I'd like there to be made a 24hr hotline to talk to a priest for spiritual guidance

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I think that would be an outstanding idea!

It would be so good to have a “hotline” where priests could be available, from their rectories or offices, at set times, even during the night. There are a lot of hurting and troubled people who would welcome being able to speak with a priest anytime.
 
I’d be curious to see how it turns out if it were implemented someday.

The Reformed church I work for tried exactly this during lockdown. I volunteered.

Number of calls I received : none.

I’m not sure why, and I wonder if it would be different with Catholics. It may well be, as there is a difference, here at least, in the way both confessions view their ministers.
 
OddBird said:
I’d be curious to see how it turns out if it were implemented someday.
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There is a 24/7 hotline (Lifeline) in Australia that was begun by a Methodist or Presbyterian minister a few decades ago. He began it due to his experience where a person had tried unsuccessfully to contact him for support and then committed suicide.

It still focusses primarily on suicide prevention, but it also assists in other imminent crises such as domestic violence. It’s primarily staffed by volunteers, and I was one for a little while.

The problem, I think, is that such endeavours have a tendency to balloon in size and scope, eventually becoming a cumbersome mess of policies, protocols and politics. I can imagine that the minister had originally intended the hotline to offer pastoral guidance for pastoral problems. It’s now become this awkward quasi-professional counselling service that prohibits volunteers from talking about themselves in any way, shape or form to callers (we were even prohibited from disclosing our names). It’s a very depersonalising (and dare I say, dehumanising) sort of interaction.
 
Not all priests are alike. Kinda hard to discern who you are getting guidance from, if it were off of a hotline. I would stick to making appointments with parish priest.
 
The Upper Room Hotline is a great one. And they can connect you with a priest if you need 🙂
 
24 hour hotlines are generally to help people who are facing some kind of bodily harm issue and might not live until they can make and keep a counseling appointment. If one has an emergency medical issue, is suicidal, is in a domestic abuse situation or an addiction situation, there’s already 24/7 hotlines for that, so it’s not like we need our dwindling pool of priests to step up in matters of life or death. They usually don’t have that kind of expertise anyway and would need to refer folks to the doctors or help centers that do.

I suspect the vast majority of people calling a priest at 3 am for spiritual counseling would either be scrupulous or else have some mental health issue like the person(s) who post here constantly worrying about the end of the world. And some of them might just be lonely and want to have a chat.
In all these cases, I don’t think the situation needs instant counseling and I further think that having a priest on-call 24/7 might actually encourage or enable the unhealthy behavior. If someone is truly so upset that they can’t wait till morning, they should be calling the suicide or mental health or addiction hotlines, not a priest.
 
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If it was a 24/hr hotline for Catholic’s they’d probably get more calls about why being Catholic is wrong then anything else… sad but true.

Besides we already have a 24hr hot line… starts with Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy Name… never a busy signal.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I suspect the vast majority of people calling a priest at 3 am for spiritual counseling would either be scrupulous or else have some mental health issue like the person(s) who post here constantly worrying about the end of the world. And some of them might just be lonely and want to have a chat.
In all these cases, I don’t think the situation needs instant counseling and I further think that having a priest on-call 24/7 might actually encourage or enable the unhealthy behavior. If someone is truly so upset that they can’t wait till morning, they should be calling the suicide or mental health or addiction hotlines, not a priest.
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You make a very good point. All right, then, perhaps have “dial-a-priest” lines open during the hours that most people are awake, let’s say 9 am to 9 pm, with a recording that gives the number of a crisis counseling hotline if someone calls after those hours. I know that our diocese once had an “ask a priest anything” night, where you could call a toll-free number and a diocesan priest would answer. I had a sacrament-related question (not involving sin) that I really didn’t want to ask a priest in my acquaintance, I spoke with one of these priests anonymously, and he was incredibly helpful. It was just a one-off thing, but to have a service like this available would be a welcome resource.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I suspect the vast majority of people calling a priest at 3 am for spiritual counseling would either be scrupulous or else have some mental health issue like the person(s) who post here constantly worrying about the end of the world.
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Ding ding ding. If you absolutely must talk to a priest at 2 am, it’s probably because someone is dying and needs the sacraments. Most rectories already have an emergency procedure in place for contacting a priest in those situations.

I think a hotline like this would inevitably be swamped with the scrupulous, the mentally ill, and prank callers.
 
