Confession

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therese_lisieux_1

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I went to Confession for the first time yesterday in about a year. The priest I used to confess to passed away and I had a hard time trusting anyone else with my sins. (I’m a new Catholic.) I ended up going to a different parish to confess. Anyway, I ran into a lady from my parish who said she had tried to go to yet another different parish to confess and there was too long of a line. At this parish there was a line forming after me, as well.

I guess I’m just posting this because I was impressed with the fact that there are people who are willing to go to Confession. As a new Catholic, it is nice to see other Catholics participating in this sacrament as the parish I went through RCIA (totally different than the one I"m a member of) for used to practically beg people to go to Confession.

That’s all.
 
p.s. I don’t plan to wait another year to go. I used to go monthly.
 
Yeah, it’s nice to see people going to Confession! I’m a new Catholic, too, btw.

My regular confessor right now is my parish priest and he really encourages Confession. The sacrament of Reconciliation comes up regularly in his homilies. I think this makes a huge difference, as there are usually quite a few people who come to Confession (at least, it seems like a lot to me - I’ve heard him complain at how few there are). He is also a very kind confessor and hears confessions often (more than once a week), both of which help a lot, I’m sure.

When I went to a different parish, at the only scheduled time, I was shocked that there were only about five people there.

I wish more priests would encourage Confession.

I am sorry that your former priest passed away. 😦
 
Therese, and Student, it is good to hear that your parish priests encourage sacramental confession.

I have been residing in two major cities in the USA for the past several years, and both have parishes downtown where confession is offered several times a week. In fact, where I reside now (Miami) there’s a downtown church administered by the Jesuit priests, and confession is offered every single day of the week. I love it. Interestingly the other church in New Orleans which offered confessions 6 days every week (Mon-Sat, sometimes even on Sundays even though it wasn’t officially on their schedule), was also a church run by Jesuits. In Europe, in the two countries I’m most familiar with (Hungary, Romania), confessions are offered, as a rule, every day, in every church, before Mass. And the bigger churches that have more than 1 priest, have some of the priests hearing confessions during Holy Mass, too. It’s really easy to go to confession in many European countries, although I cannot speak for the whole of Europe because I’m not familiar enough with the whole of it. I grew up hearing that the discipline of the Church prescribes that anyone who committed a mortal sin (including for example, missing Mass on Sunday, and sins against the 6th Commandment - chastity, purity), should refrain from presenting themselves for Holy Communion until they had the opportunity to sacramentally confess mortal sins. Sticking to Church discipline is easy in Europe, since the priests are available for confession practically any day before Holy Mass, not only on Saturdays as it is practiced in many (most?) parishes in the USA. I think it’s really a pity that so many parishes only offer the opportunity once a week. Also, as far as I know, the Church still expects people to go to confession if they have committed mortal sins and now wish to go to Holy Communion, and also recommends us to use this sacrament of confession once a month, even if we managed not to commit mortal sins in the interim period of time. Sacramental confession is an important tool which helps us stay on track, quickly return on track whenever we mess up, and if I’m not mistaken, the old rule of obligatory sacramental confession at least once a year (around Easter) is still in effect.

My personal experience with confessors has been overwhelmingly positive. They are not out “to get me”, to pounce on me and beat me up, in a symbolic sense, when I show up to confess that I did something wrong. :o 99%+ of the time I experienced gentleness from my confessors’ side, and it has really been helping me. Knowing that God, through his priests, will absolve me from my sins, and I can start my quest for holiness afresh, has been a great motivation to me.
 
My parish always has lines. I confessed at another parish and was pleasantly surprised to wait in line behind four people (I got there right as confession started). Probably ten people in line when I was done.

I hate waiting, but I am thankful people are in line.
 
WetCatechumen said:
My parish always has lines. I confessed at another parish and was pleasantly surprised to wait in line behind four people (I got there right as confession started). Probably ten people in line when I was done.

I hate waiting, but I am thankful people are in line.
Click to expand...
😛

The Holy Spirit at work! 😃
 
The priests at my church too encourage confession.After mass,my parish priest would say that there were long lines of people going for communion but few people going for confession.😃
 
So far, I have not had a bad experience in Confession. The priests so far have been very nice and comforting and happy I was there. My priest who passed heard my first Confession and every other one and he was so grandfatherly and welcoming. I cried all over him in the confessional many a time and he never wavered in his comfort and duty. I guess you could say that it was like having a confidential and trusting relationship with a counselor or therapist. I bonded with him so it was sad when I couldn’t go to him anymore.

I always enjoyed going to Confession. I always felt better and felt determined not to bring the same sins in the next time. I felt I’d let that priest down, and I didn’t want to do that.

In the parish where I went through RCIA, the one that used to beg people to go to Confession, I had heard from someone else that someone hadn’t gone in 20 years and when they went, the Monsignor told them to get out, ie, leave, for not having confessed in 20 years. Now I don’t know if this is true. It’s only hearsay, however, if it is true, I can’t blame anyone for not going there to confess. This is the kind of thing I was afraid I’d encounter being a new Catholic.

It’s hard enough to gather the courage and say your sins out loud to someone, but to make someone feel unforgiven or unacceptable because they have finally decided to confess is despicable to me and makes me sad.

Just saying.
 
I went to Confession once at my parish, and I was the last in line, with only two people in front of me.

I go regularly to a parish near my workplace, and they offer Confession after their noon Mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This parish has a priest and an associate pastor available. Even with two priests, the line usually takes about an hour to finish. There must be about 20 people in line, sometimes more.

That is one line I do not mind being at the end of. 😃
 
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