Mark Stricherz on Penance and Benedict's call for American social renewal

Penance and American Social Renewal - Mark Stricherz (In Front of Your Nose) on the starting point of Catholic renewal in America:

“Going to confession is hard,” Dorothy Day writes in The Long Loneliness. Truer words were never ... How many Saturday afternoons have I spent, usually all alone in church, waiting to confess my sins to a priest. Time seems to stop; when I arrive early, I always hear the soft patter of the priest’s shoes against the marble or hardwood floor, the sounds meant only for me; and when I arrive late, I worry that the priest will emerge from the confessional and recognize me. The feelings of alienation, separation, and anxiety are rough.

But that suffering can lead not only to personal reconciliation but also social renewal. Thus said Benedict XVI at Nationals Stadium last Thursday. ...