Confession In Your Church

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The priest is an icon of Christ, Who we cannot hide from. With that iconicity in mind, it seems strange to me that we would have either concessions for his own comfort (as though we can shock him; all the priest I’ve ever talked to, whether RC, EC, or Orthodox have assured me that this is not possible), or for ours. When Christ returns as the Righteous Judge of all mankind, no box will spare us, regardless of our church traditions.
 
dzheremi said:
The priest is an icon of Christ, Who we cannot hide from. With that iconicity in mind, it seems strange to me that we would have either concessions for his own comfort (as though we can shock him; all the priest I’ve ever talked to, whether RC, EC, or Orthodox have assured me that this is not possible), or for ours. When Christ returns as the Righteous Judge of all mankind, no box will spare us, regardless of our church traditions.
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I wasn’t talking comfort, I was talking about protection from physical assault, unjust accusations of misconduct, and an added level of security for the seal of the confessional.

God knows our sins long before we go to confession, there’s no hiding from Him in any case.

Edit: to clarify, as a Latin Catholic, I always assume anything the Eastern and Oriental Catholics do is equally valid, and would be valid for Latins as well. I also assume it is the same the other way.

God Bless
 
Are these uniquely Latin concerns? I don’t think so. And it’s not as though the confessional box was only instituted in the wake of the recent priest sex scandals, so while I do see a certain reasoning behind them (as you’ve posted), I think it’s rather flimsy.

Edit in response to your edit: I am not saying anything about the validity of Roman Catholic sacraments, which I have a hard time believing would be affected by the presence or absence of a box. Either way, we do not pass judgments on the sacraments of churches outside of our own communion.
 
Some years ago I was in a Ukrainian Catholic Church around the beginning of Lent, and I distinctly remember the priest saying that they would have visiting priests hearing confession, and then added something to the effect that many people were more comfortable confessing to a priest they weren’t familiar with, and so here’s your opportunity. The church by the way, used a backroom with a screen for confession.
 
Also, I was told by a few EC’s, that many of them drive fairly long distances to church, and for convenience sake, they occasionally confessed at the nearest RC parish.
 
Seamus_L said:
Some years ago I was in a Ukrainian Catholic Church around the beginning of Lent, and I distinctly remember the priest saying that they would have visiting priests hearing confession, and then added something to the effect that many people were more comfortable confessing to a priest they weren’t familiar with, and so here’s your opportunity. The church by the way, used a backroom with a screen for confession.
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That point about familiarity is definitely true. In the old, old days, you were only allowed to confess to you parish priest, and many people just wouldn’t.

When the Franciscans and Dominicans came along with universal faculties (no geographic limits) their traveling priests quickly became preferred confessors.

God Bless
 
It’s interesting that some of the aforementioned Coptic Orthodox priests heard Confession over the phone. I know that the Catholic Church won’t consider anything other than an in-person Confession with the priest to be valid. Is the whole issue of the necessity of in-person Confession something that hasn’t been resolved in Oriental Orthodoxy, or is it generally allowed under situations of necessity/emergency?
 
What do you mean “hasn’t been resolved”? Different churches have different practices. There’s nothing to resolve. While I have a feeling that Mardukm is right that confession over the phone is not allowed in the Coptic Orthodox Church (keeping in mind that this is not exactly what I experienced, and even then, father told me that this was an exception being made for me due to the circumstances I was in at the time), it’s not really a matter of “validity” to begin with. There is a standard way in which confession is approached in the Orthodox Church, and anything that is non-standard (be it over the phone or whatever) is not really a problem to resolved in the first place. If I were to request it in a non-standard way on a regular basis (and it was father who told me to call him; I didn’t ask to), or come to expect or rely on getting it however I want rather than the standard way, that would mean that there was a problem with me, not with confession in our churches.
 
And what are your penances like in the EC Churches ? I know that it’s common for the Basilian Fathers in the UGCC to ask penitents to say Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
 
Seamus_L said:
And what are your penances like in the EC Churches ? I know that it’s common for the Basilian Fathers in the UGCC to ask penitents to say Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
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I have never had an Eastern priest give Hail Marys and Our Fathers as penance. In contrast, I think I’ve only had 2 Latin Rite priests give something other than Our Fathers and Hail Marys as penance. (One gave a psalm, another gave the Memorare.) Almost always it has been either related to my personal sins or my situation in life. Examples include fasting and abstinence, time spent in contemplative prayer in front of a particular icon, praying for my family, praying particular psalms, and doing something thoughtful for someone else every day for a week. My priest gives penances that can be somewhat difficult, but they are well thought out and always with the goal of helping me turn from my sins and grow closer to God.
 
Now I think I’m going to start a thread to discuss the variations in penances! Eastern Catholics are free to join in too!
 
babochka said:
I have never had an Eastern priest give Hail Marys and Our Fathers as penance. In contrast, I think I’ve only had 2 Latin Rite priests give something other than Our Fathers and Hail Marys as penance. (One gave a psalm, another gave the Memorare.) Almost always it has been either related to my personal sins or my situation in life. Examples include fasting and abstinence, time spent in contemplative prayer in front of a particular icon, praying for my family, praying particular psalms, and doing something thoughtful for someone else every day for a week. My priest gives penances that can be somewhat difficult, but they are well thought out and always with the goal of helping me turn from my sins and grow closer to God.
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I actually have had an Eastern priest give me Hail Marys as a penance, but that was alongside some particular readings and whatnot. I imagine that’s not very often, but it does happen.
 
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