Fr. Hayes: Think of confession as ‘spiritual air’

Father Dennis Hayes, chaplain at the University of New Orleans’ Newman Center, looks at the sacrament that goes by three different names: confession, penance and reconciliation. (Photo by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald)

Question: Do you remember your first confession?

Answer: I remember nothing about my first confession. I likely made it in second grade, so it would have been in 1967 at St. James Major. I do remember, vividly, my first confession as an adolescent. I went to the Jesuits on Baronne – I wasn’t about to go to the parish priest. The Jesuits handled it magnificently. I remember feeling so free that I went to the D.H. Holmes cafeteria and got a big plate of red beans and rice and some vanilla ice cream for dessert. 

Q: Have you availed yourself of confession regularly over your lifetime?

A: I felt confession was – and is – like a mini crucifixion or an agony in the garden, not because of any bad experience with the priest, but because of the guilt and shame felt over sins and then actually articulating them. I can't recall much about confession during grammar school, but I went regularly at Brother Martin, as often it was offered. In college, I would go when needed, but never to a parish priest who knew me. In seminary, I had a monthly routine of going to confession when I saw my spiritual director. In my 34 years as a priest I continue to go about monthly – and definitely during the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent and anytime before going on an airplane. My father always made us go to confession before we traveled on a plane, and I recommend to parishioners to try to do the same. 

Q: What does this sacrament mean to you as a priest?

A: It means a great deal because we have two sacraments of healing: anointing of the sick and reconciliation. Actually, the Eucharist is the primordial sacrament of healing since right before receiving Communion we say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” So, I see all three of these sacraments as indispensable. All three can be given often. When people are infirm they need the sacraments more than at any other time. It’s the same for the soul: When the soul is sick – in sin – we need confession, healing. According to Jesus, we need to ask for forgiveness regularly and often. That’s why he put that petition in the “Our Father” and that's why he told Peter we must forgive not just “seven times, but 70 times seven.”

Q: What is your favorite thing about being able to offer this sacrament?

 A: I appreciate the trust and vulnerability a person shares when they open up about their failings. It feels liberating to offer or be the mediator of God’s grace of pardon and absolution. I often tell people that the priest does not possess the power to forgive; only Jesus has that power, but he does it through the priest. Just like a couple doesn’t have the power to create a human being; only God can create a human being, but he does it through the couple, who procreate. It’s the same with consecration. The priest doesn't possess that power; only Jesus can do that. The priest is the mediator of that grace. That’s why we say that in that action, the priest acts in persona Christi – in the person of Christ – not in his own person. And thank God! All of the sacraments have their efficacy, their grace, not due to the priest – his holiness or lack thereof – but due to God’s grace. I feel happy to be that instrument at critical points in people's lives.  ​

Q: What question do people ask most often about reconciliation?

A: “Why do I have to go to a priest when he sins as much as I do?” and “Why can’t I go straight to God?” Well, you can’t. I like how Blessed Isaac of Stella puts it: The Church is incapable of forgiving any sin without Christ, and Christ is unwilling to forgive any sin without the Church. The very fact that God sent his grace to us in human form – the Incarnation – is the principle for all grace: All grace is incarnational; all grace has to come to us in human form. That is the structure that God has set up. 

Q: What sorts of penances do you offer penitents?

A:  ​I often give a penance like go take your spouse out for a nice meal; or go visit the grave of your grandmother and say a decade of the rosary; or go get some vanilla ice cream for your brother; or take your sister to get a sno-ball; or write a letter to your favorite teacher; or go spend a few minutes in front of the tabernacle. Sometimes, even things like read the whole Gospel of Mark, or say an entire rosary, or take a nap today.

Q: What advice would you give Catholics regarding reconciliation?

A: Go regularly! If going to your own parish priest is uncomfortable, we have so many Catholic churches, so just go! What does “regularly” mean? The church precept is that a Catholic must go once a year if in mortal sin, and always for mortal sin. That‘s the minimum. But the sacrament can be gotten anytime for any fault or sin. So, I’d say maybe monthly. Definitely before having surgery or traveling or getting married. Definitely during Advent and Lent. Definitely as soon as possible after committing a mortal sin. And don’t make it into a hurricane. Just go and get it done with. Don’t make going to confession into a major operation, or a doctoral thesis, just go!

Q: What does confession mean to you as a penitent priest?

A:  I definitely am usually guilty of the very same things people say to me in confession or worse, so it makes me very conscious that I am in the exact same boat as they are and have to go to confession myself.  

Q: What might surprise people about the young adults to whom you minister at UNO?

A: The image that many people, even good Catholics, have about college students is in error. The media also presents college students in a warped way. I feel the sincerity and honesty and struggle of these young people to be very refreshing, and they could teach the rest of us a whole lot. Of course, I am not free to share the content of their confessions, but I am free to say that I feel confident that this generation of young people will be formidable for the church and society. Kind of a resurrection!

Q: Finally, what is your take on the institution of this sacrament in Scripture (John 20)? 

A:  The main thing is that it is the work of the Holy Spirit, which means “breath” as Jesus breathed on the disciples. In Hebrew the word is “Ruah.” In Greek it is “Pneuma.” In English it is “Ghost.” Bottom line: Our lungs need air. People suffering from asthma, COVID-19 and COPD know this acutely: without air, we die. It’s the same with spiritual air, or breath: without it, we die. The sacrament of penance is precisely, in this Gospel, the place where that breath is inhaled and Jesus immediately speaks of forgiveness.