Members of the public talk about memories of their first confession, sins, fear and guilt.
May is traditionally the month of First Holy Communions in the Catholic Church. Ahead of making their First Communion, each child must make their first confession to seek forgiveness for sins, which takes the form of a penance. For a young child this can be a daunting experience. In this episode of 'Would You Believe?', Iseult O'Doherty chats to members of the public about their memories of the confession box for the first time.
Janet Walsh recalls, at the age of six, telling a priest a sin who in turn forced her to confess her sin to her mother. Margaret Carthy used to memorise her sins in case she forgot them in the confession box and talks about feeling purified after confession. Marguerite Curran remembers committing a sin on a Friday so that she would have a sin to confess in the confessional on a Saturday. Maurice Dunphy remembers the fear of committing a sin as a child and the guilt involved.
Lolo Byrne talks about getting pulled out of the confession box by the hair as a child for kneeling incorrectly.
This episode of 'Would You Believe?' from 30 November 1997 takes a look at the role and place of confession in Ireland and was broadcast on RTÉ 1.
'Would You Believe?' is an investigative and informative religious series and was first broadcast on 3 October, 1991.
