Confession Quagmire

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I attend a small parish with my family. I try to go to Confession regularly, usually once a month. Usually 3-4 people are there / arrive within the 45 minute window to confess their sins. While there is a Confessional, Father has been using the Sacristy to hear confessions for a year or two, since the previous room with partition was absorbed into the remodeled bathroom. I have concluded he may not be using the Confessional because it’s narrow and small and he has health issues and is heavy set.

Last Saturday, double the amount of people arrived over a 35 minute period to confess their sins. That’s great!! What isn’t great is that there was no line and people came in after other people, sat in front of them and went into before them. I sat further back because I do not want to hear other people making their confession. As multiple people got up as others left the Sacristy, I began to realize that if I didn’t jump up and sit up front (within hearing distance of the Sacristy) and even possibly get in front of someone else who was also there, I was going to miss my chance as time was running out. A couple of people had long confessions, too.

Also, a EME arrived 35 minutes before Mass time and when someone came out of the Sacristy, then went in there to get the Chalices and other things, going back and forth 3-4 times for maybe 10 minutes … preventing another person from entering to give their Confession until they were done. It IS the Sacristy after all!

So, finally, as another person came in and walked to the front and ask the other person there if they were waiting to confess, I realized there wasn’t going to be time for me.

Thankfully, I didn’t have a Mortal Sin to confess, and I’d used the 35 minutes to pray and ask forgiveness from Jesus for my sins.

BUT! Aren’t we supposed to be able to confess our sins and in private and with some semblance of order? What am I supposed to do about this? 🤷 I don’t want to come across as a complainer or troublemaker since everyone else just seems to accept this pell-mell way of doing things .

Thank you for reading :byzsoc:
 
BBFan said:
I attend a small parish with my family. I try to go to Confession regularly, usually once a month. Usually 3-4 people are there / arrive within the 45 minute window to confess their sins. While there is a Confessional, Father has been using the Sacristy to hear confessions for a year or two, since the previous room with partition was absorbed into the remodeled bathroom. I have concluded he may not be using the Confessional because it’s narrow and small and he has health issues and is heavy set.

Last Saturday, double the amount of people arrived over a 35 minute period to confess their sins. That’s great!! What isn’t great is that there was no line and people came in after other people, sat in front of them and went into before them. I sat further back because I do not want to hear other people making their confession. As multiple people got up as others left the Sacristy, I began to realize that if I didn’t jump up and sit up front (within hearing distance of the Sacristy) and even possibly get in front of someone else who was also there, I was going to miss my chance as time was running out. A couple of people had long confessions, too.

Also, a EME arrived 35 minutes before Mass time and when someone came out of the Sacristy, then went in there to get the Chalices and other things, going back and forth 3-4 times for maybe 10 minutes … preventing another person from entering to give their Confession until they were done. It IS the Sacristy after all!

So, finally, as another person came in and walked to the front and ask the other person there if they were waiting to confess, I realized there wasn’t going to be time for me.

Thankfully, I didn’t have a Mortal Sin to confess, and I’d used the 35 minutes to pray and ask forgiveness from Jesus for my sins.

BUT! Aren’t we supposed to be able to confess our sins and in private and with some semblance of order? What am I supposed to do about this? 🤷 I don’t want to come across as a complainer or troublemaker since everyone else just seems to accept this pell-mell way of doing things .

Thank you for reading :byzsoc:
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Since I assume you’ve already spoken about this with your priest, what did he say? What was the rationale given for hearing confessions in the sacristy?
 
I would discuss this with your pastor and/or write him a letter if you are not sure you can address properly.

If he brushes you off, or respectfully answer/consider your concern, then write a very respectful letter to your bishop (not attacking the priest, but respectfully explaining your concerns). But give your priest plenty of time to fix the situation before writing the bishop.

God Bless
 
Every place I have been to confession, there as always been a line. No random access. No jumping in front of others. I can’t imagine how that would work.
 
Seek out another parish, if possible. For sure tell this to Father, as he does not see the mess outside. And, the voices carrying out to others does not encourage confession, but rather hearie-loos. Not good.

The subversive in me would ask Father to hear a made up confession. Done in a clearly audible voice. One of murder, deceit, robbery and affairs with several (unnamed) parishioners. Then observe the faces when you exit.

Maybe not…
 
BBFan said:
I attend a small parish with my family. I try to go to Confession regularly, usually once a month. Usually 3-4 people are there / arrive within the 45 minute window to confess their sins. While there is a Confessional, Father has been using the Sacristy to hear confessions for a year or two, since the previous room with partition was absorbed into the remodeled bathroom. I have concluded he may not be using the Confessional because it’s narrow and small and he has health issues and is heavy set.

