Confession In Your Church

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Seamus_L said:
Simple question. How is it done ?
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It depends on the priest. Our old priest used to do it in front of icon of Christ, if we desired, (if people felt uncomfortable in front, he would allow them to come in back, into the side room, and he would “set up” there- with the closed Gospel book in front of us, he, facing us sidewise, as we confessed to the icon of Christ. After he would let us turn to him for direction- then he would throw his stole over our heads while we did a low bow, and administer the absolution. After, we venerate the icon and the Gospel. It was one of the main things that drew me to the eastern rite. SO beautiful, so healing, so free of feelings of shamefulness. I miss it.😦
 
We have a confession room. Our previous priest had an icon of Jesus in the confession room that the confession was heard in front of, and he put his stole on our head during the confession. Our current priest does not have an icon of Jesus and does not often even wear his stole during confession. I’ve only been going to this Church for a few years, but I have never seen confession anywhere other than in the confession room.
 
My parish is run by a religious order, and has several priests, and daily confession times. We have the old fashioned confessional booths. If you want a face to face confession, you’re encouraged to make an appointment with one of the priests and confess in the parish office. However, two of the priests are open to the practice of moving outside the booth and hearing the confession of a penitent in a pew outside the booth. This is useful for those who can’t kneel in a booth. There is some talk about retrofitting a booth with a chair to provide the same privacy someone capable of kneeling in a booth has. One of the booths is already fitted with equipment for the hard-of-hearing. Before his scheduled confession time the priest places temporary stanchions and cordons off three pews flanking each side of the booth, this really helps to ensure privacy.

There are two daily confession periods, one for half an hour before the noon Mass, and one for 45 minutes before the 5 PM Mass.
 
Seamus_L said:
Simple question. How is it done ?
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One or two priests take their place in one side of the confessional; each penitent goes in and kneels down in front of the fixed screen with a curtain over it.

Confessions are held 2 x on Saturday - 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Of course if someone needs more time, they can schedule a private confession (sometimes it’s obvious from how long they are in the confessional, that they should have booked an appointment ahead of time!). :o
 
Usually it involves several priests at our parish. Two are in booths recessed into the wall. Each booth is partitioned into three sections. The priest sits in the middle section. Each side section has a kneeler. One section has a screen between the priest and penitent (the person confessing), and one side is more open. In other words, one side provides total anonymity, the other is face-to-face.

Other priests position themselves in the pews so the penitent can kneel behind the priest, with the priest facing away from him/her. Others sit more openly on the altar, for full face-to-face confessions. The priest and penitent sit and face each other.

The penitent confesses, the priest counsels, directs a penance to be fulfilled by the penitent, then offers absolution.

My first confession was face-to-face. Every one after that for the next 30-some years was behind a screen, until the latest one. I did a face-to-face again and it was by far the most uplifting, unburdening, relaxing, freeing Rite of Reconciliation I had ever had.
 
We have a “confession room” adjoining the Pastor’s office. When we had a pastor, confessions were scheduled on the first and third Sunday 30 minutes before Mass. One could either kneel in front of a screen, the traditional way, or sit in a chair, facing the Priest (my personal preference).

Our Pastor was pulled (another story for another day) a few months ago, and we’re not likely to get another until next summer because we’re a small church in a small town. So now, if someone wants to go to confession at our church, he has to just show up 30 minutes before Mass and ask the visiting priest when he arrives.

There’s a large Catholic church 45 minutes West of us with 3 priests and regularly scheduled confessions on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Also, it’s very easy to schedule a confession by appointment there on fairly short notice, which is what I’ve been doing most of the time. I love my church and I look forward to having a resident Pastor once again.
 
I know this might seem hard for Latin Catholics to accept or even believe, but when I was in the Coptic Orthodox Church, I did confession over the phone twice. It is no longer allowed in the COC, AFAIK.

Blessings,
Marduk
 
Ooops I didn’t notice that this was in the Eastern Catholicism section! Interesting thread though 🙂
 
Seamus_L said:
Simple question. How is it done ?
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Can you clarify: by posting in the Eastern Catholicism Section were you intending to ask how the Mystery of Penance/Confession occurs in our Eastern Catholic parishes?
 
