Confession before Divine Mercy Sunday: Well, it happened.. AGAIN

[honeysuckle]

We showed up about a half hour early for the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday in our Diocese, and were turned away for confession because there were too many people in line and the priests had to prepare for Mass.

I was not upset. I had no mortal sins to confess since my last convession, but it has been more than 20 days since my last confession. I gave my first confession on March 5, so it has been 25 days. Actually, I didn’t feel any strong leading from the Lord that I needed to have reconciliation today, even though I did intend to participate fully in the Divine Mercy celebrations. I said the Act of Contrition in the pew.

I think I will go to confession at the next available time and feel confident that I am in God’s grace today.

 

[peso73]

I thought we were free to recieve communion if we had repented of our sin with “perfect contrition” and the intention to go to confession as soon as possible after?

and by the way, our home parish doesn’t offer confessions after a big reconciliation mass on the Tuesday preceding Easter where there are a lot of priests available for everyone…but there is a church nearby that has confession during every mass on Sundays in addition to other normal times…I never tried to make an appointment…

 

[childofmary1143]

Well, it seems to me that its more important to get to confession, before Easter than Mercy Sunday. So, why haven’t you made confession last week?

Who says that she hasn’t, and that is a little personal of you to ask. How is it relevant to a Priest denying a VERY important Sacrament.

If you did, you need not go again for Mercy Sunday.

If she committed mortal sin, and wants to receive Communion she needs to.

Priest are pretty burnt out after the Easter season, so give the priest a little slack.

Jim

A little slack? Gimme a break. If I was the Bishop, I would remove his faculties.

 

[Indyann]

A little slack? Gimme a break. If I was the Bishop, I would remove his faculties.

I surely do hope that God’s Mercy is more comprehensive than this statement.

 

[childofmary1143]

I surely do hope that God’s Mercy is more comprehensive than this statement.

I hope so too but as Bishop I also would have the RESPONSIBILITY of the Souls in my diocese. That is my PRIMARY responsibility.

Confession is, in a certain way, the MOST important Sacrament of them all, as it is the only one, after Baptism, that restores a Soul to sanctifying grace. We all sin, and the fact that people are lining up for Confession, is a pretty good indication, that they need God’s forgiveness.

 

[Darnok]

Thank you very much, Claire. Your words are very comforting. God bless you. But I have a hard time with this… as Jesus did not say “within 10 days” or “within a week”. He said “ON the Feast of My Mercy”. Therefore, I don’t understand why they seemingly go out of their way to deny the Sacrament to those who request it.

I thought that the “ten day” requirement was an allowance for people who have unusual circumstances. Not everyone has saturday off from work, etc.
The odd thing also that would make my situation odd is the fact that I work on Saturdays. I first learned the requirements for receiving the indulgence yesterday (from EWTN’s website and on Saturday after 11p).
The only way I ever receive confession from my regular parish is to call for an appointment. This is due to the fact that I’m at work through the whole time when regular Saturday confessions are held. (I’ve already talked with my pastor and he knows my situation.)
Due to my sins involved, I didn’t go up for Communion today, but I did say the Chaplet. Since this is an imperfect practice of the requirements, I would get a partial indulgence (assuming I complete everything by this coming Sunday).

 

[Mintaka]

This whole thing is very sad. The pope and the bishops have been trying to get everybody to realize the seriousness of sin, and to come to Confession more often. This was also one of the reasons our previous pope was so enthusiastic about Divine Mercy Sunday, also.
There are a lot of Christmas/Easter Catholics out there, and having Confessions promoted and available for Divine Mercy Sunday is very valuable for them, to help get them back and keep them coming back to church on a more regular basis.

Unfortunately, not every priest on the parish level really understands that this plan is a good thing. I understand them being tired; I was pretty wiped myself after Easter, because I’m in our parish’s choir. But to be crude, priests will have plenty of time to rest when they’re dead. Meantime, they’ve got an awful lot of souls in their charge, and Jesus looking over their shoulder. You’d think there’d be more sense of urgency.

 

[Joysong]

To save bandwidth, my comments were also printed here in Spirituality, where some of us have been discussing the same matter.

