In a moment of ecclesial history marked by synodal debates, pastoral redefinitions, and a Church increasingly concerned with the sociopolitical issues of the world, an academic study has just been published that sheds light — and shadow — on one of the sacramental pillars of the Catholic faith: confession. It is called For I Have Sinned. The Rise and Fall of Catholic Confession in America, published by Harvard University Press and written by historian James M O’Toole, a professor at Boston College. It is not an apologetic pamphlet nor a moralistic denunciation, but a rigorous, historical, and devastatingly clear study: the practice of confession has disappeared from the everyday life of Catholics.
(...) The disappearance of confession is, for O’Toole, the greatest change in Catholic life in the last 70 years, even more than liturgical reform or the impact of scandals. However, it is surprising — and scandalous — that this phenomenon receives little attention from contemporary pastors and theologians. Amid endless synods on synodality, documents on integral ecology, or new listening structures, no one seems to ask why Catholics have stopped confessing their sins.
And yet, what is at stake is essential. If confession disappears, grace disappears. If the faithful do not confess, they partake in mortal sin. If communion ceases to be a food of salvation (and becomes a path to condemnation) and turns into a social gesture, the Church ceases to be a path to heaven. Everything loses meaning. A Church that does not lead to the salvation of souls has no reason to exist.
The data confirm it: the Pew Research report
This collapse is not just a theological intuition or a cultural analysis. As Infovaticana has already reported, the Pew Research Center study in the U.S. reveals that less than 5% of Catholics confess regularly, and that more than 77% never or almost never confess. Even among those who attend Mass weekly, most do not go to confession even once a year, failing to fulfill a basic precept of Catholic life.
Recovering confession, a forgotten great challenge
James O’Toole’s diagnosis is as honest as it is pessimistic: confession will not return to what it was. But as Catholics, we cannot resign ourselves. The sacrament of penance is not an optional practice nor an outdated cultural gesture: it is the ordinary way of reconciliation with God. If we want to recover grace, holiness, and the very meaning of the Church, we must recover confession.
We will need to train, preach, invite, and above all, set an example. But it is one of the great pastoral and spiritual challenges of our time. Although we do not know if it falls within the “synodal” priorities, we do know that it touches the heart of the Gospel, which is a vital necessity for salvation and for finding the profound meaning of life as Catholics.
Infovaticana