Confession in schools

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I went to Catholic School my whole life, and we had mandatory Confession once a month after Friday Mass. I’d expect my kids to get the opportunity to go with their classmates as well.

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Oh, thank you so much, everyone!

I have been very conflicted about this since it happened, so you’ve confirmed very strongly to me that I am not wrong to keep pushing it. I will indeed pray before I do anything, because I have a hard time figuring out what is God’s plan vs. what is my own agenda (that is, does He want me to just suggest, or am I being called to take an active role in the formation of the parish children? Or somewhere in between?).

Thanks again.
 
Actually, that leads me to another question:

What is the correct procedure for raising this issue? Is it appropriate to speak to the parish priest first?
 
What is the correct procedure for raising this issue? Is it appropriate to speak to the parish priest first?
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a brief email:

*hi dre.
thanks for the informative meeting last night. it looks like some you generated some good ideas!

i feel dssatisfied with the non-possibility of bringing the school children to confession during school time. I’d like to talk to you or Father Priest more about this. Are you open to having more conversation?

thanks,
me*

is it correct? it’s clear but non confrontational. i think that’s what you want at this point.
 
I just talked to my FH about this subject. He went to a catholic grade school and high school. In grade school, Reconciliation was made during an assembly, once a month (usually the first monday of the month). All the priests from the parish would be on hand to hear confessions, and they’d go by homeroom. Once in high school, they were expected to decide when they needed to receive the sacrament, so they were able to sign up for it in the school chapel in the morning, and the priest would call them out of class to hear their confession. They could avail themselves of this privilege as often as necessary, which my FH said was a godsend for dealing with puberty and the related urges as a teenager. He didn’t have to tell his mother he was going to confession, and he could go as often as he needed.
 
I don’t know if I’m reading this correctly, but it sounds like the school is often scheduling activities so that all the confession times in the parish are covered by school or school events? That might actually be a place to start - ask that they leave one of the confession times clear of school events.
 
DarkLight said:
I don’t know if I’m reading this correctly, but it sounds like the school is often scheduling activities so that all the confession times in the parish are covered by school or school events? That might actually be a place to start - ask that they leave one of the confession times clear of school events.
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On re-reading, it seems I didn’t make my original post clear. There is no confession at the school at present. There is no confession at the church attached to the school. Confession is offered at the parish’s other church (next suburb), twice a week, on Wednesday morning for half an hour and on Saturday morning for half an hour.

To get my kids there, I’d either have to take them out of school on Wednesday and drive to the next suburb, or get them to the Saturday one, at which time we often have regular extra-curricular sporting activities. Again, I do agree that confession is more important than sport. No argument there, but gee it would be nice if there was an alternative that made it easier (and I’m also thinking of those hypothetical other parents who wouldn’t bother if it was too hard).

Even if they had confession before or after Sunday Mass, it would save people going out twice, and perhaps increase frequency of reception.
 
Where I live, there are several churches within pretty close driving distance. The 5 that are within a ~15 minute drive all have confessions at pretty much the same time. If we drive a little further (20-30 minutes from home), we can get to 3 places that offer confessions at other times of other days. So if your parish is reasonably close to other churches that offer confessions at other times, I would consider all of those times in my choices, and wouldn’t think the confession times unreasonable - for the parish. That doesn’t change the fact that Catholic school children should have confession available to them at school if at all possible.
 
Even if they had confession before or after Sunday Mass, it would save people going out twice, and perhaps increase frequency of reception.
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i would urge you to pursue this, too.
 
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