Confession and confessionals

[Mary_Gail_36]

I have a question regarding confession and the set up of confessionals.

My personal preference is to go behind the screen, rather than face to face…I like the privacy this way.

My understanding is that normally both options are to be offered, the screen and face to face.

Well, in my former parish there was no option for the screen. Furthermore, the door to the confessional had a clear glass window, that was unobstructed, so anyone could see the penitent in the confessional. My understanding was the confession was to be private.

Is this set-up illicit or invalid in anyway? Thanks for the help!

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Everyone has the right to confess anonymously, so the screen should always be available.

There is no obligation on the part of the priest to provide face-to-face confession. He can require use of the screen if he chooses.

Failure to provide a screen violates the Church’s rules, but confessions made in this circumstance are still valid (i.e., the sacrament still “happens” and sins are still forgiven).

I don’t see a problem with the clear glass window, as long as the confession cannot be overheard by outsiders.

In fact, visibility is being viewed as more necessary as priests are (sometimes unjustly) accused of impropriety.

 

[tee_eff_em]

I have a question regarding confession and the set up of confessionals.

My personal preference is to go behind the screen, rather than face to face…I like the privacy this way.

My understanding is that normally both options are to be offered, the screen and face to face.

Well, in my former parish there was no option for the screen. Furthermore, the door to the confessional had a clear glass window, that was unobstructed, so anyone could see the penitent in the confessional. My understanding was the confession was to be private.

Is this set-up illicit or invalid in anyway? Thanks for the help!

It is true that confessionals are supposed to be fitted with a fixed grate between the penitent and the priest. However:

It is not my understanding that a “face to face” to face option need be offered. A penitent may confess face to face with the priest only if the priest first offers this option. (ie A priest is within his rights to insist on confession through a grate) Further:

While there *is *an element of privacy in confession (namely the sacramental seal), it is not my understanding that the purpose of the grate is for the sake of privacy nor anonymity. In fact, there are some confessional styles which enclose *only *the priest – The penitent kneels “outside the box”, confessing through the grate.

The arrangement you describe in your former parish is not invalid. Whether it is illicit is rather squishy. If illicit at all, it would seem the fault lies with the conference of bishops more than anyone else. :twocents:

tee

 

[Joe_Kelley]

. . . .Furthermore, the door to the confessional had a clear glass window, that was unobstructed, so anyone could see the penitent in the confessional. . . .

I think this has been mandated in many places in response to the abuse scandals. It ensures the priest is never alone with one person. Unfortunate, but he has to protect himself.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I have a question regarding confession and the set up of confessionals.

My personal preference is to go behind the screen, rather than face to face…I like the privacy this way.

My understanding is that normally both options are to be offered, the screen and face to face.

Well, in my former parish there was no option for the screen. Furthermore, the door to the confessional had a clear glass window, that was unobstructed, so anyone could see the penitent in the confessional. My understanding was the confession was to be private.

Is this set-up illicit or invalid in anyway? Thanks for the help!

I don’t have a problem with the glass window as long as no one can read your lips. Others will see you standing in line usually. Unless it becomes a distraction during the Sacrament. Maybe a curtain that can be closed by the penitent if they want.

The Screen must always be available, face to face is the option and then only if the priest agrees. A priest can refuse to hear Confessions face to face.

 

[puzzleannie]

in many old traditional churches in Mexico and Europe there are no confessional rooms or “boxes”, the confessional is a carrel along a wall, open to the main body of the church, where priest can sit with the penitent on the other side, w/ or w/o a screen in between, but both completely visible to everyone else, although isolated by distance and/or acoustics so they cannot be overheard. so there is nothing that says both cannot be in full view, but confidentially must be protected as to what can be heard.

 

[Lepanto]

I have a question regarding confession and the set up of confessionals.

My personal preference is to go behind the screen, rather than face to face…I like the privacy this way.

My understanding is that normally both options are to be offered, the screen and face to face.

