Called for Confession and Never got a call back!

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I’ve read through this post and something came to mind and I hope you will consider my words because I endured something similar, but took a different attitude.

Without going into details, I felt a strong need to go to confession but knew I would not be receiving confession until a given day. Part of my confession was to discuss what I felt was some heavy waywardness on my part - in essence becoming a lapsed Catholic all the while sitting in a pew each sunday. I had grave sin in my baggage as well and it needed to be dealt with.

I recognized that God waited for me for a very long time and it was only fitting that I had to wait for him to create the opportunity. I wanted so badly to talk to someone right here and right now, and kept waiting for that call to come to me. Then I realized that God himself knew just how badly I wanted to do this and I figured that he was teaching me a lesson in patience. So, I tried to relax and figured that if I died before I made that confession, he would know that i was in the process of trying to do so, and with the same vigor that you are.

What I see, with all of people bouncing you around is that it could very well be God trying to teach you that lesson in patience he wanted me to learn.

This is not to say that it is right for a priest to deny someone confession when they feel they are in need. The church needs to help the priests to get back into basic pastoral duties and remove some of the things that hinder this. Many priests today are tied up in a considerable amount of administrative and other work (often through no fault of their own), in part do to the reduction of the number of people coming to church, leading to fewer vocations, yet the same number of churches still open (with some exceptions). In other words, they are spread really, really thin. Therefore, God may not only be testing your Patience, but he could be testing your sense of Charity.

Pray that God give you peace of mind and safe passage until you can get to confession at regular confession times. If you feel you need a more lengthy confession discussion than regular confession time allows, then contact the priest you want to talk to and schedule an appointment, but know that it could take a week or more to get that time in. Tell him you want to have a discussion with confession rolled in. In the meanwhile, take advantage of regular confession time to blurt out your obvious sins and leave the things you need help with for that discussion.

Does this help?
 
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OFTHEANGELS:
Yes I called the local church to confess my sins to a priest . I ask for a priest and was told they were all busy . the secretary then took down my name and number and said the priest would call me back when he had the chance. well its been a few days now and still no call back.So today I called another church and got the exact same answer!!!
Just think its rude and irresponable on the priest’s part.
It doesnt seem alot of priests take there vocations to seriously, very disappointing.
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That is so sad.

Same thing happened to me when I wanted to find out about an annulment. I called my priest several times and he finally returned my call 2-1/2 months later. By then, I had gone to another priest.

I don’t believe that God is trying to teach you patience. It’s the priest’s job to tend to the flock. A priest could have at least taken 5 minutes to return your call. There’s no excuse.
 
Oh, and if your need is a matter of a more lengthy discussion, don’t hesitate to catch a priest after mass as he wishes people well when leaving. Pull him to the side and tell him that you’ve been out wandering and need to have a serious discussion about coming home and need confession rolled in. Tell him that you feel it is too lengthy to deal with during regular confession times, and don’t hesitate to tell him that you need help real soon.

I told Father that I had been grounded by God and he wasn’t letting me out of my room until I told him what i had done, why I did it, and what attitudes led to my behavior. Like a loving parent, God simply let me know that I couldn’t just do what I wanted when I wanted to, I had to wait for him to create that opportunity.

My guess is that he will tell you to call him and set up the appointment. Many priests set up their own schedules not the secretary.
 
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ByzCath:
This type of stuff is one of my pet peeves regarding vocations. With the attitude expressed here, is it any wonder why men are not answering the call?
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Actually, I think a good and holy priest would find such displays of hunger and passion for the sacraments to be most refreshing.
 
I know here all the parishes have confession on Saturday. The problem for me is, my husband works on saturday. I asked my Mother in law once if she would watch the kids while I went to confession. She wouldn’t do it, but that didn’t suprise me. She is very anti Catholic. At my last Parish I called soon after we moved in and asked to make an appointment for a confession. The secretary sounded very confused. I explained my situation. She responed with “Oh, we don’t do that”. Uuuh, ok. So, I found a shrine about 30 minutes away that has confession every day. I try to go on my husband’s day off, which can get difficult because that is the day I work. Anyway, I was just shocked at the “we don’t do that”.
 
