Thinking Outside The Confession Box

Sins of the father…

ong before people took to social media to air their personal demons and latest pantaloons, the confession box was where Irish people turned to exorcise all their sins, original and non-original.

Unsurprisingly, this little wooden redemption closet was created in Ireland, and for generations of Catholics here, three Hail Marys and three Our Fathers was pretty much the only way to get a good night’s sleep.

In Alex Fegan’s Sins Of Ireland, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker who gave us The Irish Pub and Older Than Ireland talks to 15 priests who have dedicated their lives to hearing the transgressions of others.

Even if many of the country’s confession boxes are now storage cupboards.

“The concept emerged following my son making his first confession,” Fegan tells the Guide, “and I had a genuine curiosity to look at the subject with a more objective eye than the usual ‘them versus us’ narrative.

“I think it’s much harder and more insightful to tackle a subject from within than from without, which goes to the core of what confession is supposed to be about – self reflection and self awareness to our shortcomings. Hence, the story is told by priests rather than experts, which is an approach I hadn’t seen before.”

With the seemingly never-ending revelations of scandals turning many away from the Catholic Church in Ireland – hence all those handy new storage spaces – there’s now a wave of millennials and Gen Z-ers turning to ‘community Catholicism’ as a way of bringing some sense, and a moral compass, to an increasingly chaotic, complex and confusing world.

For some churches though, it has proven too late, as the holy-powers-that-be – facing dwindling attendance and shrivelling donations – sell up property after property across the country. Including, of course, Delgany’s Carmelite Monastery, sold for €15m in 2019.

For Fegan, giving a voice to those priests still holding on to one of Ireland’s oldest Catholic traditions, proved to be pretty close to, well, a religious experience.

“One always tries to move the story forward,” he says, his hope clearly being that his documentary will remind people that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

You can catch Sins Of Ireland in The Whale on Thursday, November 21st at 8pm, tickets here. You can find out more about Alex Fegan right here.