Confessional Not Soundproof?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carolyn_Lee
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Carolyn_Lee

Guest
I am very new to the confessional. I went to confession the other day and I forgot to wear my hearing aids. When I don’t wear hearing aids, I talk loud because I don’t realize the volume. But I was really taken aback when someone later mentioned to me that he could hear my confession in the church itself. I was in the confessional with all the doors closed. Has this ever happened to you?
 
Different Churches have different confessionals, so it can vary greatly. At my own parish, the confessionals are pretty soundproof. I’ve never heard any noise at all coming from them. At the other parish down the road, the confessional is basically just a side room off the entrance vestibule. So if someone is confessing particularly loudly, you can definitely hear it. I can never make out the actual words because I make it a point not to. But I can hear voices speaking.
 
Last edited:
I can often hear what folks are saying inside the confessional. I just keep praying and concentrate on myself, rather than trying to listen. I would think others do the same.
 
I was at the Sacrament of Reconcilliation a few weeks back, it’s in a small open room with no door. The Bishop Emeritus was hearing confessions , then celebrating mass, EF mass,

I was speaking a bit loud. He told me to speak a little quieter.
Those waiting pray a loud Rosary. The church is an old stone building, the walls are thick, the acoustics excellent.
 
Last edited:
Many of the old confessionals are definitely not soundproof. Some of them only have a curtain across the spot where you kneel or sit to confess, they don’t even have a full door. Those sitting outside can sometimes hear a person who is in there talking loudly and if that happens, the etiquette is for the person sitting outside to move away from the confessional and try to sit far enough away that you don’t accidentally overhear things.

One time, the man ahead of me in the confession line had obviously gotten into some argument in there with the priest, who was kind of lecturing/ yelling at him. I had to sit a ways away in the church so I wouldn’t hear anything I shouldn’t.
 
Last edited:
Yeah I tend to make confessions just a little louder than a whisper.
Our confessional is definitely not soundproof…
 
This is all very well for those with good hearing and low voices.
 
Carmelite1983 said:
Yeah I tend to make confessions just a little louder than a whisper.
Click to expand...
Me too. I, and the priest, try to speak quietly. I can hear people in the onfessional but it sounds like mumbling, unless maybe it’s because I try to not listen.
 
Last edited:
Our confessional is a small room with two chairs. More soundproofed than the wooden “boxes”, but not great. I keep my voice down, and when I hear someone in it, focus on my own thoughts. That’s the way to go.
 
Our confessional is in a room with a door, but it’s not terribly sound-proof. During confession times, a cd of classical hymns or chants is played on a cd player placed on a windowsill near those standing in line. It’s not played loudly, but it helps to mask the voices from the confessional.
 
With all the stories being told about how people could hear confessions from outside, I would just like to remind everyone that, if you happens to hear something from someone’s confession, we’re bound by the seal of confession in that case, and we can’t repeat it. Not that I think anyone here would, just saying.
 
semper_catholicus said:
With all the stories being told about how people could hear confessions from outside, I would just like to remind everyone that, if you happens to hear something from someone’s confession, we’re bound by the seal of confession in that case, and we can’t repeat it.
Click to expand...
I never knew that until maybe a month or so ago.
 
I do not know if anyone has heard my confession but I have heard the priest and penitent in the process of confession before. I did not hear the sins confessed but I still felt uncomfortable lol. I just purposely started rustling the pages on my prayer book to drown it out.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top