In The Confessional

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flatlanderjenn

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When in the confessional…
do you kneel behind the screen -or- sit across from the priest?

Do you go to your local parish priest?

I’m just wondering common preferences. Thanks in advance.
 
flatlanderjenn said:
When in the confessional…
do you kneel behind the screen -or- sit across from the priest?

Do you go to your local parish priest?

I’m just wondering common preferences. Thanks in advance.
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you can do either

kneel behind a screen or sit in the open with the priest

you can go anywhere a priest is and have confession

a plane, a train or a navy warship

US parishes usually have confession right before the saturday evening mass

go a little early hang out and see if it is something you are comfortable with

if not there are MANY other ways of going to confession
 
I go to Confession in a different city instead of my local parish because they have daily Confessions and are traditional. I always kneel behind the screen.
 
flatlanderjenn said:
When in the confessional…
do you kneel behind the screen -or- sit across from the priest?

Do you go to your local parish priest?

I’m just wondering common preferences. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Currently, face-to-face with my pastor. (Face-to-face is the only option in the Byzantine Church.) At other times and places, I’ve gone behind the screen or face-to-face, to strangers and to priests that I know. I have a strong preference for face-to-face with a priest that I know, however.
 
From my first confessions after being received into the church I went face-to-face, and did it that way for most of my 35 years as a Catholic, but in the last year I have been going more frequently, but not always, behind-the-screen. I can’t identify any particular reason for the change.
 
I always go behind the screen. But at my last confession, as I was walking into the confessional my priest was walking out (he hears confessions before Mass). I asked him if I was too late and he said “No” and invited me in. As I was getting ready to kneel behind the screen, he pulled out a chair and placed it in front of him. Since he did that I was like, “OK, I guess I’m confessing face to face”. I really liked the face to face confession. It made me feel more humble to look him in the eyes while confessing my sins. I will probably start doing face to face from now on.🙂
 
I actually usually confess face to face. But, I also normally confess to priests I know.
When I confess to priests I don’t know then I’m more likely to use the screen.
But even then, it seems rare that I use the screen.

There are one or two parishes where only the screen is an option in the traditional boxes. So, I obviously use the screen in that situation. And again, if I’m in a different city somewhere I’m not familiar with then I’ll probably use the screen.

I suppose its easier to get advice when you’re confessing face to face. And, apart from just getting the nuts and bolts of a confession, I really like when I do stay for a bit of extra advice. Doesn’t happen all the time of course.
 
If I am with my spiritual director, I go face to face. Otherwise, I almost always go behind the screen.
 
I go behind the screen, or face to face, with priests I know, or at another parish with priests I don’t know… 🤷

I just get to confession when I need to wherever it’s available with whatever priest is hearing confessions. I go fact to face when my knee is bothering me and I can’t kneel.

The set-up doesn’t matter. What is essential is just getting in there and confessing 👍
 
I usually go to a nearby parish(not mine). The setup in this confessional is the screen, and there is a chair in the middle, if you prefer to confess face to face. I choose the screen. Funny, this priest is the one that I made my confession with after being away 25 years, and it was face to face at the time. The way it was set up, is that he was the only open priest for confession.(It was at my grandson’s first reconciliation) It was not something that I planned. I really like this priest, and he made it so easy for me. I go to his parish for First Saturday Mass.
 
My preference is behind the screen at another parish. I have tried face to face but just don’t like to do it that way.
 
A few parishes I have attended, behind the screen in a separate room with a wall/screen is the only option. Most of these are much, much older parishes.

At the newer parishes, you can do either one. I ‘accidentally’ ended up going face to face when I had some serious sins to confess; it was an amazing and gentle experience, and I actually prefer to confess to this priest, face to face, now. He is at a different parish, one we might join that is closer to our home (our boundary parish since we moved last year).
 
I go face-to-face whenever that option is available. I prefer it; also I have bad knees and cannot kneel.

I confess to whichever priest in our parish is in the confessional at the time - they rotate between churches in the parish so I never know if it will be the pastor, parochial vicar, or (occasionally) a substitute/visiting priest. Lately it’s been the PV.
 
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