OFTHEANGELS i wanted to restore my relationship with God right away. I was sincerly worried of dying in mortal sin. I felt the Holy spirit was telling me to go right away. [/QUOTE said:
No wonder this is so upsetting to you! How can anyone even suggest to you that you should wait till Saturday because there is a priest shortage and they have too much of a work load already. If the Catholic church is going to adhere to the teaching that we need to be cleansed of our sins in order to go to heaven, then there should never be anything like this** ever** happening.

Yes there is a shortage of priests. Yes there is also a shortage of loving your neighbor.

Hopefully we’re both wrong, but last Saturday I too felt like I had to go to confession. Like a prompting… I even unexpectantly was let go early from work which enabled me to go. I also felt this need to go over every sin I had done throughout my life that had not been confessed, like it may be my last chance. We’re both still here, so maybe it wasn’t because we’re going to die soon. Maybe the Holy Spirit is just working overtime to get people to go to confession 🙂
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Ok folks I finally found a priest who heard my confession just a short while ago. I opened the phone book and kept calling until i found a priest who would hear my confession today . It took me going through 6 church’s until I found a priest who was willing to meet with me. I drove about 30 minutes away but i had my confession heard and was happy about that. he seemed like a really holy and devout priest and said I made a very honest and good confession. then he said he was proud of me and that i was encouraging to him. he really encouraged me by his words, made me feel like im the right path. I Also mentioned to him how I tried to get confession nearer to my home but all the priests in the other churches were ‘‘busy’’. His response ‘‘YEAH BUSY PLAYING TO MUCH GOLF’’!! he got me laughing over that one , cause its probably true.

anyway it feels great to be cleansed of my sins in the sacrament of confession, i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and ive gotton an injection of grace. Im really thankful we still got good and holy priests like this guy.

thank you all for your advice , ill let you know if those other churches ever call me back …haha
 
Oh, I’m so glad to hear you got everything worked out. 🙂 That priest sounds like a good guy to keep up a relationship with. 👍
 
That’s great that you took the extra effort to get it done.

You even sound better. Isn’t it amazing what the Sacrament can do? I’ll bet that you will share your experience with others, again and again. I wouldn’t be surprised if you encourage others to celebrate the Sacrament, real soon.
 
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OFTHEANGELS:
. then he said he was proud of me and that i was encouraging to him. .
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And this is the most important.

How many times have I read on these threads that the communion line is full but the confessionals are empty.

This good Catholic and this fine Priest both did well.

(and actually, I laughed at the Golf comeback)
 
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OFTHEANGELS:
I Also mentioned to him how I tried to get confession nearer to my home but all the priests in the other churches were ‘‘busy’’. His response ‘‘YEAH BUSY PLAYING TO MUCH GOLF’’!! he got me laughing over that one , cause its probably true.
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This is in no way funny. This comment disgusts me. To call this priest a very Holy priest who then makes a comment like this about his brother priests when it is not known as a fact.

For one thing, you can not even besure your messages ever made it to a priest at those other Churches. You can not besure that they didn’t have other pressing concerns. After all they are parish priests and the members of their parish come first.
 
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ByzCath:
This is in no way funny. This comment disgusts me. To call this priest a very Holy priest who then makes a comment like this about his brother priests when it is not known as a fact.

For one thing, you can not even besure your messages ever made it to a priest at those other Churches. You can not besure that they didn’t have other pressing concerns. After all they are parish priests and the members of their parish come first.
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I’m sure either it was a joke, or the priest actually played golf with the other Priest. Priests are human. Maybe this priest knows the others. No matter what, this priest was ministering to the member of another parish himself.

Not every Priest is a walking, living saint.

In either case, a call from the Priest, would take five minutes out of his day. The last phone call I got from my parish priest came at 9:30 at night. That was fine with me.

I have worked in Parish offices and had tasks from the Priest to call someone back and tell them that the Priest should be calling within a certain time block. At least this person would not feel abandoned that way.
 
netmil(name removed by moderator):
I’m sure either it was a joke, or the priest actually played golf with the other Priest. Priests are human. Maybe this priest knows the others. No matter what, this priest was ministering to the member of another parish himself.

Not every Priest is a walking, living saint.

In either case, a call from the Priest, would take five minutes out of his day. The last phone call I got from my parish priest came at 9:30 at night. That was fine with me.

I have worked in Parish offices and had tasks from the Priest to call someone back and tell them that the Priest should be calling within a certain time block. At least this person would not feel abandoned that way.
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If it was a joke it was in very bad taste, if it wasn’t a joke then I would say it was gossipy.

