All a bishop or pastor has to do is direct that children confess before their first communion, and be so prepared, restructure the room with discreet curtains for privacy, and put up temporary or permanent signs showing where the sacramental room is placed. Deeper concerns We can change the superficialities in every church in America and still not have a renewal of the sacrament or reduction of the presumption. In order to become once again a community of repentance, humility and reconciliation, we must correct two basic problems. We must restore a sense of enormity of personal sin and abolish the notion that sin doesn't really matter. Although both of these problems stem from an inadequacy of teaching and homiletics, the first is actually easier to correct.
Man understands that sin is awful.
Perhaps 60 percent of every local and national newscast is devoted to a recitation of sin. Of course the network anchors don't use that term. Man has a definite comprehension of sin, and knows that it is wrong to do bad things. The real problem is that, despite a universal understanding that sin in general is bad, most people have difficulty admitting to personal culpability for sin. When preparing the week's homily, discern from the Gospel or Epistle text a single virtue or vice that is being promoted or excoriated.