How can people be drawn back to the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

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@ChemicalBean, let me see whether I can put this in better terms. I wouldn’t use the word “emotional” to describe my immediate experience. I would use the term “enthusiasm” in its original Greek meaning “possessed by a god’s essence.” I am emotional looking at the back at the experience. But it’s not like tearing up over a romance novel, if that makes sense.
 
To be honest, we should borrow a page from the playbook of St. John Vianney; the patron saint of parish priests, and a man known to have spent up to 18 hours a day in the confessional.

John preached OFTEN and, to be quite honest, very AGGRESSIVELY, about how sinful people were.

He preached about sin and temptation and Hell regularly. He went beyond conventional wisdom and went into taverns and dance halls to tell people they were sinners (even though drinking and dancing were not, and still aren’t, sinful per se).

And what did that aggressive preaching accomplish? People came back to Church in droves. Confessional lines wrapped around his little parish church. And John stayed in the confessional as long as it took.
You see, John felt that if the flock responded to his forceful, prophetic, preaching about sin — then he would certainly put his money where his mouth was, and stay in the confessional until every last sinner was heard from.
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And so the fiery preacher was a gentle, loving shepherd inside the confessional. And that’s why he is such a role model to priests today.

Deacon Christopher
 
Offering confession for more than 30 to 60 minutes per week would be a nice start.
 
That is way to short. I am helping in the sacristy in my parish and am asked at least 3 times every single time I am in the church where the priest is. I often reply that if they can’t see the priest in the church building then he is hearing confessions. My guess is that he hears confessions for a minimum of 7 hours/week. These are just the times when I know he is usually hearing confessions before and after Mass.
 
I have a priest who includes encouragement to go to confession very often in his homilies .I also have another priest who never mentions it .
I think ,even when it’s awkward, keep going no matter what …so often we are an example without being aware of it .
Sometimes Ive asked for confession before mass ,or after and anther person has also lined up .
(hope this made some sense :sweat_smile:bedtime…)
 
I used to love going to confession but recently feel that I will miss out on Heaven anyway so why bother? I don’t believe I am in mortal sin at the moment but I don’t think that is enough anyway.
 
This is the pattern I’ve seen in the past 4-5 years:

Most Catholic parishes offer the Sacrament one day a week. Reconciliation is infrequently celebrated at these parishes.

Occasionally there is a parish that offers the Sacrament more often than that. At the cathedral in Las Cruces, it is offered 15 minutes before daily Mass in addition to on the weekend before Saturday vigil. I would guestimate that probably 5 times as many people take advantage of the Sacrament at that parish compared to the average parish.

And that’s that.

IMO most of the allegedly "big questions" facing the Church are just common sense. Like the vocation crisis. There is no mysterious formula behind it. Probably 80-90% of Catholic priests come out of orthodox, loving families. Vocation crisis in marriage = vocation crisis in priests.
 
I believe the priest needs to have a “if you build it, they will come” attitude. My parish priest is a wonderful, intelligent, and humble servant. Confession is available for 2 hours every Saturday morning, and the priest (if possible) will stay as long as the line lasts; frequently for 3 hours.

Confession is available even longer hours on First Saturdays and he’ll be in the confessional 40 minutes before the official start time because the early birds will line up then. I’ve noticed that he now is offering confessions on Friday morning before the school Mass and I’m sure it’ll be added to the bulletin shortly to make it official. One weeknight a week, 4 hours of confession is offered at his other church during Adoration. I’ve been in line when Father enters the church through the back or from his office and he walks to the confessional with his head down and his gaze averted so as to not see who is standing in line.

It makes me pity those churches where I see the bulletin only offering confessions for 15-30 minutes before Mass on Saturdays and Sundays. Who wants to stand in line with a church full of people looking at them while they hope and pray to get into the confessional before Mass starts?
 
