Head of abuse study warns against Communion confession for children

Catholic Church: A sign reading "Confession Please do not disturb!" hangs in the sacristy at St Mary's Cathedral.

Many baptised Catholic children celebrate their First Communion after Easter. Part of this is the children's confession. There is criticism of this practice.

According to the Bishops' Conference, children who have been baptised Catholic go to First Communion in the third grade "almost without exception". Before First Communion, which is usually celebrated in the weeks after Easter, the children must go to confession, which is traditionally done in the presence of a priest in the confessional. In the past, however, the confessional has often been the scene of abuse, says Harald Dreßing and warns against children's confession. Dreßing is the author of the so-called MHG study from 2018, which for the first time investigated sexualised violence by priests and deacons in German dioceses.

According to the study, confession was also used to plan and prepare the offences. Many people had later reported, for example, inappropriate questions by priests during confession. "The situation was perfidiously exploited. It was a toxic mix." Sexual abuse is about power - and that is potentiated in the confessional, where the confessor has the power to absolve of sins. "This is a highly frightening situation," says Dreßing. This also raises the fundamental question of whether children under 14 should confess at all. From a developmental-psychological point of view, too, the accompanying children's confession is not a suitable format. At the age of first communion, children could not yet grasp the topics of guilt and sin.

The fact that confession was a classic initiation field for perpetrators is also discussed critically again and again in church circles. Some Dioceses therefore offer the possibility of holding confession in a non-sacred room and with the door open. In this way, confidants can remain within sight, but not within earshot. The child also has the option of leaving the room if he or she feels uncomfortable.

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Cathcon: The lack of the sense of sin is one of the great evils of the modern age.