Discussion on having Sunday confessions

[pprimeau1976]

Is it set in stone that Saturdays are for confession? Do you know of any parishes that have moved confession to Sundays, like in between masses or after mass.

I have heard that reception of communion is okay if you confess your mortal sins either before or at the most opportune time after.

Since Holy Days of obligation have been moved to the nearest Sunday in some places, has anyone ever thought of moving Confession to Sundays or introducing Sunday confessions? People who go to church are there already, why not encourage them to stay a few minutes later and confess?

Then again…this could be a bad idea. Afterall, I’m not a priest.

 

[lizaanne]

Our parish has Confession prior to every Mass on Sunday. I love that! And there are never a lack for folks standing in the queue. It’s so nice to see so many people taking advantage of the Sacraments.

~Liza

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Is it set in stone that Saturdays are for confession? Do you know of any parishes that have moved confession to Sundays, like in between masses or after mass.

I have heard that reception of communion is okay if you confess your mortal sins either before or at the most opportune time after.

Since Holy Days of obligation have been moved to the nearest Sunday in some places, has anyone ever thought of moving Confession to Sundays or introducing Sunday confessions? People who go to church are there already, why not encourage them to stay a few minutes later and confess?

Then again…this could be a bad idea. Afterall, I’m not a priest.

Confession before Mass on Sundays, use to be a common thing.

With the lack of priest these days, I seriously doubt you’ll see a return across the board.

Jim

 

[djrakowski]

Our parish offers confession 30 minutes prior to each Mass (including 6am daily Mass, Monday through Saturday), and between 10am and noon on Sunday. Father came over for dinner a few weeks ago, and we calculated the number of times confession is offered each week, and it came to 27 (3x on M, W, F; 4x on Tu, Th, and Sat; and 6x on Sunday).

I last went to confession before the 9am Mass on Memorial Day. There were two priests hearing confessions, and I wasn’t the only one there.

BTW, pprimeau, I’ve just noticed that you’re in southeast Michigan. You may not be very far from my parish, so if you need to confess and the times offered at yours are inconvenient, let me know and I’ll give you directions on how to get there.

 

[pprimeau1976]

Our parish offers confession 30 minutes prior to each Mass (including 6am daily Mass, Monday through Saturday), and between 10am and noon on Sunday. Father came over for dinner a few weeks ago, and we calculated the number of times confession is offered each week, and it came to 27 (3x on M, W, F; 4x on Tu, Th, and Sat; and 6x on Sunday).

I last went to confession before the 9am Mass on Memorial Day. There were two priests hearing confessions, and I wasn’t the only one there.

BTW, pprimeau, I’ve just noticed that you’re in southeast Michigan. You may not be very far from my parish, so if you need to confess and the times offered at yours are inconvenient, let me know and I’ll give you directions on how to get there.

I go see the Capuchins at St. Bonaventures. They do confessions every hour on the hour! Then I can pray next to Solanus Casey!

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I have heard that reception of communion is okay if you confess your mortal sins either before or at the most opportune time after.

That’s not my understanding. From the Catechism:

1385
To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.

 

[djrakowski]

I go see the Capuchins at St. Bonaventures. They do confessions every hour on the hour! Then I can pray next to Solanus Casey!

Wow, I didn’t know that about them! And, here I was, thinking our parish offered more times for confession than just about anyone!

 

[acadian]

Our parish has the 30 minutes on Saturday, plus 15 minutes before the 4 daily Masses offered each week. There is a nearby parish, though, that would also offer confessions AFTER Sunday Masses - a different Mass each weekend. I always thought that was a good idea. I can understand that before Mass would be better, but when it’s all on one priest…

 

[LilyM]

That’s not my understanding. From the Catechism:

1385
To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.

:yup: the only exception would be a very grave or urgent reason. Something like if it’s the priest himself who is in mortal sin, is required to celebrate Sunday Mass (and thus required himself to take Communion in order for the Mass to be valid) but has no opportunity to confess before he does.

 

[Lucania]

My Church offers confession before every Mass, Sunday through Saturday. I don’t know of another Parish in my Diocese that has it daily , most confessions are on Saturday & usually before the Vigil Mass. I love being able to go to confession before Mass on Sunday or any other day.

 

[LilyM]

Lucky I’m within range of one church with loads of daily confession hours, another with Monday through Saturday confessions and a third with Tuesday through Saturday. One of the perks of living in a big city I guess

 

[Lucania]

Lucky I’m within range of one church with loads of daily confession hours, another with Monday through Saturday confessions and a third with Tuesday through Saturday. One of the perks of living in a big city I guess

In our case, there is no excuse not to make it to confession!

 

[Kelly]

Our parish offers confession before all the masses, daily (2/Day) and Sunday. So, there is no excuse not to go at our parish either.

