Confession took a little longer than expected

[Dies_Irae_1]

I’m a convert, and in some ways trying to figure out the “rules” for confession. **I never knew there was a time limit. ** Obviously if you have a lot to confess, you will take longer, and should consider an appointment. I find frequent confession (once a month) helps with that. At my parish, however, except for the kids, I don’t think I have ever seen anyone in any of the confessionals less than 5 to 10 minutes. But then we also have more than one priest hearing confession, and it’s scheduled to end either when there is no Mass to follow, or Mass is still an hour away, so there’s time if things should run long. The priests spend the time necessary for each penitent, but we all try to be mindful of the others in the line as well. Plus for us, even during non-busy times like summer, it can take up to two or more weeks for a priest to have an appointment available. I’d rather wait in line, than wait two weeks.
Kris

THere is no time limit for confession. You don’t get ejected out of the confessional. However, it is courteous to others waiting in line to be succinct (I did X sin Y times) and not give long drawn out explanations (which are often just rationalisations).

I keep my list of sins short and to the point, but I find that it’s usually the priest that will keep me in there for awhile. And I don’t even notice the time go by and maybe he doesn’t either

 

[pgnat1]

BTW, we had 3 priests doing confessions that day. I am 16, and when I came out, everyone exclaimed “it’s a kid!”

:ehh:

 

[Mrs_Sally]

As others have said, there is no time limit for confession. BUT, we do well to be brief and to the point. Confession doesn’t have to include explanations, names, places, or other details. Listing first mortal sins in kind and number (I stole from work 7 times) and then venial sins similarly. But not, “well I work at Frosty King and I’ve been short on cash and really wanted a new xbox and the cash register doesn’t close properly and the new assistant manager doesn’t count the registers every night, so I only took $20 at first but then…”