Decreasing Reconciliation Offerings at Parishes?

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Our parish does this before Mass as well. Fortunately, for most Sunday Masses, there are two priests, and one will usually stay in the confessional right up until, or after communion. It’s a fairly long Mass, so there is usually time.
 
Fuerza said:
Most parishes in my diocese have confessions for one hour on Saturday, and some are by appointment only. My parish has confessions on Saturday and for half an hour before the TLM on Sunday. However, we also have a Franciscan chapel that offers confession about 5 hours per day six days a week. That’s where I usually go.
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We have a Jesuit parish something less than that. A treasure for our city. But that order has very few vocations, so…
 
Well yah. It is quite amazing how much it has dropped off since 1965. Any theories on why?(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
The past two parishes I’ve regularly attended (I move location a lot) there has been daily or almost-daily Confession, although this isn’t the norm of parishes in New Mexico. It’s usually once a week, Saturday afternoon.

I’m not sure to what extent this is because of priests’ scheduling. We do have a good bit of missionary priests from Nigeria and a few other places. All of the priests at these parishes consider Reconciliation a front and center part of their ministry.

Confession is regularly celebrated by people at these parishes where Confession is offered frequently. I really do think “if you built it, they will come” is a major factor in it.
 
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I feel very blessed. The cathedral offers confession for 5 hours on Thursday. I once thanked the priest for being there every Thursday and he said he was being selfish 🤷‍♀️ He really loves that sacrament.

I forgot to add that for people that work a normal M-F schedule confession is offered for 2 hours on Saturday
 
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I’ve got a church nearby that does daily confessions after the morning mass and also afternoon confessions three times during the week and also on Saturday and Sunday.

If that’s not enough to satiate my need for confession I can always drive down to the Cathedral and have my confession heard before any Mass.
 
Our local Jesuit parish has by far the most confessions for the diocese, along with daily adoration.

There are about 66 Jesuit parishes in the US. The Jesuits USA have posted online the criteria for which parishes will be maintained. “Having lots of confessions” or Adoration are not priority criteria, and our
local parish does not especially meet the stated criteria (lots of young adults, lots of minorities, heavy social services agencies).

So I fear for this parish, since the diocese says it lacks priests to take it over.
 
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Our parish stareddaily confession (except Sundays) about 10 years ago. Bigg success, lines every evening.
The other parishes close to us all now offer confessions at least twice a week, and one of them three times a week.
 
commenter said:
I wish they would have confessions after Mass.
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Margaret_Ann said:
If one is in the state of mortal sin one must go to confession before receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion.
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Not everyone going to confession has mortal sins on their soul. And one is not required to receive Holy Communion at mass.

Confessions after mass could be quite beneficial as far as timing is concerned.
 
mikmac09 said:
I’ve noticed especially within the last 5 years or so, that most of my local parishes are not offering confession anymore, or if they do, it’s not nearly as often as it used to be.
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I’m curious where you live, as I know some areas are experiencing a priest shortage that is at crisis levels.

I live in a big metropolitan area (Denver) so we have access to a large number of parishes. My experience is the complete opposite of yours. Most (not all) offer confession times more than once a week, and several offer confession times daily.
 
On the other hand, I know of two places (CA and CO) that offer Sacrament of Reconciliation daily (Monday to Saturday).
 
My parish has Confession 4 times a week. There is a college chapel in town that has it 6 days a week (when school is in session). All the nearby parishes have Confession scheduled at least once a week.

It depends where you live and what diocese you are in. Some bishops mandate that their priests have a scheduled block of time for Confession every week.

I do understand that many priests cancel the scheduled time because no one ever shows up. I still think that’s a mistake, though. Priests can pray through the Liturgy of the Hours, or catch up on email on their phone, or do some homily prep or something. It’s not like the time they are sitting there goes to waste even if no one shows up.
 
Joe_5859 said:
I do understand that many priests cancel the scheduled time because no one ever shows up. I still think that’s a mistake, though. Priests can pray through the Liturgy of the Hours, or catch up on email on their phone, or do some homily prep or something. It’s not like the time they are sitting there goes to waste even if no one shows up.
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I’ve always said that you can’t keep telling everyone “God forgives you everything” without adding that you must repent and confess and expect anyone to grace the confessional.

