Further to Ray Quinlan’s letter (26 September), the draft service he summarises is very similar to the penitential services that were held in our Reading parish in the 1980s and 1990s, under various parish priests. Over time, possibly to calm the fears of Church authorities, general absolution gave way to a procession for individual absolution, but without confession (although it was always announced that formal confession was also available).Our penitential services, often held twice on the same day, were always packed. Once the barrier and artificiality of confession were removed, many more parishioners would come to a reconciliation service. And incidentally one result was a powerful sense of reconciliation among the parishioners themselves at the sign of peace that concluded the