Catholic World News News Feature

"Confessional car" designed for tourists' needs January 17, 2007

The international Catholic charitable organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will send a specially designed minibus known as the “confessional car” to a tourism fair in Essen, Germany, in February.

Father Hermann-Joseph Hubka of ACN will introduce the vehicle, which was made to fit the needs of vacationers seeking the sacrament of Penance. For three years the minibus has been in use under the patronage of Augsburg Bishop Walter Mix.

In recent years ACN has built “chapel boats” to be used on rivers in Brazil and Russia, providing for the spiritual needs of people living along rivers, far away from a church. Plans to introduce the "confessional car" at a tourism exhibition were announced on the same day that the Pontifical Council for Migrants released a report encouraging new pastoral strategies to address the needs of travelers.