CSsR - Understanding Scrupulosity : 3rd Edition of Questions and Encouragement

Understanding
Scrupulosity

QUESTIONS AND
ENCOURAGEMENT

Third Edition

Thomas M. Santa, CSsR

Imprimi Potest:
Stephen T. Rehrauer, CSsR, Provincial
Denver Province, the Redemptorists
Published by Liguori Publications
Liguori, Missouri 63057

To order, visit Liguori.org or call 800-325-9521.

Copyright 1999, 2007, 2017 by Thomas M. Santa

Previously published in 1999 by Liguori Publications as Understanding Scrupulosity: Helpful Answers for Those Who Experience Nagging Questions and Doubts and in 2007 as Understanding Scrupulosity: Questions, Helps, and Encouragement, Revised Edition. History of Confession is adapted from The Essential Handbook of the Bible by Thomas M. Santa, CSsR (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 2001).

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of Liguori Publications.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Santa, Thomas M., 1952

Title: Understanding scrupulosity : questions and encouragement / Rev. Thomas M. Santa, CSsR.

Description: Third Edition. | Liguori : Liguori Publications, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2014002542 | ISBN 9780764825279

Subjects: LCSH: ScruplesMiscellanea. | Christian lifeCatholic authorsMiscellanea.

Classification: LCC BJ1278.S37 S26 2017 | DDC 241/.042dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2014002542

Scripture texts in this work are taken from New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana; English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Liguori Publications, a nonprofit corporation, is an apostolate of the Redemptorists. To learn more about the Redemptorists, visit Redemptorists.com.

Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 / 5 4 3 2 1

Chapter One
What Is Scrupulosity?

Chapter Two
Two Scrupulous Saints

Chapter Three
Scrupulosity and Confession

Chapter Four
What Is Sin and What Is Not?

Chapter Five
The Priest As Confessor: What Can Be Hoped For?

Attachment to the Confessor

Chapter Six
Questions About Holy Communion

Chapter Seven
Questions About Prayer and the Mass

Chapter Eight
Thoughts That Cannot Be Shaken

Chapter Nine
All About Sex

Chapter Ten
Three Important Considerations

Pray in Thanksgiving for the Healing Youll Receive

Chapter Eleven
Questions Asked and Answered

Chapter Twelve
When Is Professional Help Necessary?

Chapter Thirteen
Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous

Chapter Fourteen
Ten Commandments for Peace of Mind

Chapter Fifteen
This Helped Me: SA Members Speak

Appendix A
History of Confession

Appendix B
Letter From a Priest

Appendix C
Glossary

Appendix D
Bibliography

This is a pastoral book, not a professional tome; the difference is essential. I have no psychological training, so Im not qualified to write a professional work on scrupulosity. However, many years of practical and pastoral experience with people with scrupulosity have taught me a great deal.

When the initial anxiety of a scruple comes to a persons awareness, a priest or counselor is often able to dismiss it with reassurance, but sometimes a priest or counselor isnt available. This book, which represents fifty years of questions and answers from the Scrupulous Anonymous (SA) newsletter, will be beneficial at such moments to people with scrupulosity. In that sense, this is a pastoral book.

This book will also be helpful to the priests and counselors who are often the first point of contact for people with scrupulosity, so I hope it will be required reading for seminarians and others preparing for counseling positions or ministry. In that sense, my effort in these pages is professional.

Before I became priest-director of SA, I was convinced scrupulosity was dying. I assumed that because Catholics place less emphasis on the sacrament of reconciliation and on rules and regulations as a result of the revision of canon law under the direction of St. Pope John Paul II, fewer and fewer people would have scrupulosity. I assumed scrupulosity was a problem for elderly people and for people accustomed to the way we used to do things.

However, my correspondence and the retreats I conduct have led me to believe that new SA members are not just the elderly, nor are they necessarily being counseled by priests, who spend less time in the confessional than they used to. Psychologists, social workers, spiritual directors, and supportive family members and friends are often the ministers of first resort for people with scrupulosity.

Some people with scrupulosity give up hope of finding help, simply choosing to suffer quietly. For a person with a very active case of scruples, finding someone who is willing to listen is like trying to find a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. People with scrupulosity are so desperate for help that they cling to the person reaching out to them, and in their desperation they soon swamp the boat. There seems to be no end to the questions, the details, and exceptions. Many people with scrupulosity have been subjected to impatience in the confessional, avoidance in public places, and being hung up on in frustration.

My contribution to this project has been to organize the questions and answers (which have been edited to accommodate the book format), provide commentary, and introduce each section. The questions come from people with the disease, and the answers come from the Scrupulous Anonymous priest-directors of the last fifty years: Redemptorist Frs. Thomas E. Tobin, Donald Miller, Daniel Lowery, John Farnik, Louis Miller, Joseph Nolen, and Victor Karls.

In addition, I must single out Fr. Patrick Kaler. For many SA members, Fr. Kaler was the only person they could turn to for help and understanding. In my opinion, Fr. Kaler earned sainthood because of this ministry. The many phone calls always graciously accepted, the volume of letters meticulously answered, and the daily prayers and sacrifices he freely offered were an inspiration. Ive never pretended to follow in his footsteps.