Bogotá, Colombia, Oct 22, 2016 / 05:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- For two days this week, a shopping mall in Bogota, Colombia was transformed into a “Confess-a-thon,” as 120 priests administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation to shoppers and those passing by.
Priests from all over the country flocked to the Gran Estación Mall on Oct. 18-19 for the Confession event. This is the second time that the initiative has taken place. Last October, the first Confess-a-thon was held at the mall, with great success. Some 70 percent of the country is Catholic.
The Colombian Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the event is a sign of the Jubilee of Mercy that “is inspired by what the pontiff has asked for, to be a Church that reaches out, as a sign of the presence of God.”
The event took place during the Faith Cup, a soccer tournament among priests to help build fraternity and outreach.
The bishops' conference stated that the first day of this year’s Confess-a-thon began around 5:00 p.m. Some people looked at the priests with surprise and curiosity. Others lined up to take part in the sacrament.
Gladys Lopez was among those who went to Confessions. She said that it was an opportunity to unburden herself.
“You come totally convinced that God is giving you the chance to have a clear conscience and to be able remove those things that are weighing us down in our lives, and it's an opportunity that everyone should take advantage of,” she said.
Luz Estella Rey said that it had been a long time since she had experienced this sacrament and said that she felt “very grateful, with no fear of doing something scary.” She also emphasized that the appearance of the priest she confessed to “conveyed a lot of peace and made me feel at peace.”
Miguel Marquina Acevedo was surprised to see this initiative. In Bogota just for a visit, he and his children went to Confession. “It's not just an occasion to get closer to God, but also to be reconciled, because we often don't have time to get to the church,” he said.
Besides the Confessions at the mall, another group of priests visited different prisons in Bogota on Oct. 19 and 20 to administer the sacrament.
Article Archive
'Confess-a-thon' returns to Colombian mall, draws 120 priests
Related Articles • More Articles
null / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) released a pair of emergency rules that it said are aimed at combating "misinformation" and a "deeply dishonest scare campaign" by the Biden administration about the state's new six-week pro-life law. The rules, published on May 1, establish guidance for lifesaving measures and clarify that certain procedures, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies, are not considered abortion and remain legal under the Florida Heartbeat Protection Act, which went into effect on Wednesday. This comes amid significant criticism over the state's pro-life law that prohibits abortions on women after six weeks of pregnancy except for in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. The new AHCA rules further clarify those exceptions. "The agency finds there is an immediate danger to th...
Oviedo Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes accused the government of focusing "in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church." / Credit: Archdiocese of OviedoACI Prensa Staff, May 2, 2024 / 18:50 pm (CNA)."They have done it again. It is a kind of obsessive mantra every time they need a smokescreen to distract from the real problems we have and to which they so clumsily and insidiously apply their tortuous governance."That is how the archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, began a letter released this week titled "The Accusing Rattle" in which he responds to the socialist government's announcement of an exclusive plan to address sexual and power abuses committed within the Catholic Church.In the opinion of the prelate, the country's executive "has tried to focus in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church, which represents an exclusive...
Pope Francis meets with 300 priests taking part in the World Meeting of Parish Priests on May 2, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 12:41 pm (CNA).Pope Francis published a letter on Thursday addressed to all parish priests in the world with his advice for building a missionary Church in which all the baptized share in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel."Parish communities increasingly need to become places from which the baptized set out as missionary disciples and to which they return, full of joy, in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness," Pope Francis wrote in the letter published on May 2.The pope presented the letter to 300 priests participating in the Synod on Synodality's "World Meeting of Parish Priests" during an audience at the Vatican, saying that their meeting is "an opportunity to remember in my prayers all of the parish priests in the world to whom I address these words with great affection."P...