saints and sinners

I read this yesterday in one book, and this morning in another:

The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the  fellowship. We dare not be sinners. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

The interesting thing to me is the communal nature of confessing presented in both books. Bonhoeffer was Lutheran, but was influenced by experiences he had with the Catholic Church. He believed strongly in the power of confession to reunite us with God. I do, too. That alone does not make it any easier to go to confession.
I've gotten better at it. For a long time, I truly believed it necessary to go to a different priest every time. In all honesty, there was a fear of judgement; a fear that opinions might change. I was afraid that who I was seen as would not match what I might confess.

What I was really afraid of was how I would see myself.