W. David Myers is associate professor of history at Fordham University. He is the author of Poor, Sinning Folk: Confession and Conscience in Counter-Reformation Germany (Cornell). Get Commonweal’s latest, delivered twice weekly. Email address Published in the 2004-09-10 issue: View Contents Recommended for you Whatever Happened to Synodality? By Heidi Schlumpf June 18, 2026 Waidmannslust By Linda Kinstler June 15, 2026 Innocence & Impotence By Sophia Sheehy Bulla June 18, 2026