Confession time limits?

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punisherthunder

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So I go to the Saturday 445-515 confession time. Suprisingly there was a long wait for the lone priest. Mass that night was at 530 and at around 528pm, I can only assume a lector, came up and told our line that Father had to stop hearing confessions to prepare for Mass. This is the second time this has happened to me. The other time, wasn’t so much a line, but a lone woman who took forever in the confessional.

I know everyone is different, but in confessing, are you ever mindful that others are waiting? My area is having the Advent Penance service soon and that will be a good time to get a confession in.
 
Hi punisherthunder,

It may be that someone is not aware that they can make an appointment to see a priest if they have not been to Confession for some time.

On the other hand, they may not be comfortable going face-to-face to see a priest, either.

When I would go to Confession before Mass, I would try not to take up a lot of time myself.

Most of the time, those of us in line were the same way where we did not use a lot of time for Confession, and we would be able to get in before Mass started.

I think that there was probably only one time where I was not able to go before Mass started due to a time delay, and I just made sure that I went early again another time.
 
punisherthunder said:
I know everyone is different, but in confessing, are you ever mindful that others are waiting?
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Of course! 🙂

But sometimes, Confession does take a bit longer than it would otherwise. As our Pastor points out, Confession is not the time for spiritual direction. But nonetheless, there are minor issues that come up that require more than 90 seconds to sort out.

If I can say so respectfully, I think the main issue here is that Confession only seems to be available for thirty minutes per week.
 
Get there really early and be the first or second one in line. If it starts at 4:45, get there around 4:15, if at all possible. Unless someone beat you to it, it should work.
 
punisherthunder said:
So I go to the Saturday 445-515 confession time. Suprisingly there was a long wait for the lone priest. Mass that night was at 530 and at around 528pm, I can only assume a lector, came up and told our line that Father had to stop hearing confessions to prepare for Mass. This is the second time this has happened to me. The other time, wasn’t so much a line, but a lone woman who took forever in the confessional.

I know everyone is different, but in confessing, are you ever mindful that others are waiting? My area is having the Advent Penance service soon and that will be a good time to get a confession in.
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You are asking from the side of the penitent. There is also the side of the confessor.

The reality is that a confessor never knows what will come into his confessional any time he is there.
  • It may be a group of someones who confess frequently/regularly and therefore make relatively short confessions.
  • It may be someone who wants to lay before a confessor a specific moral issue/quandary but who wishes to do so in the internal forum and anonymously.
  • It may be someone who has not been to confession in 10, 20, 30, 40 or more years.
  • It may be someone in a profound crisis that defies resolution with a two minute fervorino.
  • It may be someone so ill prepared that the confessor has to takeover the initiative and directly examine the penitent in order for there to be an integral celebration of the sacrament.
And, of course, none of this can the confessor in situ in any way infer.

There can be, certainly, instances in which the penitent becomes so engrossed in provision of details that the confession becomes bogged down, instances in which the penitent mistakes the moment of confession for spiritual direction, and instances in which the confessor can be overly indulgent or overly loquacious…but, frankly, a confessor has to proceed cautiously in addressing the first things I listed lest the penitent becomes so addled that even more issues ensue and compound what is already problematic…which is part of why the confessor at times has to be overly indulgent.

If the penitent indicates that they have not been to confession in many years, the confessor knows at that point that, almost certainly, the rest of the scheduled time is written off; he has to hope that he has enough time to integrally resolve this confession, at least without delaying the anticipated Mass by too much.

I have seen all of this…and much much more. But I am limited to 6000 characters.
 
We have the same issue in our church. We have only one priest assigned. When he got here the regular confession hours were 4:00 to 4:45 as the previous pastor did not put much emphasis on confession. However, our new pastor talks about confession all the time, especially in his homies and as a result more people are going to confession. He increased the confession hours from 3:00 to 4:45 on Saturday before the 5 o’clock Mass. I’ve seen people who spend 30+ minutes in the confessional which makes it very hard for other people waiting in line as his time is limited. He has had to break off confession many times in order to get ready for Mass. Now, I don’t know if this is an official rule or not, but I’ve always been of the understanding that from the time someone walks into the confessional to the time they leave should be a maximum of 5 minutes in order not to hold up the line. If someone plans on having a lengthily confession, they should request an appointment outside of the regular confession hours. Most priests will be more than happy to do that.
 
Marcus_T said:
Now, I don’t know if this is an official rule or not, but I’ve always been of the understanding that from the time someone walks into the confessional to the time they leave should be a maximum of 5 minutes in order not to hold up the line.
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No. It most assuredly does not work in any such way.
 
Marcus_T said:
We have the same issue in our church. We have only one priest assigned. When he got here the regular confession hours were 4:00 to 4:45 as the previous pastor did not put much emphasis on confession. However, our new pastor talks about confession all the time, especially in his homies and as a result more people are going to confession. He increased the confession hours from 3:00 to 4:45 on Saturday before the 5 o’clock Mass. I’ve seen people who spend 30+ minutes in the confessional which makes it very hard for other people waiting in line as his time is limited. He has had to break off confession many times in order to get ready for Mass. Now, I don’t know if this is an official rule or not, but I’ve always been of the understanding that from the time someone walks into the confessional to the time they leave should be a maximum of 5 minutes in order not to hold up the line. If someone plans on having a lengthily confession, they should request an appointment outside of the regular confession hours. Most priests will be more than happy to do that.
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That’s another issue. I’m not trying to frown on making an appointment for confession, but it’s not always a same day issue. Sometimes it has to be two-three days in advance because the priest is so busy.