 

[TOP]

I find a difference between the Church’s indulgence requirements and the private devotions promise’s on Divine Mercy Sunday. Only once have I made confession right before Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday. This year, I made confession during Holy Week and Saturday night preceding Divine Mercy Sunday. I would much prefer confession right before Mass on the 2nd Sunday of Easter to fullifill the promise, but it is well within the Church’s requirements to make confession during Holy week for the indulgence which by commandment is binding, or in this case loosening. It’s unfortunate that a parish doesn’t practice this devotion and make availible the Sacraments for the promise. Last year my parish didn’t practice the devotion. This year I was pleased to see the image of Divine Mercy next to the alter to venerate and we recited the chaplet after Mass with our pastor in the lead. After Mass, I thanked our pastor for his efforts in this devotion and he responded with “just remind me a month in advance” and commented that he would like to expand on this yearly. Sometimes all you have to do is ask a question concerning the promise to spark an interest. Some will answer, some may not and some will take time to come around with a little reminder. Be patient. Tim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

childofmary

A little slack? Gimme a break. If I was the Bishop, I would remove his faculties.

This lacks charity and would negate any grace received on Divine Mercy Sunday.

This priest, serves the entire parish all year, and has just completed the grueling Holy Week, and because of one woman’s poor planing for her devotion, you would deny the rest of the parish access to the sacraments that this priest provides?

Divine Mercy observance isn’t an obligation. Fulfilling Easter duties are.

Next year, do better planing for Divine Mercy Sunday, and have a little charity toward your pastor.

Fact is, before Divine Mercy Subday became popular, there were no confessions during the Octave of Easter.

Jim

 

[ibkc]

This priest, serves the entire parish all year, and has just completed the grueling Holy Week, and because of one woman’s poor planing for her devotion, you would deny the rest of the parish access to the sacraments that this priest provides?

To be fair, Jim, it wasn’t just “one woman” affected by this and it wasn’t because of anyone’s poor planning except for the priest. If you read the thread, you’d see that a large amount of people in the parish turned out on Saturday to confess. I personally would have had no problem with no confession that day had there been an announcement. There was not, AFAIK. I don’t remember seeing it in the bulletin; there was nothing on the front page of the website where they usually post announcements; and there wasn’t even a notice on the door of the church or on the confessionals. As a result, we had a huge line stretching around the narthex, waiting for priests who had no intention of showing up. THAT is what bothered me about it.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

To be fair, Jim, it wasn’t just “one woman” affected by this and it wasn’t because of anyone’s poor planning except for the priest. If you read the thread, you’d see that a large amount of people in the parish turned out on Saturday to confess. I personally would have had no problem with no confession that day had there been an announcement. There was not, AFAIK. I don’t remember seeing it in the bulletin; there was nothing on the front page of the website where they usually post announcements; and there wasn’t even a notice on the door of the church or on the confessionals. As a result, we had a huge line stretching around the narthex, waiting for priests who had no intention of showing up. THAT is what bothered me about it.

Then the group needs to plan more carefully next year.

BTW, our parish bulletin, it said, no confession on Saturday.

Did this pastor provide the same info?

Jim

 

[ibkc]

Then the group needs to plan more carefully next year.

BTW, our parish bulletin, it said, no confession on Saturday.

Did this pastor provide the same info?

I have tossed the bulletin from last week, but I don’t remember seeing an announcement.

I will give it this: I just downloaded the official parish calendar and I see now that confessions are not on the schedule for Saturday the 29th. But further notification would have been nice. It would have taken someone three minutes to make a little sign and tape it to the door.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I have tossed the bulletin from last week, but I don’t remember seeing an announcement.

I will give it this: I just downloaded the official parish calendar and I see now that confessions are not on the schedule for Saturday the 29th. But further notification would have been nice. It would have taken someone three minutes to make a little sign and tape it to the door.

I’m not trying to pick on you, please don’t take offense.

However, try to understand things, from your pastor’s point of view.

He has hundreds of families to serve in your parish. Many of the issues he has to deal with, are of higher priority and go far beyond Divine Mercy devotion of a handful of people in your parish. Also, if he’s like my pastor, he’s older and physically, not able to do what he use to. I hope, we are able to have a priest at our parish, in the very near future, as the priest shortage is about to become very painful, in my dioceses.

Forgetting to go beyond only posting the schedule on the parish calender, is not something I would hold his feet to the fire on.

God Bless
Jim

 

[ibkc]

I’m not trying to pick on you, please don’t take offense.

However, try to understand things, from your pastor’s point of view.

He has hundreds of families to serve in your parish. Many of the issues he has to deal with, are of higher priority and go far beyond Divine Mercy devotion of a handful of people in your parish. Also, if he’s like my pastor, he’s older and physically, not able to do what he use to. I hope, we are able to have a priest at our parish, in the very near future, as the priest shortage is about to become very painful, in my dioceses.

Forgetting to go beyond only posting the schedule on the parish calender, is not something I would hold his feet to the fire on.