 

[txangel]

Our parish offers Confession for about 45 minutes before our Sunday evening Life Teen Mass. However, we have confessions every day, following each of our 3 daily masses ( Mon - Fri) and on Saturday afternoon for an hour. No excuse for anyone not being able to get to confession. And this is with only 2 permanent priests and occasional assistance from the Basilian Fathers housed close to our church.

How truly blessed we are at St T’s.

 

[Patchunky]

Our parish has Confession prior to every Mass on Sunday. I love that! And there are never a lack for folks standing in the queue. It’s so nice to see so many people taking advantage of the Sacraments

Except when it causes the Divine Liturgy to be late in starting.

We have a family in my parish that are “refugees”; i.e. they come to my Ruthenian Rite parish because they don’t want to go to their own Latin Rite parish, HOWEVER, they don’t attend when there is a TLM in the area…

Anyway, our Divine Liturgy starts at 9:15. EVERY SUNDAY, at 9:10, the husband decides it time go to confession and then the wife goes after him. There have even been times when the wife has attended alone and has called to our priest as he was beginning the incensing for the start of the Divine Liturgy, so she could go to confesson.

THIS HAPPENS EVERY SUNDAY THEY ATTEND DIVINE LITURGY.

There are times when our Divine Liturgy doesn’t start until 9:30 or later. This is becoming a problem when we have Sunday school immediately after the Divine Liturgy and we have families that drive over an hour EACH WAY just to attend Divine Liturgy.

We’re hoping to get a “Traditional” Ruthenian priest who will actually prepare the Holy Gifts as is tradition and put a stop to all this last minute confession nonsense!

Sorry to vent…

 

[pprimeau1976]

Here’s an interesting thought. In cases where mass is about to start, could the priest give a general absolution before mass if he makes certain that they confess afterwards?

 

[LilyM]

Except when it causes the Divine Liturgy to be late in starting.

We have a family in my parish that are “refugees”; i.e. they come to my Ruthenian Rite parish because they don’t want to go to their own Latin Rite parish, HOWEVER, they don’t attend when there is a TLM in the area…

Anyway, our Divine Liturgy starts at 9:15. EVERY SUNDAY, at 9:10, the husband decides it time go to confession and then the wife goes after him. There have even been times when the wife has attended alone and has called to our priest as he was beginning the incensing for the start of the Divine Liturgy, so she could go to confesson.

THIS HAPPENS EVERY SUNDAY THEY ATTEND DIVINE LITURGY.

There are times when our Divine Liturgy doesn’t start until 9:30 or later. This is becoming a problem when we have Sunday school immediately after the Divine Liturgy and we have families that drive over an hour EACH WAY just to attend Divine Liturgy.

We’re hoping to get a “Traditional” Ruthenian priest who will actually prepare the Holy Gifts as is tradition and put a stop to all this last minute confession nonsense!

Sorry to vent…

Quite OK - I’d be venting too in such a situation. Very inconsiderate of them.

As for giving a general absolution - no. In short these should be reserved only for real emergencies, as in situations where people would have to wait a long time (not just till the next weekend) for the next chance to confess.

For one thing there’s really no way the priest can make sure that they DO stick around after Mass and confess properly.

 

[Teakafrog]

I used to be in a parish where the priest did confession before every single mass. It was wonderful! And there was always a line. You just knew if you showed up 15 min early, you could go before mass. I wish ALL priests would do this. In another parish I know of, they do it an hour before the noon daily mass, and again, always a line of people waiting.

 

[jc-servant]

I used to be in a parish where the priest did confession before every single mass. It was wonderful! And there was always a line. You just knew if you showed up 15 min early, you could go before mass. I wish ALL priests would do this. In another parish I know of, they do it an hour before the noon daily mass, and again, always a line of people waiting.

The problem is that a confession can randomly take longer than 15 minutes which leaves the priest no time to vest and prepare himself to celebrate the liturgy. He cannot exactly give someone a time limit and say 3 minutes and then I’m out of here. He should not have to run to the sacristy with no time to pray or compose himself and the 1000+ folks waiting in church should not be left waiting for one last minute confession.

Our pastor finally moved the Saturday afternoon confessions from 3:30 or so to after 8am mass because the lines were so long and people kept running in at the last minute. He would have to cut off the line when it was about 15 minutes before mass.

We also have confessions during the week by appointment and an open time all Tuesday evening. I think anyone who cannot make the regular times needs to take some initiative and call for an appointment or drive to a nearby parish. We have so many places around in my area that there is not much excuse for failing to go even without Sunday confessions.

 

[Brendan]

Is it set in stone that Saturdays are for confession? Do you know of any parishes that have moved confession to Sundays, like in between masses or after mass.

Our parish offers Confession 1/2 hour before every Mass, weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with a 2 hour offering Sat afternoons.