Currents News Staff
An Indiana priest has thought of a way to get more people to take part in what he says is an important sacrament, confession.
Confession is a blessed sacrament allowing Catholics to admit to their sins and receive forgiveness.
It’s also something many Catholics are afraid of, and often avoid.
In order to keep up with the ever changing and growing community, Father Patrick Baikauskas and St. Thomas Aquinas are taking confessions to go.
“If this is a really important sacrament, let’s show it. Let’s get out where the people are, where the students are. Take this golf cart out and do confessions on the go,” said Father Patrick.
If you see Father Patrick and are interested in confessing, all you have to do is wave him down.
“Pope Francis said we’re supposed to smell like the sheep. Smelling like the sheep means you’re not going to stay in that church and wait for all the people to come to us. Pope Francis wants us to go out to the people and experience them right where they are,” said Father Patrick.
He’ll perform a traditional face-to-face confession, assign you a penance, and you’ll be on your way.
“We want to honor our traditions, but we don’t want to be traditionalists. We don’t want to be so stayed and so off-putting that we get stuck in the traditions without recognizing how we can bring them to people in a new way,” said Father Patrick. “I think Jesus Christ would be thrilled to see us doing something like this.”
Father Patrick says he plans to drive the campus every day. Meanwhile, Saint Thomas will still offer its confessions for those looking for privacy twice a day.