Do you prefer Confessing face to face or through a private confessional grid/screen?

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I prefer to be behind a screen. However, if I visited another country, I suppose there would be no real choice because the screen is often no more than open lattice work so the priest can see you anyway.
 
gabrielcannizzo said:
We were discussing on the positive and negative points of confessing your sins face to face (to God through) the Priest and doing it through a private confessional grid/screen.
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I’ve done both. If you prefer a screen, but have no choice of but face-to-face, just close your eyes. Allow the Holy Spirit to deepen into your heart and soul. And reveal your sins. That helps in Confession. I think early Christians didn’t have it so good. And they had to Confess their sins in front of everyone back in the day. The point of Confession is so people come for help and rely on God’s mercy. Never to be sent away. Sure, it’s hard. Quite a difficult road and challenge to get their. The soul often ruptured by grave/mortal sin is impressed with fear, doubt, and sometimes self hatred. That’s because, like Judas Iscariot, falls into despair. Being in mortal sin, but not completely dead yet, is like someone hanging between life and death, but can resuscitated: C (Confession), P (Penance), R (Reconciliation.) Thus, why grave sin leaves us hanging in the balance.
 
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Through the screen if I just have to confess sins, if I want advice, I’ll go face-to-face.
 
Screen. When I use the screen, the priests spend more time thinking and they exercise a great deal more charity. They’re much, much more accurate when they can’t see me. I’ve developed a deep appreciation for this.
 
My parish offers both options. You walk into a small, private room and see a screen and kneeler, but you can bypass it and sit in a comfortable chair facing our priest. I choose the latter, (priests have heard everything. Everything!), but having both options makes the sacrament more welcoming to the broader public.
 
Face to face. I’m a recent convert and have no experience with screens. I don’t look at the priest’s face when saying my confession (and have encountered a number that will raise their hand to their face and deliberately not meet my eyes, which I quite like), but I will look at them when they are offering counsel and find it a little more comforting if it’s been a difficult confession or I’m having a difficult time.

I actually am leery to go to some of the old churches for confession because I don’t want to have to use the old confessionals.
 
I’ll add one more benefit of the standard confessional (priest in the middle, penitent on each side):

By the time I get up from the kneeler and exit the confessional, the priest is already in the midst of hearing the next penitent’s confession. No waiting for me to leave so someone else can enter.

I realize that speed is not the primary consideration, but the more people who can make use of the sacrament, the better. If all or most of the parish confessed at least monthly, the lines would be even longer.

(By standard confessional, I don’t mean old style cramped and dark. Ours are well list and completely anonymous.)
 
JimG said:
I’ll add one more benefit of the standard confessional (priest in the middle, penitent on each side):

By the time I get up from the kneeler and exit the confessional, the priest is already in the midst of hearing the next penitent’s confession. No waiting for me to leave so someone else can enter.
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How does this work so that you don’t hear the other person’s confession? Just curious; I am not familiar with this style of confessional.
 
EnglishTeacher said:
How does this work so that you don’t hear the other person’s confession? Just curious; I am not familiar with this style of confessional.
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The screen /grille is covered by an opaque curtain, but behind the curtain is a small sliding door on the priest’s side. When one confession is finished, the priest slides the door closed on that side, then turns to the other side and opens that slide.

And with the door closed the person exiting the other side cannot hear. Another penitent enters the empty side and waits for the slide on his side to open. He can not hear what is being said by or to the other penitent.
 
I prefer the screen, unless I also need some counseling, when I choose to sit face-to-face. I liked the old confessional booths. In our church the confessional is not old-school. It is a room with a screen divider. You can step around it and sit in a chair, face-to-face. Or, you can enter through the door and dive right down onto the kneeler before the screen. To be honest, I wish the divider/screen was bigger, because I suspect that the priest might see you as you enter the room but before you are obscured by the screen.
 
Edward_H said:
Maybe examine on the vice of sarcasm this week, prepping for Saturday. Just a thought.
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I was going for ironic, which is a legitimate linguistic device, in order to make a point. Apparently, I missed the mark.

My point is this, to be more direct:

This thread asked for an opinion and you offered yours as if it is an incontrovertible fact, completely discounting the equally legitimate opinions of those who differ from you, all Eastern Christians, Catholic and Orthodox alike, as well as the Christians who presumably made good confessions (direct, sincere, and excuse-free) for the 1,550 (approximately) years that Christians were making Confessions before St. Charles Borromeo invented the confessional.

If a screen works best for you, I’m glad to hear it. My experience is different.
 
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JimG said:
(By standard confessional, I don’t mean old style cramped and dark. Ours are well list and completely anonymous.)
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If I were a fan of confessionals, these would be the perfect design. It is modern, yet timeless. It is bright and roomy, as well as accesible to the disabled. It’s translucent windows offer both privacy and accountability. It is in a stunningly beautiful Cathedral where confessions are heard every day of the week.
 
I don’t mind either face to face or private anymore…it’s always such a relief and its Jesus I’m thinking of .
 
Edward_H said:
The screen is overall better…more sincerity…directness…less excuse making wants to come out.
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I prefer face-to-face and have no problem whatsoever with being sincere or direct, and I don’t make excuses.
 
God knows whether we’re truly being sincere in Confession, face to face, or behind the screen.

We’re pretty bad judges of our own sincerity.
 
…however you seem to be setting yourself up as a better judge of our sincerity based on whether or not we use a screen in confession?
 
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