Confession before Sunday Mass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MiserereMei25
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MiserereMei25

Guest
This is not common in my diocese of Rockford Il. Should this be a requirement? It does help the faithful very much…
 
It probably depends on how many priests are available. I can’t think of any parishes around where I live that have more than one priest. They’re kinda busy on Sundays.
 
The app MassTimes is great for finding when confession times are. You can either type in your zip code and search that way or you can use your direct location and then use the filter in the app to select what day you want to search and if you want to search for confession times, daily mass, Sunday mass, devotionals…

By me there is a church that has mass everyday at 12:15 then confession immediately after so that’s a great option for me (actually went today for mass and confession there). There is also a church a bit farther that has 3 daily masses each day and confession for 5 hours each day at times spread out throughout the day.

I bet the app would show you a church or two near you with lots of confession times

apps.apple.com

‎Mass Times for Travel

‎OFFICIAL APP OF MASSTIMES.ORG! The purpose of the Mass Times ministry is to help Catholics get to Mass by helping them find churches and worship times worldwide. We do this by hosting and sharing the most comprehensive database of Catholic churches and worship times in existence. Dioceses...
apps.apple.com
 
Last edited:
Yes. I just think it’s a common practice in traditional communities but not our modern parishes. I’m not knocking the OF mass. But I’m saddened that confession is no longer offered before Sunday Masses…
 
Would be nice but most Priests have quite a few masses on Sundays and sometimes they have multiple parishes (my diocese quite a few priests have 2 parishes). But Saturday is usually a pretty convenient time for confession, I can think of 10+ parishes that have Saturday confession at different times throughout the day near me
 
I have never belonged to a parish that had confession on Sunday before mass. That’s 8 parishes in my lifetime. So far. 😉
 
MiserereMei25 said:
This is not common in my diocese of Rockford Il. Should this be a requirement? It does help the faithful very much…
Click to expand...
We have Confession 6 days a week (Mon to Sat).
It is not physically possible to have it before Mass on Sundays because we have 10 Masses on Sundays.
 
I understand most priests are moving between multiple parishes on Sunday morning making this next to impossible. Unfortunately, it is probably why a lot of Catholics skip this sacrament. Not everyone can go Saturday and by appointment is intimidating. I wish they at least held monthly penitential services on a weeknight for a parish cluster outside of just Advent and Lent.
 
It would be nice to have more than one priest and a parking lot that did not have to be emptied between Masses.
 
MiserereMei25 said:
Yes. I just think it’s a common practice in traditional communities but not our modern parishes. I’m not knocking the OF mass. But I’m saddened that confession is no longer offered before Sunday Masses…
Click to expand...
Sorry. I don’t think that has a thing to do with it, and no one suggested that it does (except your comment). It’s about priest availability in most cases, plain and simple.
 
That sounds like a very active parish
 
Last edited:
Yes, I thought so too. That has to be a Church in a city … in my state even our Cathedral and Basilica don’t have it quite that often (though a few extra days from the smaller parishes).
 
I’m old enough to remember pre-Vatican 2 parishes. But not Sunday confession—that was usually Saturday.
 
JulianN said:
I’m old enough to remember pre-Vatican 2 parishes. But not Sunday confession—that was usually Saturday.
Click to expand...
I think the difference now is schools and society are less respectful of the weekend being family time. My understanding is it used to be more common practice for the whole family to make a trip to Confession on Saturday afternoon/evening. It’s no longer as easy to get to Church at both times.
 
Last edited:
MiserereMei25 said:
This is not common in my diocese of Rockford Il. Should this be a requirement? It does help the faithful very much…
Click to expand...
Yes it should be a requirement. I have small children. We go to mass on Sunday morning. It is extremely difficult to get to mass on Saturday night. We end up driving an hour to go to mass on Sunday in a parish where the priest has like 6 hours of confession on Saturdays and Sundays alone and 2 hours of confession each week day except Thursday. Otherwise, we can call locally to make an alloy and we don’t get a return call. Like confession isn’t important and like sin doesn’t exist. Modern priests are probably overworked and stretched thin. And some don’t care, sadly.
 
I think it is a bit unfair to make this a requirement as priests are busy enough, but I do love when I come across such. I work most Saturdays so otherwise it’s hard for me to make it apart from scheduling an appointment. Of course this is just my specific case and what works generally for the most people makes the most sense to be accommodated. I’m sure times are setup in this way.

However, it is nice to have the option prior to attending your regular weekly mass so you can receive communion if without going to confession you would be unable to do so. I have not seen it often but found most parishes in my diocese that have more than one priest have at least a second day of the week where confession is offered.
 
Last edited:
I understand the difficulty. It’s great for shift workers though. If your job works weekends, you’re not going to get both Saturday and Sunday off. For retail folk Saturday afternoon is often a time when stores want everyone staffed.
 
The church near me that has 12:15 confession every day is because it’s lunch break time and it’s in the city so very convenient. Another has confession from 10am to 5:30pm with a break in the middle for lunch so another convenient time. Usually there are parishes that offer a ton of times, it takes a bit of researching and some are a bit of drive
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top