Availability Of Confession

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Seamus_L

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I think this is a serious problem in most dioceses, particularly during the week. The number of masses to confession times is way way out of proportion, and this is spiritually unhealthy. Just the other morning I drove 8 miles in steady rain, to go to confession (listed in the church’s bulletin and website) only to find no one there. A parishoner told me it was not the first time either. Yes, one can always hunt down a priest and make your confession in a regular room, but this is very inhibiting to many people who prefer the anonymity of the confessional, not to mention the fact that some people are on tight schedules and don’t have the time to wait till after mass.
 
Seamus_L said:
I think this is a serious problem in most dioceses, particularly during the week. The number of masses to confession times is way way out of proportion, and this is spiritually unhealthy. Just the other morning I drove 8 miles in steady rain, to go to confession (listed in the church’s bulletin and website) only to find no one there. A parishoner told me it was not the first time either. Yes, one can always hunt down a priest and make your confession in a regular room, but this is very inhibiting to many people who prefer the anonymity of the confessional, not to mention the fact that some people are on tight schedules and don’t have the time to wait till after mass.
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I agree with you, and I think more needs to be done to promote Confession overall. I can’t speak for others but there’s no way I can only go once or twice a year.

Throughout the summer I went roughly once a week, a couple of times more than once a week (it was a rough summer), My parish has Confession available before the evening Mass on Sunday (the one I go to) and depending on the Priest sometimes after. One Priest who visits us, my favorite Confessor, stays for 2 - 4 hours extra after Mass to hear confessions (it’s our “youth Mass” so he wants to make sure they know the importance of the Sacrament…so the lineup after Mass has several high school kids and a bunch of parents ready to go).

It varies on the place though around here though. The Basilica downtown has it before every Mass on weekdays. Other places have it before Masses on the weekends plus another time during the week. And of course at all places you can just ask.

So yeah. Depends on the place and the Priests.

But like I said earlier…it’d be solid if the demand for Confession was higher.
 
I agree. We are blessed to have regular times for confession at our Latin Mass apostolate. But in addition, thanks to the insistence of then-Bishop Burke here in the La Crosse diocese, there are confessions every day just before the noon Mass at the cathedral. The times I have been there, there are always people in line. I wish more bishops would take this kind of leadership to insure that this sacrament is available on a daily basis.
 
Well, I’m very lucky in that I work about 5 miles from EWTN where they have Confession every day at 11am. All I have to do is take an early lunch hour and drive over.

When I lived in Louisiana, our parish had Confession before every Mass, weekdays AND Sunday’s! I think this should be the norm.
 
** I am blessed to have found a Parish that offers confession every day from noon until 1:30 (weekends included). I have to drive a little but it’s worth it. I think the reason is because the Parish has 5 priests.**
** The Parish I attend only has confession twice a week for about 15 minutes, and that is only at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hard for us that work and usually a line, that is left standing when Father heads out to do the Mass. I have been to other Parishes that have similiar schedules.**
** I know there has been a push for RC’s to go to confession but, shouldn’t the Priests be avaliable?**
 
This annoys me to NO END! I used to belong to a parish run by monks and they “offered” confession once a week for 20 minutes before Sat evening Mass. I tried 4 times to go to confession–ONLY ONCE DID A PRIEST ACTUALLY SHOW UP. The last time, there I was kneeling, waiting for a priest and one of the monks walked by in his tennis clothes with racquet, all sweaty to cut through the church to go to the abbey. I asked him very nicely, “Father do you know if someone is coming to hear confessions?” He replied, “Well, someone should be there!” I answered, again, very gently, “Well…they’re not…” And he contorted his face and snapped, “WELL I"M NOT GONNA DO IT!” I said, “Father, I didn’t ask you to.” And he huffed and stormed off.

I finally mentioned to one of the monks that no one was showing up for confession, to which his only reply was, “Well, then why do you bother to come?” I mean…can you believe THAT!!! So I said, “You have what, 15 priests here and can only offer confession once a week for 20 minutes? This is a very large parish!” He just said, “Well, there is an option to call and make an appointment any time.” Good luck. I didn’t return.

Having lived in Chicago and now NYC for the last 10 years has made me realize how much healing is needed in our world. SO many hurting and wounded souls who need to hear, “You are forgiven, go and sin no more.”

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a sacrament of healing and forgiveness–what does our world need more? It is a gift of compassion from Our Lord. If you’re a priest and reading this, I beg of you to get in that confessional, turn the light on and sit and trust me–THEY WILL COME!