That happened in my parish a few Pastors ago. All we heard was that no matter what we do God forgives us. Not once were repentance and confession mentioned. Then the weekly scheduled confession time was cancelled because “I’m not sitting there wasting my time when nobody comes”. Is it any wonder that no one availed of the sacrament??
 
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Gertabelle said:
I’m curious where you live, as I know some areas are experiencing a priest shortage that is at crisis levels.

I live in a big metropolitan area (Denver) so we have access to a large number of parishes. My experience is the complete opposite of yours. Most (not all) offer confession times more than once a week, and several offer confession times daily.
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Can’t speak for mikmac, but here in Quebec it’s a bit of a wasteland for confession depending on where you are. In my rural parish, there is no formal confession time; if you’re lucky and arrive early you can catch the priest before Mass. One priest usually has to cover two and sometimes three Masses on a Sunday (including Saturday evening), and parishes are spread out over quite an area, usually a 20 km drive, sometimes more, from one church to the other. Throw in sick calls (ours is an aging population as well), and it’s hard to pin them down. We’re extremely fortunate that a couple of retired priests sometimes help out when they can.

That said, I usually attend Mass at the abbey, and confession is available before Sunday Mass for a half an hour. I try to arrive early when I need the sacrament, in order to be the first in line. Being an abbey, many folks turn up who are in a bit of personal difficulty and can turn the confessional into something of a spiritual direction/psychology session. I know the confessor, and often see him arriving at Mass well after it has started, as he won’t turn anyone away until they’re finished. So I’ve been caught in situations where I can’t confess. However, the monks will send a priest to hear anyone’s confession at anytime, if someone shows up needing the sacrament; just ask the porter and he’ll find a priest.

For folks who have some kind of religious community nearby, that may be a good option. Their priests have valid orders, they can hear confessions and absolve!

In Montreal, it’s easier, daily confession is just a bus ticket away, at places like St. Joseph’s Oratory which had confession daily, at, I believe, around 2 or 3 pm (I’d have to look it up, too lazy!)
 
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We have a local parish that was forced to cut confession times on Saturday to one hour from two hours because they became a one-priest parish. This parish always has lines for confession and they cut the hour from 7-8 pm on Saturdays, which was very convenient.

On the positive side, I’ve noticed more parishes offering confession times on weekday evenings, which is very much needed. It makes little sense for every parish in the area to offer confession on Saturday from 4-5 if they want to be able to reach the widest number of people. I live in a suburban area that has several Catholic Churches. We now have, within a 10-minute drive, confession available on Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, Tuesday evening and Thursday evening. The Cathedral downtown (about a 20 minute drive) offers confession daily before the noon Mass. The FSSP parish is a bit further, but they offer Confession daily and the priests are often around for unscheduled confession. My own parish has confession on Sunday mornings and before every scheduled service, but Father is also more than happy to hear confessions if you just ask. I feel extraordinarily blessed when I read about the experiences in some regions.
 
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Gertabelle said:
That Abbey just sounds amazing! 💕
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It is! But like many communities in my part of the world, vocations have been rather dry in the last few years and the youngest monk is 38. The average age is now around 70 I believe. So please pray for vocations.
 
Gertabelle said:
That Abbey just sounds amazing! 💕
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It is! I made a special trip to the town nearby just so I could go to the Liturgy of the Hours at that Abbey. Attended Evening Prayer, Matins, Morning Prayer, Mass, Evening Prayer, and Compline. It was a wonderful experience!

Am hoping to return in the not too distant future.
 
I live in close driving distance of a few dozen parishes. If I want to go to confession on Saturday about 3 PM I have dozens of choices. If I want to go some weekday I have one choice. If I want to go at night during the week, I can wait till Advent or Lent, unless I make a special request, which I suspect few would do.

The same is true for daily Mass. I have dozens of choices at 8:30 AM. Not otherwise.

I wish parishes would coordinate with each other
 
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