Untitled - Rore Sanctifica

Defects and their Remedy in Re-union. 163
by a positive order, not knowing how otherwise
to bend the child s will in the right direction.
An unwilling obedience reacts in a
contrary
impulse when time or over tension have led to
a rejection of the authority which imposes it.
Confession for example among ourselves has
not only been a purely voluntary act, but it has
been sought in the face of the greatest diffi
culties, and at the cost of extreme suffering by
hundreds and thousands among us of late
years.
It has been almost forced upon the
clergv, and every year
sees the number of
penitents increase. With us, as a rule, only
the contrite come to it, but under the Roman
system, penitent and impenitent
must come
"
alike if they wish to preserve a
religious ex-
terior, or neglect it altogether, to the great
of their consciences. Such an act when
injury
it becomes a mere formality cannot but do
more harm than good, and yet a state of things
in which it is expected from every ore would
be most beneficial, if it could be brought about,
as it is likely to be among ourselves, by general
feeling alone. Roman priests
themselves have
long ago complained that the great repugnance
of Englishmen to confession is one of the exeat
o ,
hindrances to the progress of the Catholic
Faith. How then must they wonder at the
voluntary increase of the practice in our Com
munion with no external pressure at all !
M 2