Confession Times

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Would it not be most supportive of our Catholic Church should a new policy be installed which mandated hearing confessions before all Sunday and Holy Day Masses? Issue is we are required to attend as in mandatory, so why not provide for priest to attend at least 30 minutes of confessions–a sure guarantee of increasing our participation in the sacraments, a genuine expression of “tending the flock” thus allowing for a “cleansing”
and return to the graces.
 
It would be lovely if confession was held before and after Sunday Masses;

In today’s church so many receive the Lord in the Sacrament of the Eucharist but fail to go to frequent Confession.

I recently wrote a tidbit about it on my blog; At a Mass I served yesterday a priest preached a long sermon about this wonderful Sacrament of Absolution. He cited Jesus, the saints sacred scripture and tradition as arguments to go to confession. The priest said that the saints went to confession daily and we as Catholics should strive towards their holiness which is absent in today’s society.
 
The option to go to confession directly before mass would be nice, but a canon requiring a priest to hear confessions would do a lot of harm. In rural areas (like where I live) a priest might cover three parishes. While that’s the upper end, it’s not uncommon for a priest to carry two parishes and/or a chaplaincy. (The problem would disappear if larger parishes only had one priest, but that’s another story.) They already have to schedule an early morning mass at one parish, then hop in the car and rush to the late morning mass at another parish, usually arriving just a few minutes before the servers start to line up for the procession.
 
Many parishes have multiple Masses–four, five or even six Masses run consecutively. Scheduling confessions would not only be a hardship with the scarcity of priests, but also in terms of spreading out the Mass schedule.

I do support an increase in the frequency of confessions (my parish offers them seven days a week), but why not ask the reverse question: Why not encourage Catholics to make a commitment to avail themselves of the Sacrament on another day of the week?
 
smithm29 said:
The option to go to confession directly before mass would be nice, but a canon requiring a priest to hear confessions would do a lot of harm. In rural areas (like where I live) a priest might cover three parishes. While that’s the upper end, it’s not uncommon for a priest to carry two parishes and/or a chaplaincy. (The problem would disappear if larger parishes only had one priest, but that’s another story.) They already have to schedule an early morning mass at one parish, then hop in the car and rush to the late morning mass at another parish, usually arriving just a few minutes before the servers start to line up for the procession.
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Exactly. There definitely should be the opportunity for Confession and before Mass would be an excellent time for it, but the Church isn’t going to micromanage by canonically mandating a specific time for Confession for every single parish across the globe. That’s the type of decision that really needs to be made on a diocesan level (or even the parish level).
 
3 of the 4 parishes in one of the cities I live does have confessions 30 minutes before each mass. I don’t know how they pull it off because there’s several masses and only 2 priests.
 
If the priest wants to discourage confession, what prevents him from having it when nobody will come anyway, like 2-230pm Mondays, or even 430-5am Saturday mornings?

Think about it: if you wanted to suppress the practice of frequent confession, you will find a way.
 
smithm29 said:
The option to go to confession directly before mass would be nice, but a canon requiring a priest to hear confessions would do a lot of harm. In rural areas (like where I live) a priest might cover three parishes. While that’s the upper end, it’s not uncommon for a priest to carry two parishes and/or a chaplaincy. (The problem would disappear if larger parishes only had one priest, but that’s another story.) They already have to schedule an early morning mass at one parish, then hop in the car and rush to the late morning mass at another parish, usually arriving just a few minutes before the servers start to line up for the procession.
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Whoops. I meant “…a canon requiring priests to hear confessions before mass would do a lot…”
 
a paI know of a parish around my area that does confessions every evening.
 
bonjourvideo said:
Would it not be most supportive of our Catholic Church should a new policy be installed which mandated hearing confessions before all Sunday and Holy Day Masses? Issue is we are required to attend as in mandatory, so why not provide for priest to attend at least 30 minutes of confessions–a sure guarantee of increasing our participation in the sacraments, a genuine expression of “tending the flock” thus allowing for a “cleansing”
and return to the graces.
Click to expand...
it depends on the parish and the number of priests in that parish. my former parish always starts confessions 5 minutes after mass, this is mostly for those who are coming in for the next mass

in my current parish its hard to do so because there’s only one priest and back-to-back Masses on Sunday morning. but while there is not scheduled Mass, the priest often opens himself for confession should one approach him. but ideally he needs the time to prepare for the next Mass. or in the case of the earlier Mass, he prepares from the morning.
 
Because I attend the Diocese’s cathedral, it is next to impossible to get to confession. One of the confession times is in the middle of the day when I have to sleep (I work third shift. Boo.) and the other is on Saturday in the afternoon when EVERYONE is lining up. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve been in line since confession started. They will and have turned people away.

I’ve written to the Bishop and discussed the matter with the Priest, but the answer I always get is that confession times will not be extended and they will not add another day. 🤷 I’m getting ready to move anyway, so I will more than likely be attending in a different parish in the same Diocese, so maybe the new church will have better confession times. But right now, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been unable to get to confession.
 
