Nowadays it isn't too tough to critique the Church--it makes a lot of mistakes. In Joyce's day critiques like these wouldn't be as well received. But in the first section of part four, Joyce makes (what to me at least) seems to be a compelling criticism of the Church. One particular
passage stood out to me, showing the hypocrisy and almost cruelty of the
Church's implementation of confession.
Stephen reflects about the times he goes to confess his sins
to the priests. Often, when confessing a
more trivial sin, he is, “bidden by his confessor to name some sin of his past
life before absolution was given him” (133).
Absolution is defined as, “the remission of sin, or of the punishment
due to sin, granted by the Church.” It doesn't seem as though the priests are following through on this idea when they bring up sins that Stephen has
been absolved of and already been forced to pay penance for.
Being forced to re-confess doesn't help Stephen, either. He feels "humiliated and shamed...to know that he would never be freed from [his sin] wholly" (133). Besides the obvious wordplay between "wholly" and "holy", being forced to confess and repent the same sin doesn't lead Stephen to a spiritual revelation. It frustrates him and makes the Church seem unhelpful. It doesn't allow him leave behind his former, sinful life. Instead it forces him to recall his past sins and go through the same embarrassment again and again. And because Stephen doesn't understand why he keeps re-confessing his sins, he sees confession as "fruitless" (134) and possibly leads to a doubting of the power of the Church.
I'll be honest, I don't really go to confessional--and I don't know if I've ever confessed my sins--and even if I could remember one time, it'd probably be a false memory. So confessional today might be closer to Stephen's experiences than I would hope, but who knows? Well, probably you.
The one thing I'm really unsure of about with this passage is why the priests force him to re-confess. Do they doubt the sincerity of his sorrow? But certainly the fact that he is upset by even his small transgressions should indicate the veracity of his regret. The only thing I can come up with--a completely unsupported claim--is that the priests get some joy out of getting Stephen to confess these huge sins. Whether it's some sort of vicarious thrill or just pure sadism, I'm not sure. I'm probably wrong.
I think you make a great point about the pointlessness of Stephen's confession. I believe it is worthwhile to note that at this point in the story Stephen tries to live a life of piety, free of sin, yet as soon as the institutional Church becomes a part of that he begins to doubt his new life. His referring to the confessions as "fruitless" is a great example of this, but the same also happens later when he contemplates life as a priest. At first he seems attracted to the priesthood and pictures himself wearing the traditional garments, but as soon as he starts to imagine life with the other brothers as a part of the Society of Jesus, he immediately rejects the idea. While Stephen admires the religious life, I think that he also feels that something about the Church is wrong. I believe that events like these foreshadow a climactic rejection of the institutional Church.
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