How many receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

[christofirst]

I go to confession every week, sometimes every other week, and I need it. I see the same 10 or so people in line at my parish, but quite often a few different people and families. And the time I go is not the only time reconciliation is offered at my parish, so I’m sure there are more. Whether other people think they need confession or not does not change my own need for grace and forgiveness.

 

[ajecphotos]

Depends which parish i visit but the one i go to regularly has a good few for confession. I never used to go myself. These days i go quite regularly. Once or twice a month sometimes!! I cant bear having a soiled soul!! I want to have a pure soul for God!

 

[OraLabora]

I go to Mass at a Benedictine abbey and they have confession for 1/2 hr before Mass. It’s sporadic, sometimes there’s a line, sometimes none.

 

[GangGreen]

Depends where you go. Some places I see maybe one or two people going to confession. Most times there’s no one else in the church during confession time.

Other places I see quite a few people on line every time. One church nearby has confession every day (after 12:00 Mass) and there’s usually at least a few people on line.

I personally try to go once every week or two or at the minimum as soon as possible when I know I’ve committed a grave sin.

I do think that the timing of confession can be part of it. I know many places have confession right before Saturday evening Mass. This is fine for those who go on Saturday, but not many places offer confession on Sundays. Also, not many places offer confession AFTER Mass when everyone is already in the church. If you offer confession before Mass, you’ll have to assume that people will get there early for confession. Most people don’t do this, people typically get there last minute to begin with. If you offer confession after Mass, then at least the person is there already.

 

[Mary_Ellen]

My parish of 3 churches/3,000 families offers 6 scheduled opportunities for Confessions so I don’t know how many are standing in line for most of those occasions. I’ve never seen more than 10 at any one place and most of the time there are 0-4 people standing behind me (I always get there early so that I’m first in line) each week. This past weekend I was a bit surprised as it was First Saturday and there was no one else there.

I’m sure the lack of folks in line at the Confessional is due in a large part to what Pope Pius XII, said to the United States Catechetical Congress in Boston in 1948, that “the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” Pope Saint John Paul II echoed these words in his Apostolic Exhortation, “Reconciliation & Penance” vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_02121984_reconciliatio-et-paenitentia_en.html, and Pope Francis has recently said them as well. We continue to be influenced by an increasingly secular society and hold ourselves up to its standards rather than God’s standards. It’s an “I’m OK, You’re OK” world we live in and such a world does not tolerate the idea of sin much less the need to confess it. As Christians, we are have a higher calling.

 

[lutheran_farmer]

I could make a fortune if I designed a little “punch card” for parishes to buy so that people could have the priest sign off that they have been to confession.

I would hate to think what some of my fellow parishioners think of me- I have never been to confession at my “regular” parish, and don’t plan on it anytime soon, so to them I am probably just some uneducated, unworthy, cafeteria Catholic.

I agree that we need to educate more, but this constant “comparing” and questioning of others motives really does not paint us Catholics in a very good light.

How would anyone know? Why would they care? I don’t assume anything about anyone. I know many people that go to a neighboring parish for confession. I don’t think it’s that uncommon. If I did see someone at confession, I wouldn’t blurt that out next time I saw them, say, in the grocery store:

“Hey Bill! Wow, you really broke a record this week, I thought you’d never get out of the confessional. What the heck have YOU been up to?”

 

[Petersmate]

I would love to know what the other church’s are doing to get people thru the door? Please share…

I think you"ll find that the more traditional a parish and the priest are and the more the diocese is traditional and strict on catechises the more effect they have in getting people to understand the faith. I am a firm believer that the more people understand the faith the more they will practice it.

