causes the sheep to drift away from safety, concupiscence causes our drift from God. When we recognize this and ask for mercy from sins voluntary, involuntary, known and unknown, reconciliation with the Good Shepherd is always given.

This is part of the tradition of the Church. For example, the Estonian theologian, Fr Alexander Schmemann (d.1983) describes in his book Of Water and the Spirit - A Liturgical Study of Baptism the prayers for the mother of a newborn child in the Orthodox liturgical rite of the first day. The second prayer has the words,

…show mercy also upon this Thy servant, who today has borne this child; and forgive her sins, both voluntary and involuntary and preserve her from every oppression of the Devil.

Eastern Christians, I am told, habitually thank God for all of His blessings, both known and unknown, and for the forgiveness of all of sins, known and unknown, voluntary and involuntary. I am not aware of this happening in the Roman Church in the same way, (but am happy to be told otherwise).

As with all sin, we have not harmed a God who can never be harmed, but we have harmed ourselves by damaging our relationship with Him. Many times we are doing things that are destructive to that relationship but don't actually realize it. The requests for forgiveness are a request for reconciliation with God. When thought of in this way, the unhappiness we feel is a sign that tells us that we are drifting away from God, and so we should be grateful for it as much as the release from the unhappiness that occurs with reconciliation. The need for forgiveness reflects the fact that harm has been done, but not whether or not that harm was caused voluntarily or involuntarily.

What a blessing it is to be aware of this and to be reconciled with God as a result.

Part Two on Thursday....

Megachurches build community by breaking up into many home groups that meet during the week and provide opportunities for confession and fellowship in the manner of the old Methodists, perhaps this is a model that Catholic parishes should encourage. I discuss this next week.