The NY Times had a profile this weekend of St. John the Evangelist parish in Stamford, Connecticut and the comeback that "confession" is making in that parish. I was a member of that parish while I was clerking in New Haven in 1999-2000 (my wife was working in NYC, so we lived in Stamford to split the commute). The profile caused me a bit of nostalgia. The story features Fr. Stephen DiGiovanni, who was there when I attended. He had a real thing for confession. I used to come home and complain almost every weekend to my wife that, no matter what the Gospel readings, he found a way to talk about confession. Lazarus and the Rich Man? Confession. Beatitudes? Confession. The rich young man? Confession, confession, confession. Nearly ten years later, it appears that he's still singing the same tune. You have to admire the persistence and consistency. And it appears to be bearing fruit. I wonder what would have happened if he had placed the same emphasis on service to the poor.

Eduardo M. Peñalver is the Allan R. Tessler Dean of the Cornell Law School. The views expressed in the piece are his own, and should not be attributed to Cornell University or Cornell Law School.

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