Confession Changes

[babochka]

Our parish finally got an iconostas in 2009 - because another parish in upstate PA was closed.

I think I posted this on another thread (it’s from the Third Sunday of the Great Fast) but it’s still nice):

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

The four icons on the sides with brown frames were all that we had until 2009. Metropolitan Stefan came and blessed the iconostas in 2010.

That is beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

 

[InThePew]

I would not make any kind of generalization as to what “would probably be.” Children have been making their first confessions for a long time, and behind the screen works well for most who choose it. The option is there for either way, if the priest chooses to offer face-to-face, which is he not obligated to do. He does, however, need to offer anonymous confession. I suggest allowing the child and parent to decide.

Children can be nervous when making their first reconciliation (some even to the point of being practically mute) and putting them in a dark booth with a disembodied voice coming from behind a screen really isn’t going to help! Yes, some kids will be fine with it, just as some kids are totally relaxed when making their first reconciliation but we can’t just ignore those who aren’t or expect them to sort themselves out.

The requirement for “anonymous” - the Code of Canon Law actually refers to “a fixed grate” only applies when confessions are heard in a confessional. The Code however allows them to be heard outside of a confessional for a “just cause” - sensitivity to the age of the pentitients would be a just cause.

 

[Gorgias]

I think this must be to protect the priests.

Not to protect the priests, per se. Believe it or not, the intent is to protect penitents from predator priests.

Think about it for a sec: it only “protects” priests if someone were to claim that something happened, and if someone just happened to be able to claim that they were looking through the window the whole time. Not. Likely.

So, no matter what folks claim… this is really part of the ‘predator priest’ witch hunt.

Why not have a confessional completely separating the penitent from the priest instead?

Umm… like we used to have, before the days of “reconciliation rooms”? What a novel idea!

What kind of a person would say something like this?

They might tell someone else “I saw Dlee crying in the confessional; they must’ve had some really serious sins to confess!”

The priests just sit in quiet corners of the church and are in plain sight of everybody, as are their penitents.

Doesn’t canon law require the possibility of a grate / separator of some sort?

 

[OddBird]

Doesn’t canon law require the possibility of a grate / separator of some sort?

I think it does, but the parish doesn’t have any. The only confession options available here are face to face in the reconciliation room, or face to face out in the open.

 

[CRV]

their first reconciliation (some even to the point of being practically mute) and putting them in a dark booth with a disembodied voice coming from behind a screen r

Ah, a trip down memory lane. That was the case for my first confession - we were prepared well beforehand , and soon grew used to it.

I do remember the first time (as an adult) I went to a different church and was looking around for the confessional - only to have pointed out to me “We have a reconciliation room”. That threw me for a bit - I wasn’t coming to be reconciled with family/friend/neighbor as in counseling - I was coming to confess my sins and be absolved. Haven’t forgotten that either, and that was decades ago.

My parish has a traditional confessional and recently had another installed where the original one used to be before it was removed decades ago. And I’m aware of 5 other parish Churches in my city which also have that type of confessional installed. Sadly two of these were used for storage at the time I visited there.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

Then we have another thing in common, because I love etymology (the study of word origins) and onomatology (the study of proper names).

Example: My name, Margaret, is Greek for “pearl”, so the gospel about the man who sold everything because he found one precious pearl resonates with me, even though the gospel is about the Pearl of great price, God Himself (Matt. 13: 45-46)

 

[Margaret_Ann]

You said it, CJ! AMEN!!!

 

[Margaret_Ann]

You’re welcome!

 

[JimG]

My parish remodeled the confessionals some years ago when the church was remodeled. The confessionals are not dark! They are well lit and relatively spacious; a penitent can kneel or sit. And the priest is in a separate adjoining room. No windows.

 

[Phemie]

A traditional, fully screened confessional would probably be fairly intimidating for a young child. Besides this, it’s preferable (in this time at least) to hear kids confessions out in the open (like in a quiet corner down the back sort of thing) rather than in a room with the door shut. Of course if a child came to me in the confessional during the regular course of hearing confessions, I wouldn’t turn them away - I’m more meaning Rite II situations.

I reached the age of reason in 1960 and like all the kids my age I went to confession in one of those three-part compartment confessionals. The penitent sections had no doors but heavy red curtains. During the school year we did it once a month with the kids in our class. In the summer Mom & Dad took us to confession on Saturday afternoon, usually at the end of going shopping for groceries.

It was less intimidating than face-to-face if you ask me. I can’t recall the last time I went to confession in one of those, though. Most parishes I’ve attended have opted for Reconciliation Rooms. At least in our Reconciliation Room there is an option to confess behind a screen, one I’m thankful for.

 

[babochka]

InThePew:

A traditional, fully screened confessional would probably be fairly intimidating for a young child. Besides this, it’s preferable (in this time at least) to hear kids confessions out in the open (like in a quiet corner down the back sort of thing) rather than in a room with the door shut. Of course if a child came to me in the confessional during the regular course of hearing confessions, I wouldn’t turn them away - I’m more meaning Rite II situations.

I reached the age of reason in 1960 and like all the kids my age I went to confession in one of those three-part compartment confessionals. The penitent sections had no doors but heavy red curtains. During the school year we did it once a month with the kids in our class. In the summer Mom & Dad took us to confession on Saturday afternoon, usually at the end of going shopping for groceries.

It was less intimidating than face-to-face if you ask me. I can’t recall the last time I went to confession in one of those, though. Most parishes I’ve attended have opted for Reconciliation Rooms. At least in our Reconciliation Room there is an option to confess behind a screen, one I’m thankful for.

I think that people will vary widely on this and I, for one, am glad that the Church gives options to fit every preference.

I would imagine that you can find a good number of ex-Catholics in your age range who will go on at length about how traumatic the confessional experience was. It probably contributed no small amount to some of them leaving the Church.

I am a bit more than a decade younger than you and I strongly prefer face-to-face confession. Even at my age, I am intimidated by a confessional and if I have no other choice but to use one, I have to talk myself into it. I’ve had no traumatic experiences in confession, I’m not afraid of the dark, and I’m not claustrophobic, but I do not like confession behind a screen at all.

 

[MikkiD1]

No changes, but the screen in ours is situated such that the priest sees you as soon as you walk in the door anyway. I don’t mind going face to face, but I have wondered how others might feel about this.

 

[John10]

I’ve always thought confession should be kept as private as possible. While some people might not care about openly saying their sins to a priest sitting in a semi-remote pew at Church there are others who will not go to confession unless there is some guarantee of privacy.

Many confessionals not only put covers to hide the penitents faces but also cover the windows from the confessional so that the priest cannot directly see anyone leaving the confessional. It should be built to inspire people to go to confession with confidence and within reasonable privacy.

 

[Minks]

@DisorientingSneeze

If you or the priest have a smart phone with you and have not disabled all the microphone permissions, your sins might be being recorded without either of your knowledge.

I think that removing the battery is safer than merely turning it off. Lol! Consider it abstinence as opposed to NFP!