'Pangong Sacrament' is a culture formed over a long period in the Korean Church and serves as an opportunity for believers to prepare well for the upcoming feast day.
Even believers who normally feel burdened by the Sacrament of Confession can observe their duties as believers through the Lenten Sacrament.
Any Korean church believer who lives a religious life in a parish will hear the term 'Pangongseongsa'.This is because, before the Advent and Lent seasons, we are told to “receive a Pangong Sacrament ticket” through announcements in the parish bulletin or during Mass.
'Pangongseongsa' is written as ‘ε€εθδΊ’ in Chinese characters, it refers to the sacrament of confession practiced by Korean Catholics twice a year, before Easter and Christmas. The term literally means "judging one's merits and demerits" and it implies that the faithful examine their conscience, repent of their sins, and receive absolution.
Believers receive a confessional ticket, go to confession, and then submit the ticket to the parish, and the church records this in the believer's church register. The records of 'Pangongseongsa' recorded in the church register serve as a yardstick for believers to check their own religious life. At the same time, they are used as important data at the church level to determine the condition of the community's spiritual life.
“Every believer, after reaching the age of discernment, must sincerely confess his or her serious sins at least once a year,” which can be interpreted as requiring them to go to the Sacrament of Confession at least once a year. However, in the Korean Church, since the period of persecution, believers who had difficulty meeting priests have formed a tradition of meeting priests twice a year and receiving the Sacrament of Confession.
As priests were not able to meet believers freely during the persecution, they closely examined the believers' religious lives through interviews and home visits before giving them the Holy Sacrament. It was natural for believers to reflect deeply on their faith before going to confession.
To lessen the burden that the Pangong Sacrament places on believers, the Korean Church decided at the 2015 Autumn General Assembly of the Bishops' Conference to recognize believers who go to confession after the Pangong Sacrament period as having received the Pangong Sacrament. This provides flexibility so that you do not feel burdened even if you do not go to confession during the official approval period.
Although believers generally receive the Pangong Sacrament at their own parish, the location of the Pangong Sacrament is wider than the home parish. Since the Pangong Sacrament is for the church to help believers live their faith and identify indicators of their faith life, even if it is not necessarily the parish they belong to, they can go to any parish to receive the sacrament. All they need is to get confirmation with a signature from the relevant parish and submit it to your parish, it will be properly entered in your church register.
The Pangong Sacrament serves as a way for believers to reflect on their own faith and for priests to understand and care for the believers' spiritual lives.
If you don't go to confession for more than 3 years, you are classified as a tepid member. In years before the Second Vatican Council, the community members during the Christmas Pangong period would take an exam on a certain part of the Catechism of the Church and come before the priest as individuals or family for the exam. It would be a way of meeting all the Catholics answering questions and helping the individual in his or her spiritual life. One can see how this part of the 'Pangong culture' did not continue in our modern society.
