Ojcowski wymiar posługi kapłana-spowiednika we współczesnym kontekście społeczno-kulturowym

Abstract

Greatly inspired by the II Vatican Council, the recommendations of the Church Magisterium concerning the ministry of a confessor are really extensive. The conciliar documents, the allocutions of Popes’ and the dicasteries’ of the Holy See, they all testify to the topicality of the issue. It also has its reference to the crisis of fatherhood, which is becoming more and more noticeable in the modern world. Such crisis, often referred to as the “lost fatherhood”, poses a considerable challenge for priests, who in the sacrament of penance give people hope by showing them the paternal nature of God. The documents of the Church often stress that in hearing confessions the priest, who is the visible representative of Christ himself, faces the man who is often hurt spiritually and entangled in some difficult situations. Seen in this context, the confessor in administering the sacrament with paternal concern for the penitent, is to show the merciful nature of God the Father through becoming his clear sign. Moreover, every priest must be aware that the faithful asking for confessions very often bear the burden of the modern crisis of fatherhood. It could be claimed that in the contemporary socio-cultural context, fatherhood is flawed with a manifold crisis. The difficulty with understanding and experiencing fatherhood, especially in its spiritual dimension, afflicts marital and family life and thus affects the bringing-up of a next generation. The crisis of the man-father assigns priests a special task of rediscovering the true meaning of fatherhood. It is realized mostly in the ministry of the sacrament of penance, in which the confessor as the spiritual father brings man to the meeting with the merciful God.