First confession

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We have our first confessions on Holy Thursday … something they haven’t told us yet, what are the guidelines for face to face confession versus behind the screen?
 
Although I do not choose to do face to face often, the only difference is in face to face, you can walk in, look at the priest say hi how are you, do a little small talk and then say okay, bow your head and things proceed just as if it were behind a screen.

And Congratulations! You are about to experience a wonderful miracle of God!

God Bless,
Maria
 
Well, you get to pick which you want. The priest will wait while you decide to sit face to face or to kneel behind the screen/curtain. Once you are settled, the same prayers and words are said in either situation, but sometimes I find that face to face the priest and I have an impasse as to who talks first. This doesn’t matter in the least, however!😃 Also, if you are face to face you might find that it seems right to shake his hand when you leave or it can happen that the rare priest will actually touch the top of your head with his hands when doing the absolution. If you are behind the screen, this can’t happen.

Don’t worry! Since it is your first time, tell the father that right away in the place where you are usually instructed to tell him how long it has been since your last confession. He’ll help you along. Ask him what to do next at any point, if you like. They will usually prompt you to make your act of contrition when they are done giving you advice, etc.
 
They both work just fine. I have done both and I personally prefer behind the screen simply because in this case (and maybe other confessionals are different, I don’t know), I kneel, rather than just sit there and it helps put me in a better state of mind. And, the screen is kind of a reminder to me of how sins separate us from God. I just feel a bit more reverent that way, and stay focused on the purpose and wonder of Confession (I’m pretty social, so if I am just sitting there with the priest, I start having totally unrelated conversation with him, and I would rather confine socializing to social time, and confessing to Reconciliation time). However, both are fine, and you just have to figure out which is the best way for you.

Eamon
 
Tx guys. Sounds like kneeling behind the screen is more reverential and allows you to concentrate better.
 
I had my first confession last weekend (phew!!), and it was pretty cool. I mean, it was overwhelming, but I felt so great afterwards 🙂

I chose to sit and talk to the priest face to face. This was difficult when mentioning particularly embarassing sins, but I think it was worth it.

I do kinda think the kneeling is a good idea, but I didn’t think of that nor was I aware of that before going in, and I had already decided to do face-to-face. The priest I confessed to is definitely my favorite. He’s a great listener. Great, GREAT listener and always has something helpful to say in response. He’s also got a really cool English accent, which I just love to hear, heh. I love his homilies, probably partly for that reason 🙂

-Michael
 
For those with both a preference for face-to-face Confession and for kneeling, since a first confession is likely to be long, you can sit for the confession itself but kneel to receive absolution. Just a thought.
 
I just did my first confession last night at our Parish Penance Service. I went face to face and it has been 17 years since my baptism. I was very nervous going in. I was there for awhile and the priest was so great, completely put me at ease. I realize that God’s love for me is so great that my mind can’t really comprehend it. I

Saturday Easter Vigil can’t get here quick enough
 
I just did my first confession 8 days ago. We did it as a community- a Lenten Penance Service.
 
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