Maybe some confession would help us all now

The other day Pope Francis spoke to a morning Mass at the Vatican and urged listeners to understand why confession of their sins is so good for them.

"The Lord," he said, "always consoles us as long as we let ourselves be consoled."

Because I am not a member of the Catholic Church, I have never participated in its formal practice of confession to a priest. Some of my Catholic friends speak about their experience in two ways. One: That it is transformative and necessary for them to move forward in life with authenticity. Two: Sometimes, especially when they were children, they felt the need to make up examples of wrong-doing just to get through the process even when they felt they hadn't committed any sins.

My own experience with confession is that if we are honest with ourselves we realize how easy it is to be dishonest with ourselves. By which I mean that it's difficult to see yourself clearly, as if we were seeing ourselves through the eyes of a disinterested observer or even through the eyes of God.

We all tend to justify our actions and thoughts even when, deep down, we know that they have been destructive. So we shy away from confessing our errors, our sins, our shortcomings because we have found ways to believe they really didn't amount to much.

This tendency can be seen playing out in this politically divisive time in the U.S., especially now that we're deep into the process of impeaching President Donald Trump. Republicans, including the president, seem incapable of acknowledging the many ways Trump has mishandled (and I would say abused) his office. And Democrats often seem unable to see or praise even the smallest Trump move or achievement.

Where are the voices that call on all sides to confess their biases and their errors and to move ahead with spirited debate about policy approaches instead of demonizing the other side? It's time for some confession. It's time to take several deep national breaths and to see if, together, we can find a way forward.

I just wish I were more confident than I am that we are capable of doing that. If you are hopeful about this, can you lend me some of your hope? I confess that mine is in frighteningly short supply.

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WAS THIS REQUEST ITSELF AN ANTISEMITIC ACT?

When President Trump signed an executive order the other day aimed at reducing antisemitism on college campuses (Jews are divided about the use of the order, RNS reports here), one of the people he asked to speak at the event is a pastor who says that if you're Jewish you're going to hell. The White House seems to vet speakers about as well as it vets top appointees.