+PAX!
 
DavidPalm said:
I agree. We are blessed to have regular times for confession at our Latin Mass apostolate. But in addition, thanks to the insistence of then-Bishop Burke here in the La Crosse diocese, there are confessions every day just before the noon Mass at the cathedral. The times I have been there, there are always people in line. I wish more bishops would take this kind of leadership to insure that this sacrament is available on a daily basis.
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Oh, I should mention too that the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe here in La Crosse, which Archbishop Burke was instrumental in establishing, has regular confession times as well as a little side door to the friary at which a penitent can knock and be ushered into a confessional, pretty much any time.
 
Like most of you out there, I don’t like the huge lines right before Easter and Christmas. Yes it’s good that folks are finally there for confession, but what about the rest of the year? Same with seating in church. You get to your regular church for Easter and Christmas, and entire pews are covered in coats from strangers you’ll never see again, - saving seats. Our church finally said “no more saving seats”. As for confessions - our pastor made a HUGE point about the dismal turnout for confession and the long lines for Communion. People must be taking Communion absent-mindedly. We have confession available each Saturday for an hour, and there are probably 5-6 people that get confession. It’s all over in about 20 minutes. So the poor paster sits there until the time is up in case someone comes in.
 
Confession is at 3:30 prior to Saturday Mass at 5 p.m. at our parish.

And, IMO, it’s why on average 3 people show up for it. Two of the three people are in their 80’s.

We seat about 1,000 people per Mass and have 3 Masses over the weekend.

Sad.

About a year ago, I was on a website and another Catholic was talking about her “spiritual director.” I’d never heard of there ever being such a person.

Sad.

It seems that most in our parish, wait the entire year and then attend a community type confessional “event” & Mass. It was either at Christmas or Lent, 6 to 8 priests attended and people waiting in lines to confess rather open air.

I did that last year, and I won’t be confessing in that fashion ever again.

I have a bad memory and it becomes similiar to that of a goldfish when I get nervous. Knowing this I wrote down what I wanted to confess. The priest I lined up with, wouldn’t let me read from my list.

I was so close to saying, “Listen Father, who’s confessing here? You or me?”
 
One more thought - why is it that it seems hearing confessions is one of the less desirable things a priest has to do? I would think it would be hugely rewarding to get someone who hasn’t seen a church in 20 years and restore the sanctifying grace. Why do priests seem to hate this task so much? Maybe it’s just depressing as can be, or perhaps it’s rather shocking and disturbing too. I can only imagine.
 
I think priests should be required to spend a semester attending AA, OA, NA, etc. to help them verbalize how freeing it is in recovery situations to admit sin to another person AND to have sins absolved through the power that been given to the Church by God.

Confession resolves poor behavior but more importantly it is the only human/Divine connection that is capable of absolving those sins.
 
:nun1:

Who said this?

“Hearing nuns’ confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.”
 
Barbkw said:
About a year ago, I was on a website and another Catholic was talking about her “spiritual director.” I’d never heard of there ever being such a person.
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It’s someone you go to for spiritual advice and for assistance with discernment. In fact, some Priests are trained to do this. It is not a replacement for going to Confession (although Confession can be a part of it if your spiritual director is a Priest).

How is this sad?
 
Seamus_L said:
I think this is a serious problem in most dioceses, particularly during the week. The number of masses to confession times is way way out of proportion, and this is spiritually unhealthy. Just the other morning I drove 8 miles in steady rain, to go to confession (listed in the church’s bulletin and website) only to find no one there. A parishoner told me it was not the first time either. Yes, one can always hunt down a priest and make your confession in a regular room, but this is very inhibiting to many people who prefer the anonymity of the confessional, not to mention the fact that some people are on tight schedules and don’t have the time to wait till after mass.
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While we only have one regularly scheduled confession time per week, I haven’t seen our priest turn down anyone who approaches him for confession. Unless of course its unreasonable, like 5 minutes before Mass begins. But you can always call in and schedule an appointment for confession.
 
KKPG said:
One more thought - why is it that it seems hearing confessions is one of the less desirable things a priest has to do? I would think it would be hugely rewarding to get someone who hasn’t seen a church in 20 years and restore the sanctifying grace. Why do priests seem to hate this task so much? Maybe it’s just depressing as can be, or perhaps it’s rather shocking and disturbing too. I can only imagine.
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I know priests who love hearing confession for the reasons you mention. 👍
 
To Barbkw:

“Hearing nuns confessions is like being stoned to death” - this is a quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
 
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