Completely agree with @Tis_Bearself and @RolandThompsonGunner here. I used to be involved with one of the mental health and suicide hotlines - even those get calls that don’t really fit the bill for their services (but when they do get a relevant call, it makes everything else worthwhile).

I’m of the mind that the biggest issue with this idea of a priest hotline is the whole “me, now” culture we live in where everything has to be instantaneous and on-demand. We’ve really done our minds a disservice (among other things) by giving in to every whim, not to mention how exhausting it can be in such a way that we don’t realize until it’s too late. It’s almost refreshing, at times, to be made to wait.

I do, however, think the occasional thing like @HomeschoolDad referred to would be a nice idea, but there are also similar columns in most diocesan newspapers, Catholic Answers Live, and seems like I stumbled onto an online discussion forum for Catholic questions once… if only I could remember where that was 🤔😉😁
 
Guest1 said:
Anyone else? :phone:
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I don’t think this would be feasible because of a priest’s various other obligations, but this is already done with professional counselors and such, and it can include Catholic counselors that work on a 24/7 hotline. In this instance, a trained counselor would probably be more qualified than a priest.

I believe sometimes there is an over-dependence on clerics that is not rooted in Tradition or current Catholic teaching, and it can result in a passive laity and a stagnant Church. The bulk of the work in the Church is suppose to be conducted by the laity. The bishops lead the Church in their respective dioceses, preach the Gospel, and administer the Sacraments, and the priests assist the bishop. They’re not superheroes that do everything and it’s not reasonable to expect that.

Peace.
 
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TK421 said:
They’re not superheroes that do everything and it’s not reasonable to expect that.
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We even see this on CAF sometimes I think. We always default to “just ask your priest” even if the question is very trivial. Sometimes it because the person is being scrupulous, but I think sometimes we just blindly default to that.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
We even see this on CAF sometimes I think. We always default to “just ask your priest” even if the question is very trivial. Sometimes it because the person is being scrupulous, but I think sometimes we just blindly default to that.
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I avoid that response unless it is needed, like if a person’s life is a mess or they have scruples.

It’s not just about getting answers. It’s also about encountering Christ through another human being, and that is something that best happens personally rather than remotely.
 
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Cor_ad_Cor said:
I’m of the mind that the biggest issue with this idea of a priest hotline is the whole “me, now” culture we live in where everything has to be instantaneous and on-demand
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I think it may have more to do with Catholics needing to learn the skill of listening to God (especially when in crisis or under stress). It is an oft overlooked practice by most Catholics, in my experience.
I only learned to do it when I had gone to my spiritual director with a difficult decision, hoping for his guidance. He asked me what God had advised. I admitted I hadn’t asked God. So he told me to go somewhere quite and ask God, then to sit quietly and listen. To my relief (and surprise) I received total clarity on what to do! Praise Jesus!
I had never been taught to truly listen - to wait for God’s guidance in expectation that He would answer…
God bless!
 
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Cor_ad_Cor said:
I’m of the mind that the biggest issue with this idea of a priest hotline is the whole “me, now” culture we live in where everything has to be instantaneous and on-demand. We’ve really done our minds a disservice (among other things) by giving in to every whim, not to mention how exhausting it can be in such a way that we don’t realize until it’s too late. It’s almost refreshing, at times, to be made to wait.
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Possibly, but how is this so far different from idealized, traditionally Catholic cultures, where priests are in the confessional many hours of each day, and people are constantly seeking them out for forgiveness of sins (and doubtless other spiritual advice as well)? I have to think that in medieval European cities, at least during the mornings (because of the communion fast), Masses were more or less continuous, with priests readily available. Didn’t the Curé of Ars spend endless hours in the confessional? Padre Pio? How is that so different from a priest being on a hotline, fielding calls? If there were a lull in the incoming calls, he could always read his breviary or say the rosary.
 
Our priests do a weekly Ask A Priest Anything, it is still going during COVID as a live Facebook stream. You can mail, email, call, drop a question in the collection, comment on Facebook, any way you want to submit your question.

They keep doing it, although they usually get 1 or fewer questions each week (the live in person sessions had far more exchange)
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Didn’t the Curé of Ars spend endless hours in the confessional? Padre Pio?
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These were priests renowned for being able to “read hearts” and people went to them expecting something big or supernatural to occur.

Many people who went to confess to them had not been to confession for years.

Your average parish priest did not sit in the confessional for hours. Nor did he draw big crowds.

Also, priests cannot hear confessions by phone. What a priest can do on the phone vs. in person is quite limited.
 
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