In a society utterly transformed over the past 40 years, a new film offers a nuanced exploration of the Catholic Church in Ireland through the lens of the sacrament of confession as a way of understanding our past, as well as where we are now and where we are going. Sins of Ireland, directed by Alex Fegan (Older Than Ireland, The Irish Pub), will be released at cinemas around Ireland on 18 April.

Through the prism of the confession box, which has its origins in Ireland, ‘Sins of Ireland’ is a portrait of an overlooked aspect of Ireland’s past and how it impacted many parts of the world. Fifteen Irish priests, known for hearing the confessions of others, outline what the sacrament of confession was supposed to be and, while confessing the sins of the church, what it became.

The documentary is a nuanced and uncynical examination of confession, as the priests themselves acknowledge how a rite meant to offer absolution and guidance had for many years become a tool of control and shame, with devastating consequences.

For filmmaker Alex Fegan, this was a documentary he felt he needed to make to learn more about where we have come from as a people, and where we are going. “Growing up in Dublin in the 1990s, the grip of the Church over our collective psyche was loosening. I was at once intrigued by the rituals and appalled by the abuses of the Church. As the years went by, I found myself questioning everything about what the Church had meant in people’s lives over the decades & centuries, including what we may have lost as well as what we may have gained as people have moved away from religious traditions. I have always been fascinated by the concept of forgiveness, which I feel is one of the most fundamental aspects of what it means to be human. And when my son was on the altar making his first confession with the Parish Priest, as I observed this I went into a sort of daydream as I wondered about this ancient rite of passage – to some this must seem absurd in the extreme, repulsive even, and to others it must be moving & sacred. And so, I set out to speak with and understand priests in Ireland in the 21st Century through the prism of the confession box – these people about whom most of us know so little, yet have heard so much. Making the film taught me many things about them, myself and life itself. If people get even a small bit as much from watching Sins of Ireland as I did from making it, I will be delighted.”