Well, in my former parish there was no option for the screen. Furthermore, the door to the confessional had a clear glass window, that was unobstructed, so anyone could see the penitent in the confessional. My understanding was the confession was to be private.

Is this set-up illicit or invalid in anyway? Thanks for the help!

A parish that does not offer confessionals with a fixed screen/grill is in violation of Canon Law (not to mention centuries of common-sense and tradition).

Can. 964 §1 The proper place for hearing sacramental confessions is a church or oratory.

§2 As far as the confessional is concerned, norms are to be issued by the Episcopal Conference, with the proviso however that confessionals, which the faithful who so wish may freely use, are located in an open place, and fitted with a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor.

§3 Except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional.

intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P3E.HTM

 

[FrDavid96]

Confessions with a grill (or screen or whatever) is the norm. Only if both the priest and the penitent choose face-to-face is this available. It is the right of either to choose anonymous confession. There is no requirement at all for face-to-face.

A few years ago, I say a photo book from World War II. There was a (very, very) long line of soldiers waiting to go to confession, and a chaplain standing there with his back to a jeep and using his open left hand as a screen. One could actually “see” the faith in the faces of those soldiers patiently standing in line, and could not help but feel for that tired Chaplain who had so many vital confessions yet to hear.

Today, we see “confessionals” fitted with recliners. And we wonder why so few Catholics go to confession any more.

 

[Aramis]

Just as a heads up, if one goes to an Eastern Rite parish, one might not even find confessionals; the requirement for a confessional and for a fixed screen is a Roman Church requirement.

(Byzantine tradition is to make one’s confession standing in front of the Icon of Christ on the Iconostas… essentially at the foot of the altar…in full view.)

 

[Frosty]

Way back in 1956, a new Catholic school was built in the small town I grew up in. Unlike the existing Catholic school which was right next to the church, this new one was about 5 miles away. Back then, Confessions were heard on First Friday afternoons as well as the regularly scheduled times on Saturday. I was in Grade 4 at that time and since my First Confession had always made my confessions at the church in one of the three old confessionals to whichever priest was behind the grill. Once the new school was opened and since it was too far for the kids attending it to be able to make it to the church before the confessions heard there were over, two of the parish priests would come to the school on First Friday mornings to hear confessions. They used the Nurses Room and the Staff Lounge to hear the confessions in. No screens, grills or curtains. Strictly face to face. At first it was a bit disconcerting but we quickly got used to it.
Also, at certain times of the year such as Christmas, Holy week and parish retreats, when it was known that a large number of people would be going to Confession and the lines at the three confessionals would be far too long, extra priests from the nearby Redemptorist Minor Seminary and the hospital chaplin would take up positions in various parts of the church. Usually along the altar rail or sometimes just in one of the pews. The line ups for those face to face Confessions were just as long as those for the priests in the confessionals.
As an adult, I have never belonged to a parish that does not have the old style confessionals and I admit that I do prefer to make my confession that way. However, I have been to many large Liturgical services. even at St. Peter’s Basilica, where I have made my confession to a priest face to face because of the large number of penitents.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Fr. David (Post #8):

Recliners. Wow. What ever for? You’re not supposed to feel **that **comfortable confessing your sins. I would hope that if anything, it would be somewhat uncomfortable. The penitent should be concentrating merely on the encounter & what is brought to it, not on the furniture or those kinds of physical feelings. Thankfully, I’ve never seen a recliner in one.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I have read that confessionals were originally introduced to give the women penitents privacy. A man was expected to be brave enough confess face to face in the altar area.

 

[Lepanto]

Fr. David (Post #8):

Recliners. Wow. What ever for? You’re not supposed to feel **that **comfortable confessing your sins. I would hope that if anything, it would be somewhat uncomfortable. The penitent should be concentrating merely on the encounter & what is brought to it, not on the furniture or those kinds of physical feelings. Thankfully, I’ve never seen a recliner in one.