IHeartAquinas said:
Because I attend the Diocese’s cathedral, it is next to impossible to get to confession. One of the confession times is in the middle of the day when I have to sleep (I work third shift. Boo.) and the other is on Saturday in the afternoon when EVERYONE is lining up. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve been in line since confession started. They will and have turned people away.

I’ve written to the Bishop and discussed the matter with the Priest, but the answer I always get is that confession times will not be extended and they will not add another day. 🤷 I’m getting ready to move anyway, so I will more than likely be attending in a different parish in the same Diocese, so maybe the new church will have better confession times. But right now, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been unable to get to confession.
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Is there a different parish you can go to for confession?
 
I’ve looked into it, but the closest parish that has reasonable confession times for me is my parents’ parish where I grew up which is 45 minutes to an hour away depending on traffic.

Two of the local parishes don’t even have times for reconciliation, and encourage their members to go to the cathedral. The others have maybe a half hour a week, if that. Though I had previously refrained from going to these parishes for confession because I did not want to encroach on the parishioners’ time, I have given ample thought to the possibility of going.
 
I think what we need is for our priests to emphasize the importance of this sacrament. It’s almost like it’s become optional. I don’t think it matters how much priests increase the scheduled confession times, people still won’t come. What needs to happen is for our priests and bishops to forcefully insist that people start going to confession before they recieve communion. Priests are naturally worried that they’ll lose parishioners if they get too adamant about people going to confession, but the alternative is a whole lot of sacreligious communions.
Maybe it would also increase people’s faith in the real presence if they had to work a little bit for it.
 
It would be a very hard requirement unless there’s an assistant – an extinct species in my diocese.
Let’s not forget priests need time to prepare for Mass; they have to robe, then in most places greet parishioners before the procession, and most important some spiritual preparation before all that.
 
Let me see now. That would put our single and only priest in the confessional for two hours between 4:30 Saturday evening and 11:00 Sunday Morning. In addition making him also responsible for four Masses before noon Sunday. Its an excellent thought, but although he is a priest, he is not Superman.🙂
 
bonjourvideo said:
Would it not be most supportive of our Catholic Church should a new policy be installed which mandated hearing confessions before all Sunday and Holy Day Masses? Issue is we are required to attend as in mandatory, so why not provide for priest to attend at least 30 minutes of confessions–a sure guarantee of increasing our participation in the sacraments, a genuine expression of “tending the flock” thus allowing for a “cleansing”
and return to the graces.
Click to expand...
most parishes to which I have belonged for the last 20 years at least have confession before the first weekend Mass, and before Mass on Holy Days, and sadly the priest often sits alone for most of that time. Confession before each Sunday Mass is simply not possible for a parish with only one priest. he barely has time to catch his breath between Masses. Many priests are responsible for more than one parish or mission, so that time is occupied by travel between parishes as well. Nice idea, not practical in many places.
 
PadraigPearce said:
I don’t think it matters how much priests increase the scheduled confession times, people still won’t come.
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I disagree completely. In my experience, when confession times are greatly expanded AND accompanied by sermons that teach and emphasize the sacrament, including the graces obtained through frequent confessions, many more people start coming to the sacrament. They see their priest(s) in the confessional and hear sermons on it, and they realize that this is something that should be important to a Catholic, and they respond.
 
IHeartAquinas said:
Because I attend the Diocese’s cathedral, it is next to impossible to get to confession. One of the confession times is in the middle of the day when I have to sleep (I work third shift. Boo.) and the other is on Saturday in the afternoon when EVERYONE is lining up. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve been in line since confession started. They will and have turned people away.

I’ve written to the Bishop and discussed the matter with the Priest, but the answer I always get is that confession times will not be extended and they will not add another day. 🤷 I’m getting ready to move anyway, so I will more than likely be attending in a different parish in the same Diocese, so maybe the new church will have better confession times. But right now, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been unable to get to confession.
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Write another letter to your bishop requesting Extraordinary Ministers of Reconciliation. Tell him it will empower the laity AND shorten the time needed to hear confessions. A win-win situation.

If he doesn’t like the idea, stage a protest by boycotting communion.
 
Apollos said:
Write another letter to your bishop requesting Extraordinary Ministers of Reconciliation. Tell him it will empower the laity AND shorten the time needed to hear confessions. A win-win situation.

If he doesn’t like the idea, stage a protest by boycotting communion.
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:rotfl:

Seriously - I can so easily see both sides of this argument. It IS a great blessing when priests devote serious time to the sacrament of confession, at whatever time of the day or week that be. At the same time, many priests outside the major cities are insanely busy and have insanely spread-out parishes, and so simply don’t have time.

You always have the right, of course, to request a priest hear your confession even at unscheduled times. It often means arranging a mutually suitable time, but it’s a useful option.

If necessary, do so via a phone call, and with a request that priest and penitent meet in the confessional, which would preserve anonymity if it is desired.
 
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