Confession face-to-face?

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I perfer behind-the-screen confessions, but if it’s something I feel is pretty serious, I would like to have a face-to-face confession with a priest that I know.
 
I have always gone behind the screen, but for the past 2 times I have gone face to face. The experience has been a very positive one and I will continue to confess face to face. As someone mentioned earlier, I am doing it in order to be more accountable for my sins. There are some sins and imperfections that I just can’t seem to clean up. The fact that the priest knows who I am increases my desire to refrain from committing them. I realize that my love for God should be enough to make me refrain from sin, but my human nature really gets in the way sometimes!

God Bless,
Gary
 
No face to face for me. I’m to nervous, I forget most sins I’m there to Confess and even why I came there in the first place, stumbling over words, good for others but not for me.
 
My very first confession I started off “Bless me father for I have sinned. This is my first COMMUNION.”

So the priest says “Is that you Vince? Why don’t you come on back here.”

I’ve been terrified of face-to-face ever since. :eek:
 
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catsrus:
Well, that’s for you.
I prefer “the box” …(though I know the priest recognizes me) makes me realize I am confessing to God through a man rather than confessing to the man himself.
Maybe it’s a convert thing?
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No, it is not a convert thing. I was always taught that I was confessing to God and the priest (who is God’s Representative in Mass and Confession) was behind the screen to remind us that it is not possible for us to look directly at God, but that he still knows what is in our hearts and minds.
Bernie
 
I would prefer being behind a screen, but the way I had always done it in the Anglican church was face to face. I never really liked it, and I felt that anyone would be able to hear my confession.

~Tara
 
Mt19:26:
I don’t think this is the case because no one is forced or encouraged to go face-to-face. Atleast not in my parish. I go face-to-face because I feel more confortable when I can look at the priest when he’s talking and I don’t have anything to confess that is particularily embarassing.
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Well after they implemented it, and we got our new “Reconcilliation Room” I was terrified of it. I was only about 12 years old at the time. I was afraid the priest would know it was me who was confessing. Then again, in grade school we had this “Reconcilliation Service” and the priests were sitting in chairs throughout the church and we had to sit before them and confess, yea there was the opportunity to kneel at the side of the priest or sit in the chair facing him but that caused me to withold something, scared and embarrassed to confess it because the priest would have known who I was!

Honestly today, I have no problem with face to face confession, if I feel the extreme need to confess something and that is the only option.

Ken
 
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auroraj42:
I should preface what I’m about to say by stating that I’m part of a military Catholic Community, so we have some dispensations and some situations that are very different from what you would find in your neighborhood Catholic Church…

I prefer face to face confession in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and I’ve tried the confessionals and being behind a screen and I just don’t like it…it feels weird…this could be because I’m a convert through a military parish where we don’t have confessionals…and pretty much, all confessions there are done face to face…

Jamie
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Darn it, the Navy used to have portable booths that were used as confessionals for those who wanted them! Oh well, that and chiefs’ initiations…

…I think the idea of in front of the Blessed Sacrament and face-to-face is simply marvelous, and sort of dovetails in certain aspects to the way I’ve heard the Eastern Church’s description of the priest standing before the icon of Jesus (not that the Blessed Sacrament is a mere icon).
 
Know what’s nice? There is more than one way to go to confession, that’s what’s nice. Know what else is nice? Nobody is trying to force anybody else to go their way,that’s nice, too.
 
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