A restatement of the principles and practice of hearing confessions is long overdue. The enlarged role of psychiatry and pastoral counseling, the questioning of the special role of the priesthood, the diminished sense of individual responsibility, and the influence of situation ethics are all factors to be reckoned with, no less than the practical questions of administering the sacrament. This practical guide for confessors was prepared for publication following the author's death by Reginald Cant, Canon of York Minster, and includes a memoir of the author by Gordon Hopkins.