Look, I actually agree, except for the part about our pastor being old (he’s not old at all). I like Father. I wish they’d announced that there would be no confession, but I am not going to confront him or complain. I simply wanted to make sure you knew the full story, that you understood there was a reason for parishioners to be upset, as your comments indicated that you didn’t.

 

[Darnok]

I understand them being tired; I was pretty wiped myself after Easter, because I’m in our parish’s choir. But to be crude, priests will have plenty of time to rest when they’re dead. Meantime, they’ve got an awful lot of souls in their charge, and Jesus looking over their shoulder. You’d think there’d be more sense of urgency.

There is another consideration here. I wonder how this would work. Imagine it became “all the rage” to have Confession right before mass. Can you imagine a couple of priests literally having to hear hundreds of confessions right before mass? This type of attendance for mass is common for one (1) session in my parish (St. Elizabeth’s, Hawaii). The people for the next session after that would still be at the door.

We’re just finishing paying off the loans on renovations for our church hall. Part of these renovations included adding three-hundred (300) seats. According to my count, this was in addition to about four to five -hundred (400 to 500).
Yes a sense of urgency is important.

 

[MarieVeronica]

Imagine it became “all the rage” to have Confession right before mass.

There was truly a time… when it WAS “all the rage to have Confessions right before Mass”. I can remember as a child (I grew up in the 60’s - 70’s)… going to Sunday Mass… and out of the four Confessionals in that parish… there was always at least ONE priest, hearing Confessions right up to Holy Communion time.

I’ve mentioned, that I had fallen away from the faith, for about 10 years. And upon my return (approx. 3 years ago), have noticed several “changes” which seem to me, not really good. For example… the parish I am currently attending has ONE Confessional. The other, has only two.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope that I am. But it has seemed to me on more than one occasion… that we’re “getting away” from the enormous importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And that saddens (and frightens) me so greatly.

 

[Darnok]

There was truly a time… when it WAS “all the rage to have Confessions right before Mass”. I can remember as a child (I grew up in the 60’s - 70’s)… going to Sunday Mass… and out of the four Confessionals in that parish… there was always at least ONE priest, hearing Confessions right up to Holy Communion time.

How common would it be for parishes to have the numbers I cited? How would they handle that kind of line. In prep for Easter we had seven (7) priests (including from other parishes) come in to help and the church was between 1/2 and 3/4 full. On that load it took about an hour to hear all the confessions.

There is also a trade-off here. Sometimes on Saturdays it seems like the priest is abrupt because he wants to “get the line down.” Sometimes on Saturday, he needs to have this attitude or else not everyone will get his chance to confess.

OTOH, I work when our parish has its regular Saturday confession (I’m not permitted to leave work to attend confession). In one way, I actually thank God for this fact. This means in order to see my priest, I have to call for an appointment. By this fact, it’s more of a deliberate act than “pick-up the dry cleaning, buy groceries, and attend confession.” I celebrate having to call because this means I’m more likely to actually have my priest’s attention. I can receive spiritual guidance as well as the penance.

I’ve mentioned, that I had fallen away from the faith, for about 10 years. And upon my return (approx. 3 years ago), have noticed several “changes” which seem to me, not really good. For example… the parish I am currently attending has ONE Confessional. The other, has only two.

How many priests are on staff at your parish? We have two (2) priests serving a parish of about a thousand to two thousand (1000 - 2000) members. Also, in our parish, we have one room specifically marked as the “Confessional.” However, I’ve received confession in the “cloak room” where the priest preps for Mass, and also in the Candle Room, as well as my priest’s office.

When I was attending the local university (different parish), there was no specific room marked as the “Confessional” so the priest’s office doubled as such. At least for me, I still felt the full holiness of the sacrament.

 

[Angel_Bradford]

The assistant pastor at my parish is a recently ordained priest. he heard confessions on Divine Mercy Sunday for an hour before we recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet and for almost 3 hours afterwards. He is amazing and we are so lucky to have him:thumbsup: !

 

[Darnok]

The assistant pastor at my parish is a recently ordained priest. he heard confessions on Divine Mercy Sunday for an hour before we recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet and for almost 3 hours afterwards. He is amazing and we are so lucky to have him:thumbsup: !

That’s so COOL!!! :extrahappy:

What time of day? The only time I could possibly see our parish doing that is after 12p mass ends and conclude with the 6p mass. I wouldn’t be able to attend due to work. It would be either that or hold confessions in the meeting hall below the church. The other point is I have serious doubts as to if our parking could handle that. (My parish has JUST enough parking to handle our most popular mass). It’s also right next to the off ramp for the interstate, so parking on the street is not an option.