That being said, this is all on the assumption that the priests in question got the message in the first place. As we can not be toally sure about that I think it is wrong for us to denigrate their character in this way.

And even if they did get the message or they were spoken to directly, if they said they were busy or they havn’t called back as of yet it is still wrong for us to assume that they are being deficient in their job as we do not know what other calls on their time they have.

This just makes me sick that people automatically assume that when a priest is not at their beck and call that they are somehow not doing their job.
 
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cargopilot:
That’s great that you took the extra effort to get it done.
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I agree! Oftheangles would’ve gone batty waiting until Saturday. Furthermore, this good and honest confession probably took quite a while. It may have caused Saturday confession times to run much longer than scheduled - perhaps prompting the busy priest to ask why an appointment wasn’t made instead - and then another post by a frustrated OFTHEANGELS.

When I recently made my first confession in 17 years, the priest said he was glad that i had contacted him personally instead of coming during the posted confession schedule. I feel making appoinments relieves the you and the priest from worrying about others who may be waiting to receive this sacrament.

OFTHEANGLES, I’m very happy for you! Hopefully you will partake in this sacrament more frequently. It also sounds like you found a new parish!
 
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ByzCath:
This just makes me sick that people automatically assume that when a priest is not at their beck and call that they are somehow not doing their job.
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I remember the days when Priests were perfect in everyone’s eyes. No one would think about a critical word. That is not good either.

I agree about the gossip, but this priest is human too. Maybe he had gotten many more of these calls.
 
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OFTHEANGELS:
Ok folks I finally found a priest who heard my confession just a short while ago. I opened the phone book and kept calling until i found a priest who would hear my confession today . It took me going through 6 church’s until I found a priest who was willing to meet with me. I drove about 30 minutes away but i had my confession heard and was happy about that. he seemed like a really holy and devout priest and said I made a very honest and good confession. then he said he was proud of me and that i was encouraging to him. he really encouraged me by his words, made me feel like im the right path. I Also mentioned to him how I tried to get confession nearer to my home but all the priests in the other churches were ‘‘busy’’. His response ‘‘YEAH BUSY PLAYING TO MUCH GOLF’’!! he got me laughing over that one , cause its probably true.

anyway it feels great to be cleansed of my sins in the sacrament of confession, i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and ive gotton an injection of grace. Im really thankful we still got good and holy priests like this guy.

thank you all for your advice , ill let you know if those other churches ever call me back …haha
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I have to really compliment you on your perseverence. I’m very happy for you, and I know he is probably right as there is a really different kind of parish about 15 minutes from my home I’ve been going to. The atmosphere is highly pastoral, not administrative. It is prayerful to the 'nth" degree and it is visible in the lines for confession (which are available daily), the reverence people show, and just the overall feel of the community.

Best wishes to you and I’m really glad you got what you wanted and shared your anger over not being able to get a response with him. That was really the right thing to do.
 
thanks for all the nice words people , i feel like a new person today, it really does make a huge difference . I can sense the grace of God again.

Yeah I was thinking about going to this priests church even though its kinda out of the way. This priest kinda reminds me of the old priest from the excorcist he looks just like him haha.

anyway thank God for confession it feels great to be forgiven!
 
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OFTHEANGELS:
Yeah I was thinking about going to this priests church even though its kinda out of the way. This priest kinda reminds me of the old priest from the excorcist he looks just like him haha.

anyway thank God for confession it feels great to be forgiven!
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Go Back!
You are blessed to have found a good confessor. Support him and his parish.
Sometimes one must talk with their feet and their wallets.
I’m not kidding!
:blessyou:
 
I know the feeling.

I will encourage you to consider spending some time in his parish if you feel that urge. I have done the same and have found that after my recent conversion back to absolute Truth, I am finding the need and desire to surround myself with structure and to gain a sense of discipline. This parish I found has it in an unbelievable way and I’ve been going. I spent two hours there today and was just captivated by the prayerful attitude.

In fact, if anyone wants to read a great article, check this out by the Pastor, and it goes to sin and confession.

If the link is not direct, go to Pastor, and Pastor’s column - you want May 15: The Fallacy of the Middle Ground.

He snagged me in his net after I read it a few times. He asked if he was becoming an “old crank” in the middle of the article so when I went in to talk to him, I told him I was looking for a pastor who considers himself an old crank.

:rotfl:

assumptiongrotto.com/pastor.htm
 
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