Then I read about St. John Vianney or Padre Pio who would spend 10,12, 15 hours a day hearing confessions!
 
I have been annoyed when someone has nearly taken up the whole of confession time by themselves. Guess we should not get up tight about it. Couple priests i know always continue with confessions after the mass too.
 
Let us thank God for Confession and if we do not make it during the scheduled time remember that one can go anytime.
 
Bookcat said:
Let us thank God for Confession and if we do not make it during the scheduled time remember that one can go anytime.
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👍 Yes. In my experience, while priests may be busy before Mass, they are usually not that busy right after Mass, especially daily Mass. I have never had any priest reject me when I asked him for confession right after he finished daily Mass.
 
Marcus_T said:
Now, I don’t know if this is an official rule or not, but I’ve always been of the understanding that from the time someone walks into the confessional to the time they leave should be a maximum of 5 minutes in order not to hold up the line. If someone plans on having a lengthily confession, they should request an appointment outside of the regular confession hours. Most priests will be more than happy to do that.
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That’s the way it should work. Even 5 minutes is an awfully long time for a normal confession.

List your mortal sins, number and kind. That’s all a person has to do.

God Bless
 
When I first came back to the Church, my time in the Confessional was a bit longer than it should have been. Looking back on that time, I can see the (assorted) priests were spending more time with me, helping me feel comfortable and helping me make good Confessions. Because of that nurturing, I never get impatient while waiting in line. Ok, maybe once or twice for the really long waits, lol, but no I do try to be patient and accept the situation.

Also because of that extra care given to me, I am now in a position to walk into a Confessional, have some anxiety but not too much, confess my sins with clarity, be comfortable with the whole experience and not terrified. And unless my Confessor has something more to say, I’m in and out in a just a handful of minutes. I usually make a Confession once or twice a month now.

However…

There has been a time or two that a priest would be the one holding up the line. For example, I had a person open and close the Confessional door on me while I was confessing because we were taking too long. I think the Priest drew out the time even longer because of that. It was horrible. Anyhow, he talked and talked and talked and talked. He was a visiting priest with no parish of his own and didn’t have the opportunity to hear confessions as often as a Parish Priest.

I’m saying this to point out that we shouldn’t assume it’s the penitent. Sometimes it’s the Priest who is the one taking the time and drawing things out, for whatever reason.

When you see the lineups in Confession are long, and the time to hear Confessions dwindling, do you keep your place in line or move to the back of the line or go sit in a pew? If I know I have no mortal sins on my conscience and I can easily go to Confession again in a day or two, I now make it a practise to leave the line. You never know who does really need that time in the Confessional.
 
The last time I went to Confession, I brought a list, and was expecting Confession to be short.
It turned out that the priest I went to was well-known for talking and giving a good amount of spiritual direction to all comers … no matter what you confessed. So my Confession ended up being long, and the people in line behind me were probably wondering what was going on and why I was taking so long. The good part of course, is having a priest really care.

Best to either be early and/or first in line,
or make an appointment
if you really need to go
and can’t take the chance
on running out of time.
 
I always wonder why people blame the penitent in these situations. Every time I’ve had a lengthy confession, the length has been determined by the priest.

The most memorable was the time that my (then) fiance and I went to confession together a couple of weeks before our wedding. I went first and was in there for about 30 minutes. Oh, man, that priest could talk! I don’t really remember all the things we chatted about, but somehow my profession came up. The priest was finishing up a Master’s Degree in the same field, so we talked shop for a while. I really wanted to leave, as my fiance was waiting, but I didn’t really know how to bring it to an end and exit gracefully. My husband took nearly as long.

Have you ever been in a church and noticed that some lines move much faster than others? Some priests just take more time, for various reasons. Some give more advice, ask questions, give some direction, etc. Personally, I prefer that and seek it out. Other priests have little to say. They hear the sins, give penance and give absolution. I once knew a priest who was hard of hearing. He would generally interrupt you while you were still confessing to ask “Is that all?” I don’t think I ever knew him to take more than 2 minutes in the confessional. I always felt like I had to talk really fast to get it all out. I much prefer to wait for others than to feel rushed myself.

My own pastor takes a while. I once asked him for confession and he asked if it would take a long time. I laughed and told him that it was up to him, but my part would take about 30 seconds. That confession ended up being about 10 minutes. I appreciate that he took the time to give me good and useful advice about the circumstances that led to the sin. He always hears each confession as if it is the only one that he has to hear. Yes, sometimes I’ve been kept waiting. Sometimes he even asks if I can wait until after the liturgy because he has run out of time, but I know that is because he’s given each person before me the care and attention that he gives to me, and I thank God for him.
 
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