Is it Canon Law to have option for secret or face to face confession?

[maria1125]

My pastor only has face-to-face confession and I feel uncomfortable with that. I go to a different parish for this sacrament. Aren’t priest suppose to give you the option? Where can I find this statement?

 

[mercygate]

CODE OF CANON LAW

Can. 964 §1 The proper place for hearing sacramental confessions is a church or oratory.

§2 As far as the confessional is concerned, norms are to be issued by the Episcopal Conference, with the proviso however that confessionals, which the faithful who so wish may freely use, are located in an open place, and fitted with a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor.

§3 Except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional.

 

[maria1125]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
My priest uses the confessionals, but has taken out the screen so I see him clearly and he sees me. He even asked my sister to take off her glasses. I guess he wanted to see if she was sincere. Anyways, thank you so much.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

maria1125:

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
My priest uses the confessionals, but has taken out the screen so I see him clearly and he sees me. He even asked my sister to take off her glasses. I guess he wanted to see if she was sincere. Anyways, thank you so much.

I would be so tempted to take a small mirror the size of the opening and fix it up there on my side facing him.

 

[Brendan]

Note that the Canon allows for either party to use a screen if they are more comfortable. That includes the priest himself.

Everyone has a Canonical right to have a screen, no one has a right to a ‘face to face’ confession.

 

[MichCath]

When I did my first confession before being confirmed, I tried to sit behind the screen. The Priest told me to sit facing him, when I asked if I could sit behind the screen he said No, that I had to face him.

He stated that I had to face him because it made for better communication. Other than that, he was extremely nice and encouraging during the confession. He was very helpful and talked me through it.

 

[mercygate]

MichCath:

When I did my first confession before being confirmed, I tried to sit behind the screen. The Priest told me to sit facing him, when I asked if I could sit behind the screen he said No, that I had to face him.

He stated that I had to face him because it made for better communication. Other than that, he was extremely nice and encouraging during the confession. He was very helpful and talked me through it.

Ugh. Actually, my first confession as a Catholic was at a monastery, and it was in a small conference room without even a kneeler, much less a screen. They have fixed that since.

That said, as an Episcopalian I had made sacramental confessions for many years, very few of them behind a screen. Episcopalians usually do this kneeling at the communion rail with the priest seated on the other side. So face-to-face wasn’t a problem for me. Nevertheless, any priest who hears confessions often will tell you that “you hear better confessions behind the screen.”

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

mercygate:

CODE OF CANON LAW

Can. 964 §1 The proper place for hearing sacramental confessions is a church or oratory.

§2 As far as the confessional is concerned, norms are to be issued by the Episcopal Conference, with the proviso however that confessionals, which the faithful who so wish may freely use, are located in an open place, and fitted with a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor.

§3 Except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional.

I was rather surprised when I encountered this in the CIC a year or so ago because I had been told that the confessionals at Notre Dame were no longer used because people HAD TO be given the option for face to face - this meant that everyone was in effect forced to confess face to face. Knowing that basically 3/4 of the confessions I’ve ever made have had no option of a screen, why do we see this widespread disobedience of canon law? Is there any sort of American particular law that might justify it?

 

[maria1125]

I personally prefer a confessional, especially one with a screen or gridiron. I feel I can truly confess everything without worrying what the priest (human side) thinks of me.

This question was also answered by someone who e-mailed me:
The “norm” for confession is through a privacy screen so this option should always be available. The Roman Ritual states:

1. The confessional for female penitents should always be located in an open and conspicuous place, generally in a church or otherwise in a public or semipublic oratory designated for women. The confessional should be built so that there is a stationary perforated grating between confessor and penitent.
2. Confessions of female penitents should never be heard outside a confessional, except in the case of illness or some other real necessity, and observing then such precautionary measures as the local Ordinary deems opportune. Confessions of men, however, may be heard even in a private home.

 

[Hesychios]

The best confessions I ever made were face-to-face. There was comfort in it, I felt that I could really speak about the trends in my life and my thoughts. It helped me get away from the line-by-line recitation and actually have a dialog with the priests. The anonymous type of rote ceremonial was hard for me, my mind often went blank and I seemed to always forget things. I know the kneeler-screen works for many but I don’t think all people react the same way.

Face to face confession more effective when one has the same confessor every time and sadly that is almost unheard of these days. Often the priest is retired and hearing confessions for the stipend, I found this out from an old friend who is a retired priest (he was also a good confessor).

One of my favorite parishes had a newer type of confessional that was constructed like a sitting room. When the penitent enters what is seen is a nicely curtained screen-type kneeler and an empty club chair off to the side. When I saw that I first knelt and then said “Father, is that chair for confessions?” and he said “yes, if I would care to try it”. It did, and it worked great! He was an older priest and his posture seemed to suggest he was not quite used to arrangement himself.

Now as an Eastern Christian my confessions are always side-by-side with my priest, I use the same confessor (my pastor) all of the time and he advises me, encourages me and challenges me.

I also no longer fear confession as I did when I was young, I basically look forward to it and I think the open confession helps.

+T+
Michael

 

[ChemicalBean]

mercygate:

…any priest who hears confessions often will tell you that “you hear better confessions behind the screen.”

I have to ask, what is a “good confession” and a “better confession?”

Obviously, to be complete there needs to be an acknowlegment of the sin, an act of contrition, a penance given, and absolution. But what did your priest mean by a “better confession”?

More sins, “kind and number”, or a greater general awareness of sin?
Stronger evidence of sincerety?
A more healing experience? Can a priest actually know this?

I guess I would almost be interested in a comparison of “scripts” of a face-to-face confession and a screened confession. I’ve only gone face-to-face (and it’s never been the same twice). I feel like I’m never really sure how this sacrament is supposed to be done, and I think that keeps me from going more often. (Yes, I’m a product of a poor CCD catechesis.)

 

[maria1125]

We have a new pastor, in fact, he is the only priest in our parish. I believe everyone should have one confessor, and I can see how facing the priest may help some people, but I also believe that we should have the option of choosing.

I feel that with a screen in the confessional, I can ask him anything without feeling uncomfortable. There are people, like me, who are very shy or other people, like my confirmation high school students that haven’t been to confession for years and probably didn’t know certain things were sins; and therefore feel uncomfortable saying certain things. In fact, many of them mentioned to me and my husband that even though the priest was nice and even funny, they did not like the experience and would prefer the screen. They said that they will most likely go to confession somewhere else.

My younger sister felt very uncomfortable when she was asked by the priest to take off her glasses. I think it’s just a matter of having the person decide which option works best for them. That is, which option helps you get the most out of the sacrament.