Last Saturday, double the amount of people arrived over a 35 minute period to confess their sins. That’s great!! What isn’t great is that there was no line and people came in after other people, sat in front of them and went into before them. I sat further back because I do not want to hear other people making their confession. As multiple people got up as others left the Sacristy, I began to realize that if I didn’t jump up and sit up front (within hearing distance of the Sacristy) and even possibly get in front of someone else who was also there, I was going to miss my chance as time was running out. A couple of people had long confessions, too.

Also, a EME arrived 35 minutes before Mass time and when someone came out of the Sacristy, then went in there to get the Chalices and other things, going back and forth 3-4 times for maybe 10 minutes … preventing another person from entering to give their Confession until they were done. It IS the Sacristy after all!

So, finally, as another person came in and walked to the front and ask the other person there if they were waiting to confess, I realized there wasn’t going to be time for me.

Thankfully, I didn’t have a Mortal Sin to confess, and I’d used the 35 minutes to pray and ask forgiveness from Jesus for my sins.

BUT! Aren’t we supposed to be able to confess our sins and in private and with some semblance of order? What am I supposed to do about this? 🤷 I don’t want to come across as a complainer or troublemaker since everyone else just seems to accept this pell-mell way of doing things .

Thank you for reading :byzsoc:
Click to expand...
I go to a super-small parish and we occasionally have this problem. Because we are a Byzantine Catholic parish, we don’t have confessionals. Those waiting for confession tend to stay away from the place where confessions are heard out of respect, but not necessarily in the same place as others who are waiting. Some wait on the other side of the church, some wait in the back, some in the middle. There are usually 3-5 people waiting on a given Sunday morning. For the most part, we know the people who are waiting and assume that they are waiting for confession because they are in the church early. Every once in a while there is some confusion, though. If a stranger comes in and doesn’t know the unofficial “system”, it can get confusing. If there are more than 3-4 people waiting, it can get confusing. If I come in and there are people in the church already, I know they are ahead of me and others do the same. It isn’t a perfect system and I sometimes wonder if we should come up with an official “confession line” at the back of the church, but the vast majority of the time it is unnecessary, so nobody has felt the impetus to change it.

This sounds like a good time to speak to your pastor about the confusion brought about due to the lack of a line and the problems due to the lack of privacy. He might not have even though about it and would welcome the opportunity to work with you to improve the situation.
 
The priests at my church use a white noise machine outside the confessionals. This would be a simple and inexpensive solution.
 
Just wondering if this is something that happens often at the OP’s church or was it just an off day because of First Saturday, which, especially this year with Fatima, is bringing a lot more people to confession?

It sounds like on other Saturdays it’s just 3 or 4 people so probably not a big problem if it’s only happening once in a while.

One could always wear foam earplugs from the drugstore 🙂
 
po18guy said:
Seek out another parish, if possible. For sure tell this to Father, as he does not see the mess outside. And, the voices carrying out to others does not encourage confession, but rather hearie-loos. Not good.

The subversive in me would ask Father to hear a made up confession. Done in a clearly audible voice. One of murder, deceit, robbery and affairs with several (unnamed) parishioners. Then observe the faces when you exit.

Maybe not…
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:tsktsk: :rotfl:
 
Out in the battlefield, priests hear confession on the spot. There is no sacristy, let alone a confessional.

And if there was no line and people cut in, that is because no one made a line. There is nothing to prevent anyone from forming a line a sufficient distance from the sacristy so that eves dropping is not likely. I seriously doubt God is going to be offended if the line is in front of the altar.
 
I hadn’t thought of the First Saturday. That could well be the explanation for the increase in Confessions.

I haven’t wanted to ask Father about the use of the Sacristy because I don’t exactly know how to come across as not complaining, just wondering. Although it does make me feel frustrated.

Also, I thought I’d read somewhere that it is the right of Catholics, according to Canon Law, to say their Confessions anonymously, unless there are unavoidable circumstances (like on the battlefield as mentioned) that prevent it.

I think for now I will just make sure I’m there first thing and right up front and cover my ears (or get ear plugs). We’ll see how it goes. Otherwise, maybe I’ll get there early and just stand near the front (but not to close), along the wall and create my own line.

Thanks for your helpful responses 🙂
 
BBFan said:
I hadn’t thought of the First Saturday. That could well be the explanation for the increase in Confessions.

I haven’t wanted to ask Father about the use of the Sacristy because I don’t exactly know how to come across as not complaining, just wondering. Although it does make me feel frustrated.

Also, I thought I’d read somewhere that it is the right of Catholics, according to Canon Law, to say their Confessions anonymously, unless there are unavoidable circumstances (like on the battlefield as mentioned) that prevent it.

I think for now I will just make sure I’m there first thing and right up front and cover my ears (or get ear plugs). We’ll see how it goes. Otherwise, maybe I’ll get there early and just stand near the front (but not to close), along the wall and create my own line.

Thanks for your helpful responses 🙂
Click to expand...
I think you should create your own line, setting a precedent for those coming in later to get in line. But I also think there should be standard confessionals; I don’t know if that’s a practical suggestion for this church or not.
 
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