Admit to overhearing a confession?

[zab]

At one time we only used the confessionals on two nights of the years when we the Reconcilliation Services were held. The rest of the time the pastor heard confessions in the Reconcilliation room. One of my sons told the story of the first time he went to confession in the confessional when he was still a boy. He entered the confessional and heard the priest mumble something that he couldn’t understand so he immediately began his confession and was going on and on and finally the priest opened the little sliding door and told my son that he would have to wait because he was now hearing the confession of the person on the other side
Our previous pastor used the Confessional rather than the Reconcilliation Room and had a sound system intalled in his confessional to help alleviate the problem of people overhearing from the other side. The problem was that the music was sometimes annoyingly too loud. During the restoration/renovation of our church, there was some sound proofing done of the confessionals but it was still not perfect because of the sliding doors. Our present pastor had the sound system for the music removed and he only allows people to use the confessional from one side. The same for the visiting priest’s confessional, we are only allowed to use one side of the confessional. I like this system better. You could recommend this to your pastor.

 

[FatHead]

you have a duty to tell your pastor

 

[Monica4316]

You will also find that if you attempt to discuss it with your confessor outside the confessional, he will not allow you to do so. A priest other than your confessor will similarly limit what you tell him out of respect for the seal binding your confessor, unless it is within the context of confession to him.

what if I go to Confession, and I need to discuss something regarding a previous confession with a different priest? would that violate the seal? since I’m the one bringing it up… what do you mean by “unless it is within the context of confession to him”?

 

[mdgspencer]

One time I could hear what was being said in confession. I immediately stopped listening to it. When the priest came out of his confessional, I told him I could hear.
People are asking if there there is a seal for themselves if they overhear a confession. I don’t know why they would stay there listening to what is being said in that case. If they listen because they are curious, I would think this a sin.

 

[onmyknees]

We have a confessor in our archdiocese that has the old traditional confessionals and he always whispers and tells the penitent to whisper as well.

 

[onmyknees]

what if I go to Confession, and I need to discuss something regarding a previous confession with a different priest? would that violate the seal? since I’m the one bringing it up… what do you mean by “unless it is within the context of confession to him”?/

No, I think that if you can discuss anything with a priest in the confessional because they can never break the seal.

 

[Suslar]

One time I could hear what was being said in confession. I immediately stopped listening to it. When the priest came out of his confessional, I told him I could hear.
People are asking if there there is a seal for themselves if they overhear a confession. I don’t know why they would stay there listening to what is being said in that case. If they listen because they are curious, I would think this a sin.

I agree.
One time, when I could hear what was going on, I simply asked everyone in line to back up a LOT so that none of us were close enough to hear.
Yes, I did mention it to the priest too. He said I did the right thing.

 

[7_Sorrows]

one time i was going into the confessional and i was seated next to the priest. there were curtains, but they were not closed. it was very awkward. then i noticed that the person who had left the confessional before i entered had sat down in the last pew and i was afraid he would hear my confession so i talked very quietly. but i am not sure the priest could hear me very well. it bothered me a lot that the person confessing before me had chose to sit in the last pew by the confessional as hoping to be able to listen to confessions. no one said anything to him. anyhow, i was so distracted by the person sitting in the pew that i don’t feel i gave a good confession.

 

[Phemie]

Our previous pastor used the Confessional rather than the Reconcilliation Room and had a sound system intalled in his confessional to help alleviate the problem of people overhearing from the other side. The problem was that the music was sometimes annoyingly too loud. During the restoration/renovation of our church, there was some sound proofing done of the confessionals but it was still not perfect because of the sliding doors. Our present pastor had the sound system for the music removed and he only allows people to use the confessional from one side. The same for the visiting priest’s confessional, we are only allowed to use one side of the confessional. I like this system better. You could recommend this to your pastor.

What did they do back in the old days when there was no sound system and insulation wasn’t that great? In the parish where I grew up there were no doors in the confessional, except for the center section where the priest sat. The penitents’ sections only had a curtain across the front. People knew to stay back from the confessional.

One thing I’ve experienced in my present parish is the priest forgetting to turn off his lapel mic when he went to the reconciliation room during the penitential service. The sacristan almost broke her neck running back to knock on the door to inform him that what was being said was being broadcast all over the church.

 

[zab]

What did they do back in the old days when there was no sound system and insulation wasn’t that great? In the parish where I grew up there were no doors in the confessional, except for the center section where the priest sat. The penitents’ sections only had a curtain across the front. People knew to stay back from the confessional.

One thing I’ve experienced in my present parish is the priest forgetting to turn off his lapel mic when he went to the reconciliation room during the penitential service. The sacristan almost broke her neck running back to knock on the door to inform him that what was being said was being broadcast all over the church.

I also recall that there were curtains on the confessionals on either side of the priest in my hometown parish when I was young. In my present parish, we have three doors on the confessionals, now only two of which are used in each of the confessionals (the priest and one side for the penitent). Most people do tend to stand in line back from the confessional and the people try to stay clear of the pews near the confessionals when they are in use.

 

[jmcrae]

What did they do back in the old days when there was no sound system and insulation wasn’t that great?

Architects back then knew how to build buildings in such a way as to have areas where the sound does not carry, and areas where it carries. Confessionals would be installed in the parts of the building where the sound does not carry, and the preaching would be done in the part of the building that was built to carry sound.

Before that, we all lived in caves or thatched huts, and I don’t think the Sacrament of Reconciliation had yet been instituted.