I have seen recliners in so-called “Reconciliation Rooms.”

Instead of a holy sacrament, confession turns into a psychotherapy session.

 

[acadian]

Ours is an “old-style” confessional modified to accomodate face-to-face. The priest sits behind the middle door. The door to the right opens to a kneeler and a screen. The door to the left opens to a [straight-backed] chair with a wall half-way up. There is no indication on the outside which is which - I guess you just have to “know”.

After Hurricane Ike, we helped to clean out a flooded church near the coast. The Reconciliation Room there had 2 walls that were essentially glass. There was a blind that was pulled down, but it was still see-through.

 

[AHapka]

I don’t see a problem with the clear glass window, as long as the confession cannot be overheard by outsiders.

In fact, visibility is being viewed as more necessary as priests are (sometimes unjustly) accused of impropriety.

What would really be best, and would prevent any accusations is a return to the old style confessionals where the priest and penitent are in different small rooms, and the priest slides open a grate to hear the confession.

But that’s just my personal opinion.

 

[Tsuwano]

What would really be best, and would prevent any accusations is a return to the old style confessionals where the priest and penitent are in different small rooms, and the priest slides open a grate to hear the confession.

But that’s just my personal opinion.

I didn’t realize this was an “old style” or that we had to return to it. Almost every church I have attended still maintains the confessional as you described it, though the option of a face to face confession is offered. Was there ever a ruling that the confessional box or booth be done away with?

 

[FrDavid96]

I didn’t realize this was an “old style” or that we had to return to it. Almost every church I have attended still maintains the confessional as you described it, though the option of a face to face confession is offered. Was there ever a ruling that the confessional box or booth be done away with?

In the US, many (perhaps most) of the proper confessionals were either removed or destroyed by the bolsheviks in the 60s and 70s and most new churches were never built with proper confessionals.

Quite the opposite of a rule to do away with them, canon law has always, and still does, require them in every church.

 

[Phemie]

Fr. David (Post #8):

Recliners. Wow. What ever for? You’re not supposed to feel **that **comfortable confessing your sins. I would hope that if anything, it would be somewhat uncomfortable. The penitent should be concentrating merely on the encounter & what is brought to it, not on the furniture or those kinds of physical feelings. Thankfully, I’ve never seen a recliner in one.

Platform rockers in the ‘Reconciliation Room’ in my church. There is a curtain though for those who wish anonymity; unfortunately, anonymity is an illusion since you have to go tap the priest on the shoulder and ask to go to confession – no scheduled confession available.

Our last pastor categorically refused to sit in the confessional and wait for someone to come in: “Nobody ever comes.” Er, they might if you stopped telling them that God loves us no matter what we do, no matter how evil we are, without mentioning the need to repent and confess.

 

[Phemie]

In the US, many (perhaps most) of the proper confessionals were either removed or destroyed by the bolsheviks in the 60s and 70s and most new churches were never built with proper confessionals.

Quite the opposite of a rule to do away with them, canon law has always, and still does, require them in every church.

Ours had been used as storage until a reno in 1999 where the space was used to install a bathroom. Our only option is the Reconciliation Room.

I brought up the issue of privacy at a meeting with the bishop and priests from the diocese last spring, when in the name of safety for priests and penitents (and of keeping insurance rates down?) it was announced that confessionals would be designed in such a way that both penitent and priest would be fully visible from outside and there was no ‘screen’ available. One priest there was incensed that a penitent should wish anonymity because “How can we counsel someone we don’t know?”

I quoted Canon Law and was informed that safety was more important.

 

[paperwight]

Our last pastor categorically refused to sit in the confessional and wait for someone to come in: “Nobody ever comes.” Er, they might if you stopped telling them that God loves us no matter what we do, no matter how evil we are, without mentioning the need to repent and confess.

Do you stop loving your children when they do something disobedient or which hurts you, then? Do they have to say sorry before you can go back to loving them?