I think people are afraid, that’s the nitty gritty of it. Most Catholics know deep inside that confession is good for them and that they should go in the way you know you shouldn’t eat too much fat and you should watch your cholesterol etc. But they probably won’t listen to you if ‘lecture them’ much the same as they wont listen to their doctor on eating well and exercising. The devil has been telling lies in their ear, probably that they do enough, that they have plenty of time, that they are good people, they go to mass sometimes, they dont need it etc. What people don’t realise is that the devil doesnt always tempt us to do outright evil things, sometimes just less good things to start with, like any of those things above, which are (or could be) all lies. Then once they start listening to the devil and don’t go, they get a few sins notched up and it’s harder and then a few more lies from the devil like that the priest will tell them off, or that God won’t forgive them, or that something is too embarrassing to say etc. then before you know it time passes. Then people think, why bother, another devils trick.
Very sad indeed. They forget that God is calling them to do His will which is go to confession and that it gets easier each time. All of heaven is rejoicing when they go into the confessional… isnt that something. Who doesnt want to make heaven rejoice? Who doesn’t want to do God’s will? It’s tough when you keep on doing soemthing over and over again for sure. But it is still better to keep on crawling into the confessional and begging for his mercy then not. I find that if you ask for Gods help to get you to confession when you are afraid, He really does provide it, often in amazing ways.
 
TenEleven said:
Who wants to stand in line with a church full of people looking at them while they hope and pray to get into the confessional before Mass starts?
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That is the worse thing especially when the priest turns you away because he needs to say Mass, even worse when a second priest greets people at the door who isn’t saying mass but could finish confession.
 
@Bluebright, I agree with your post. The world distracts many of us, including myself, into ignoring our connection with God.
 
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in my opinion, more than the sacrament of penance, it is the virtue of penance (which always includes the desire to have access to the sacrament) which is the most important. If, for example, in your agony, you remember a mortal sin not yet confessed, and there are no priests near you to give you absolution, only the exercise of the virtue of penance, may to save you.
And to exercise the virtue of penitence on your deathbed, you should already have had the habit of exercising it during your lifetime
 
It’s a remarkably beautiful and powerful Sacrament.

I think if people understood the “levels” of reconciliation that occur through Sacramental Confession they’d be regulars at it.

We reconcile with God
We reconcile with the whole Church
We reconcile with those we injured (via penance, acts of reparation)
We reconcile “interiorly”…our will, body, heart, intellect all have to be brought into a single ordered action (that occurs in a particular time and place) in order to go through Sacramental Confession.

Our will has to tell the body…it’s time, let’s move to Confession (spurring on unity).
Our intellect is tasked by the will to “form words” to express one’s sins and contrition (unity).
The intellect compares criteria in the conscience with the reality of one’s behavior and the gap now is named/identified (spurring on a movement toward unity within our intellect, which is where our conscience operates from/resides).
Our heart is stirred up in our act of contrition, now desiring to seek the true good once again (unity).

There is, thus, “interior reconciliation”, and thus serenity restored with the faculties of our soul.

It’s a most rich and helpful Sacrament.
 
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In recent years they talk a lot about how Confession is not “unfriendly”, non confrontational, not shameful, not painful, essentially harmless. But they give no reason why one ought to go to Confess in the first place. There are lots of painless harmless things I don’t bother with.

Religious educators and preachers seldom talk about Sin as actions people like me often choose to do. When they teach about evil it’s Peace and Justice: we confess large corporations, governments, military, or Inequality - Other People. We don’t learn about real sins, the kinds of things you and I sometimes choose to do.

Change the name away from Reconciliation, which few understand, back to Confession.
 
Regular 45 minute sermons on hell will get them into the confessional.
 
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njlisa said:
Dear Friends in Christ:

I was received into the Catholic Church 27 years ago. I readily accepted the Sacrament of Reconciliation with great joy. When the priest pardons my sin, I’m ready to start over with confidence in God’s forgiveness.

Over the years, as I understand it, some Catholics no longer embrace this sacrament. What can be done to bring Catholics to the joy of Reconciliation?
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I think top of the list is education. Too many Catholics have let their faith slip away. Jesus instituted ALL the sacraments because we need them. Too many people dumb down sin. Or they tell themselves that mortal sin is no different than any other sin, so they don’t prioritize going to confession to get rid of mortal sin on their soul. Thus Homilies should be opportunities for such moments to educate the masses.

One scripture passage I find most helpful in getting someone’s attention is 1 Jn 5:16-17 One can’t depend on prayer for the forgiveness of mortal sin. “Perfect contrition” can’t be presumed. That’s why we need the sacrament.
 
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