The Catholic Church is warning its parishioners that Confession is not the same thing as psychiatry.
Now, there wouldn’t be confusion if there weren’t similarities. Both involve lots of Latin buzzwords. Both are very unpopular with Scientologists. Both require you to tell your secrets to some weirdo in a dark room. And both present the danger that the weirdo will take advantage of those secrets to touch you inappropriately.
Nonetheless, as the Vatican points out, there are important differences:
| psychiatry | confession |
| covered by insurance | not covered by insurance |
| comfortable couch | hard wooden booth |
| legally able to prescribe drugs | legally able to prescribe Hail Marys |
| not a sacrament | is a sacrament |
| belief in medication as best cure for juvenile hyperactivity | belief in beating-by-nuns as best cure for juvenile hyperactivity |
| considered corrupt on account of financial ties with deep-pocketed pharmaceutical makers | considered corrupt on account of financial ties with deep-pocketed indulgence-seekers |
| based on reverence of crazy Austrian | based on reverence of crazy German |
| underlying conditions considered mythical by a handful of critics | underlying conditions considered mythical by anyone with a brain |
Keep them straight, kids!
Hah! What a knee slapper.
1.6 billion Catholics in the world today, and the billions from the past 2000 years, can’t be wrong. Cofession wins, and works.
So basically, you’re saying that Catholicism must be correct because there are 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, compared to only 5.6 billion non-Catholics.
If you’re going to use a fallacious argument, could you at least check your math first?
So you focus on numbers. One of every six people is Catholic, and that is the largest single group of believers of anything on the planet. The point is how funny you are, and that confession works. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
I’m sure there are many things you’d knock that you haven’t tried. I could name a few examples if you’d like.
How does Google know your surname?
If I search for your name + surname, this blog comes up second, though your surname appears nowhere on it. (It is true the video confirms it’s you, although that’s obvious from the blog already).
Do what you like, Joe.
It’s probably too late for anyone to notice, but…
David-
Confession ‘works’ to the extent that 1) talking about your problems can help and 2) getting advice from someone who has good ideas that are both applicable to the problem and acceptable to you can help. That’s exactly how any other form of counseling works, too. There are also some placebo effects and good old confirmation bias (which religions excell at).
What doesn’t ‘work’ is all of the assertions Catholics make about why it works or how it works or what it will do for you after you’re dead or what other imaginary entities care about what you have done this past week.