Second-Grade Children Speak: Artistic Expression of Sin and Forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Despite a long-standing historical debate in Catholicism about whether second grade is an age-appropriate time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, there has been a virtual absence of Catholic children\u27s own voices and perspectives about this sacrament and its spiritual and moral effects. Joining a growing number of religious scholars who stress the need to engage in child-centered research, I conducted a qualitative study interviewing Catholic second graders about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The purpose of this article is to analyze their drawings of this religious ritual. According to many psychologists and art therapists, children can best capture how they think, feel, and visualize through the medium of art. Because I was interested in exploring how this sacrament impacted children cognitively, affectively, morally, and spiritually, asking them to draw about their experiences seemed to be most the promising medium for children to express in depth what occurred during Reconciliation