 

[MissRose73]

I go about 4 times or so in a year. How many people come before and after me to confess honestly I don’t pay attention. But the number of people who line up to confess before Mass is generally higher when I go to the Extra Ordinary Form Mass.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

I go at least once a month. At my parish, outside of Easter and when the second graders are receiving their first Confession, there are seldom lines and at least 50% of the times over the last 2-3 years, I’ve been the only one there. At other parishes around town the situation varies. I’ve had as many has a dozen there at the same time as me, but seldom more than that. There are usually at least 2-3 other people ahead of me when I go somewhere other than my home parish.

One thing I’ve noticed is that of the people who are the real die-hard regulars (meaning the daily Mass goers, actively involved in all aspects of the parish), I’ve never seen a single one of them at our regularly scheduled confessions. I’ve talked to a few of them about the sacrament and I know they confess regularly, but they must be going by appointment or to other parishes. I don’t doubt that the number of people going to Confession is far, far less than the number of people who need to be going, but I could never make a judgment calls against any individual since the people I know who I look up to as sound, devout pillars of the faith are just as absent from the confessional at our parish as everyone else.

 

[sw85]

Hi, I’ve just become a Catholic at Pentecost of this year, which means I’ve been a Catholic for less than a month, and I’ve since twice gone to Confession which I was at first a bit mortified to do (I’ve always been a reserved person so telling someone else my sins frightened me quite a bit) but I felt a great deal better after both times.

Yet, both times I’ve gone I noticed almost nobody else coming to Confession. The first time I came by myself and it seemed like no one else had partaken of it after I had finished (I came right as it was available, I try to be punctual) and the second time I took my fiancee with me (who converted with me) who also was afraid of doing it but realized it was quite nice but I’m almost 100% positive that no one else came after we had finished.

Now my parish is fairly small and, of course, I can’t account for when I wasn’t there, but it seems like not a lot of people take advantage of this great gift we have been given. Does anyone else have similar experiences and know why?

I go to confession about twice a month on average, so that sounds right to me.

Also in my parish, relatively few people seem to go. Mine is a larger parish (about 2,000 families I think) and the main time at which confession is offered – an hour or so beginning two hours before the Sunday Vigil Mass – will see maybe 2 dozen penitents. I’m given to understand this is pretty standard. The importance of confession, the sense of personal horror of sin, the zeal for holiness, etc., are largely lost these days.

 

[AnneTeresa]

My parish is large (2300 families) and offers confession before most weekend masses and Saturday mornings too. If I go on Sunday before mass, I am the only person there! It is very discouraging and makes me question both myself and my parish.

On Saturday mornings when I’ve gone there usually 1-2 people, except for Saturday morning just before Easter when there were maybe 8-10. My parish also has communal penance services at Christmas and Easter and I went once–there were a lot of people there. So I think people are just used to that format.

 

[Blessedwithfive]

Our church is medium sized. 2200 families but only about 800 or less attend Mass on the weekend. Maybe 2 or 3 people at confession. It is offered once a week and the first Monday of the month. I take my kids at least once a year and I try for taking them four times a year, but sometimes I’m lazy
We we have programs like a service for the Steubenville conference kids, we had over 30 kids go!
A few years ago we did the “leave a light on” campaign and we had a line out the door with two priests! No kidding it went on for three plus hours…we were at the end…
I just went, and while I still have anxiety about going…and it is my least favorite sacrament, I still go cuz I was taught it was the rule, not optional.
We are having a hard time getting people to come to Mass much less confession:shrug:

 

[maryjk]

How would anyone know? Why would they care? I don’t assume anything about anyone. I know many people that go to a neighboring parish for confession. I don’t think it’s that uncommon. If I did see someone at confession, I wouldn’t blurt that out next time I saw them, say, in the grocery store:

“Hey Bill! Wow, you really broke a record this week, I thought you’d never get out of the confessional. What the heck have YOU been up to?”

You would think, wouldn’t you?

But it seems like every week we have a thread here, “Why don’t I see everyone at Confession,” Or “How many people actually go to Confession?”

So, yes, everyone does seem very interested in who is going, and yes, how long they spend in, Confession.