In my parish we do confession face to face. Having said that our priest also has an area where we can kneel behind a screen if it makes us more comfortable.
 
mardukm said:
I know this might seem hard for Latin Catholics to accept or even believe, but when I was in the Coptic Orthodox Church, I did confession over the phone twice. It is no longer allowed in the COC, AFAIK.

Blessings,
Marduk
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It was hard for ME to believe when abouna asked me to call him a few months ago, as I was not able to make it to vespers (when he usually hears confessions). I don’t know if this really qualifies as having confession over the phone, however, as he did not absolve me (how could he? I wasn’t there to be prayed over, he couldn’t put the cross on my head, etc.), so it was more like we discussed the things that I would say if I were in confession, and then the next time I saw him at liturgy, we did the actual ritual/step-by-step form, without me having to go over all of the sins again (since we had already talked about them on the phone).

Hybrid confession…surely very irregular (and he did make a point of saying that this is not what we do normally, but since we had been unsuccessfully trying to meet for a while by that point, he allowed this as a sort of ‘stop-gap’ solution until we could finally get together), and not something I would want to do again. I greatly prefer the normal face-to-face method, as I did when I was Roman Catholic, actually. (Some things do not change. I was a frequent penitent at all the RC parishes I went to, but only ever used the confessional box one time – for my first confession – before deciding it really wasn’t for me.)
 
We have an alcove in the church for Confession, in front of an icon of Christ. We have two chairs, and Confession is done standing or sitting, or occasionally kneeling. The scheduled times for Confession are before any scheduled service, but parishioners frequently approach Father for Confession at other times.

In the photo, the place where Confessions are heard can be seen on the right.
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
gmcbroom said:
In my parish we do confession face to face. Having said that our priest also has an area where we can kneel behind a screen if it makes us more comfortable.
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Much of the reason for the screen/grille is protection of the priest, on multiple fronts.
  1. When a priest is alone hearing confessions, he is less vulnerable to a potential criminal or disturbed person in the traditional “box”, where he can lock the door to his “stall”.
  2. There can be no accusation of molestation or other misconduct, since priest and penitent are physically separated.
  3. It is easier for the priest not to know who’s confessing. It helps maintain the seal, and doesn’t risk tainting his relations with someone inadvertently.
God Bless
 
bilop said:
Much of the reason for the screen/grille is protection of the priest, on multiple fronts.
  1. When a priest is alone hearing confessions, he is less vulnerable to a potential criminal or disturbed person in the traditional “box”, where he can lock the door to his “stall”.
  2. There can be no accusation of molestation or other misconduct, since priest and penitent are physically separated.
  3. It is easier for the priest not to know who’s confessing. It helps maintain the seal, and doesn’t risk tainting his relations with someone inadvertently.
God Bless
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Anonymous confession behind a screen/grille is not part of the tradition of confession in the Eastern Churches, at least not those of the Constantinopolitan tradition. Rather, the traditional way is in the nave of the Church, facing the icon of Christ. That is not to say that the concerns you’ve listed aren’t real, or that they are trivial, but our traditional approach to the actual rite of confession, as well as to the priest-penitent relationship are inconsistent with anonymous confession.
 
RyanBlack said:
Anonymous confession behind a screen/grille is not part of the tradition of confession in the Eastern Churches, at least not those of the Constantinopolitan tradition. Rather, the traditional way is in the nave of the Church, facing the icon of Christ.
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I understand that. The poster was talking about face-to-face being an option for the penitent if it “made them feel more comfortable”.

My point was only that face-to-face confessions may make priests **much less **comfortable, so there are legitimate, practical reasons for the “box”, even if penitents’ preference, or tradition would dictate otherwise.

God Bless
 
RyanBlack said:
Anonymous confession behind a screen/grille is not part of the tradition of confession in the Eastern Churches, at least not those of the Constantinopolitan tradition. Rather, the traditional way is in the nave of the Church, facing the icon of Christ. That is not to say that the concerns you’ve listed aren’t real, or that they are trivial, but our traditional approach to the actual rite of confession, as well as to the priest-penitent relationship are inconsistent with anonymous confession.
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OK, follow up to what you added.

I’m interested to know what’s not consistent about anonymous confession? If an Eastern Catholic (or Orthodox) goes into a church where they are not known, the confession is effectively anonymous, even if the priest sees their face.

God Bless
 
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