Confession is a history of penance as a virtue and a sacrament in the United States from about 1634, when Catholicism arrived in Maryland, to 2015, fifty years after the major theological and disciplinary changes initiated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965.) In the years since the Council, penitential language has been overshadowed increasingly by the language of conflict and controversy. In today's social and political climate, Confessionmay help Americans understand how much their society has departed from the penitential language of the earlier American tradition, and consider the advantages and disadvantages of such a departure.