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For I Have Sinned: The Rise and Fall of Catholic Confession in America
The remarkable story of how confession became a defining rite for American Catholics—and then, beginning in the 1970s, all but disappeared.
For generations, American Catholics went faithfully to confession, admitting their sins to a priest and accepting through him God’s forgiveness. The sacrament served as a distinctive marker of Catholic identity, shaping parishioners’ views of their relationship to God, their neighbors, and the wider world. But starting in the 1970s, many abandoned confession altogether. Focusing on the experiences of both laypeople and priests, James M. O’Toole reconstructs the history of confession’s steady rise—and dramatic fall—among American Catholics.
In the early United States, the Catholic Church grew rapidly—and with it, confession’s centrality. Although the sacrament was practiced unevenly for much of the nineteenth century, frequent confession became common by the early twentieth. Both priests and parishioners understood confession as a ritual crucial for the soul, while on a social level, it established Catholic distinctiveness within a largely Protestant country. Today, however, even faithful Catholics seldom confess. The reasons for this change, O’Toole reveals, include the emergence of psychology and other forms of counseling; the Church’s stance against contraception, which alienated many parishioners; and a growing sense of confession’s inability to confront social problems like structural racism, poverty, and sexism. Meanwhile, increasing recognition of sexual abuse within the Church further undermined trust in clergy as confessors.
Sensitively attuned to the historical importance of confession, For I Have Sinned also suggests that, if the sacrament no longer serves the needs of US Catholics, the Church and its members might find new ways to express their ideals in the twenty-first century.
For generations, American Catholics went faithfully to confession, admitting their sins to a priest and accepting through him God’s forgiveness. The sacrament served as a distinctive marker of Catholic identity, shaping parishioners’ views of their relationship to God, their neighbors, and the wider world. But starting in the 1970s, many abandoned confession altogether. Focusing on the experiences of both laypeople and priests, James M. O’Toole reconstructs the history of confession’s steady rise—and dramatic fall—among American Catholics.
In the early United States, the Catholic Church grew rapidly—and with it, confession’s centrality. Although the sacrament was practiced unevenly for much of the nineteenth century, frequent confession became common by the early twentieth. Both priests and parishioners understood confession as a ritual crucial for the soul, while on a social level, it established Catholic distinctiveness within a largely Protestant country. Today, however, even faithful Catholics seldom confess. The reasons for this change, O’Toole reveals, include the emergence of psychology and other forms of counseling; the Church’s stance against contraception, which alienated many parishioners; and a growing sense of confession’s inability to confront social problems like structural racism, poverty, and sexism. Meanwhile, increasing recognition of sexual abuse within the Church further undermined trust in clergy as confessors.
Sensitively attuned to the historical importance of confession, For I Have Sinned also suggests that, if the sacrament no longer serves the needs of US Catholics, the Church and its members might find new ways to express their ideals in the twenty-first century.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published March 4, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 29, 2025
Insightful and engaging. Covers the broad subject with many specific examples. I thought the book was great; a strength was the strong evidence for his thesis. But I did not like his prescription. In the last chapter, the author suggests that the Catholic Church should revamp confession simply due to 1) the lack of demand and 2) because of the sacrament’s institutional significance. Should we apply that standard and prescription to the rest of the sacraments? Of course not. The historian should stick to history. Regardless, this was a great book on a neglected subject.
March 28, 2025
A useful resource for the history (and present) of a sacrament. O'Toole charts a path from the early church in America up until the early 2000s, covering everything from church attendance to advice columns. All to tell a story that is, thanks to the vow of secrecy, hard to tell. He does a quality job, if a bit dense at times. While I found the section on psychology interesting, I felt it didn't fit as well into an explanation of the 'fall.' The facts about the expansion of societal sins is also insightful, but I don't feel the laity is as interested in that (at least now) as he makes it out to be. He only briefly talks about the 'emptying pews,' which is a major contributing factor in the fall of confession. Despite those reservations, it is a well-written, well-research piece of social/religious history. If you are interested in that history, you can't go wrong with this.
June 12, 2025
Solid history of the rise and fall of confession in American Catholicism. It gets into the weeds but is appliable to broader trends in American Christianity.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews