Long Confession Lines?

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dangerousdyls

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I’m not sure that this is the correct forum category to put this in, but it does apply to living as a Catholic, so “Catholic Living” seemed appropriate

Are long confession lines common in your area?

I’m fortunate enough to have several Catholic parishes in my area. But the three that are nearest to me always have long confessional lines, very long. As in, I could go on time and expect to have 20-30 people in front of me and wait an hour. I guess I’m curious if this is common or not. I find it a bit frustrating, but I guess, if I don’t have anything else to get done, it’s time I can spend in prayer.
 
dangerousdyls said:
I’m not sure that this is the correct forum category to put this in, but it does apply to living as a Catholic, so “Catholic Living” seemed appropriate

Are long confession lines common in your area?

I’m fortunate enough to have several Catholic parishes in my area. But the three that are nearest to me always have long confessional lines, very long. As in, I could go on time and expect to have 20-30 people in front of me and wait an hour. I guess I’m curious if this is common or not. I find it a bit frustrating, but I guess, if I don’t have anything else to get done, it’s time I can spend in prayer.
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It depends. In Advent and Lent, yes, especially on Saturdays or during the widely advertised “The Light Is On For You” diocesan-wide confessional times. The rest of the year, there’s usually at least five other people regardless of parish (at least for evening times.) A couple times there have been fewer.

I think it’s great that people come, but all the same I try to arrive 10-15 minutes early to pray and compose myself, and so I can get an early spot in line. I try to be quick, too. If I get “stuck” behind someone taking a long time, I pray for patience and understanding and to thank God if that person has returned to the Church after a long time away.
 
For me, it depends on the parish. My own parish does not have long lines except at Advent and Lent. But they only offer 1 hour of confessions on Saturdays.

My family goes to several other parishes close by because they offer more confession times and the lines are always long at both these parishes. One parish offers confessions 6 days a week and for several hours a day and on 1 day a week 8-10 hours. It is a true blessing. And the lines for this parish are always long each time I have gone.

I think people try and fit confession into their schedules even though we should prioritize confession. But we are human and flawed and have many obligations:p
 
At our parish and a couple of others I know of, there are long Confession lines. It does seem that the more times a parish offers, the longer the lines are.
 
Our parish has confessions by appointment, so you just call or text the priest. They also offer “ask me whenever you see that I am around” kind of style. No lines, best deal ever. We are so fortunate!
 
FrancescaMaria said:
Our parish has confessions by appointment, so you just call or text the priest. They also offer “ask me whenever you see that I am around” kind of style. No lines, best deal ever. We are so fortunate!
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Wow! That is awesome! 🙂
 
I’ve never seen confession lines like (ie. 20 people and a one hour wait) that in any parish church in Australia, for a regular confession time.

Normally there will be, at most, five people at the start of confession, and by the end one can walk in without waiting. I’ve never had to wait more than 20 minutes at a regular Saturday confession.

On exceptional occasions, eg. the last week of Lent or Advent, there are longer queues. Maybe 20. And that is more likely to be at the Cathedral than the parishes. The Cathedral does tend to have longer queues year round.
 
dangerousdyls said:
I’m not sure that this is the correct forum category to put this in, but it does apply to living as a Catholic, so “Catholic Living” seemed appropriate

Are long confession lines common in your area?

I’m fortunate enough to have several Catholic parishes in my area. But the three that are nearest to me always have long confessional lines, very long. As in, I could go on time and expect to have 20-30 people in front of me and wait an hour. I guess I’m curious if this is common or not. I find it a bit frustrating, but I guess, if I don’t have anything else to get done, it’s time I can spend in prayer.
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In some parishes near me, yeah pretty long lines, but mostly on Saturday mornings, and then other parishes near me there are very few in line if any,
For that reason I try to go on other days of the week, or just try to be at my parish super early, after all, someone is going to be first in line, could be me 😛

But that’s real encouraging, nice to know alot of Catholics still take the sacrament of confession seriously 🙂
 
FrancescaMaria said:
Our parish has confessions by appointment, so you just call or text the priest. They also offer “ask me whenever you see that I am around” kind of style. No lines, best deal ever. We are so fortunate!
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(Interesting. If I had to make an appointment, I’d probably never go to Confession. Not being stubborn, just couldn’t bring myself to go that route.)
Now back to the original question.
 
Depends on the time of the year…lent and advent obviously…but in july, right before the 4th, we only had one priest available and 5 or 6 weren’t able to get in the confessional. The priest hearing confessions had to say saturday night mass, so confession time was cut short. Not sure where our pastor was at the time…
 
katy said:
At our parish and a couple of others I know of, there are long Confession lines. It does seem that the more times a parish offers, the longer the lines are.
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Interesting. Certainly the parishes I know which offer minimal confession time (eg. 20 minutes before the Saturday vigil) also have the fewest going to confession. Often none at all.
 
Our main parish usually has two lines of 20 - 30 folks in it.

But other parishes I’ve been to in the area for Confession have far fewer penitents waiting in line. One parish I occasionally go to—mostly because of time restraints on certain weekends—has had a very small line maybe once out of the three or four times I’ve been there.

In terms of finding long lines frustrating, well, to me it really depends. I’m happy if there’s lots of folks going to Confession, and I’d be OK even with waiting a couple of hours for my turn. But not if lots of people are taking almost 10 minutes each, although patience is something I try to work on in those situations.
 
dangerousdyls said:
I’m not sure that this is the correct forum category to put this in, but it does apply to living as a Catholic, so “Catholic Living” seemed appropriate

Are long confession lines common in your area?

I’m fortunate enough to have several Catholic parishes in my area. But the three that are nearest to me always have long confessional lines, very long. As in, I could go on time and expect to have 20-30 people in front of me and wait an hour. I guess I’m curious if this is common or not. I find it a bit frustrating, but I guess, if I don’t have anything else to get done, it’s time I can spend in prayer.
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Yes. Ours is a cathedral, it’s similar to yours, always long line, no matter how early you came there would be always someone earlier.

It is not uncommon to have thirty to fifty people in front of you, perhaps a bit of exaggeration there, but with only one confessional open most of the time, the queue is
long.

This is one reason that can discourage me in going for Confession on Saturdays.

However I would usually find some alternative - go to a smaller chapel or after daily mass and get a priest, if he is available, or if he is hearing Confession, where usually the crowd is smaller, and have my Confession during those times. Waiting time is much less.

Frankly I hate waiting.
 
The only time I have seen a long confession line is during a penance service during lent. Other than that, one parish that I go for confession only has a handful. And, the other one that I go to on a Saturday morning may have about 10 - 15 people. At the one church, confession is only for 30 minutes before a vigil mass. And, the other one has confession on Saturday morning after mass.
 
I regularly go to two parishes for confession. One parish only has it on Saturdays before mass, and there is hardly ever a line.

However, the other parish has confessions Monday-Saturday, so you’d expect the lines to be short… There are soooo long. But I honestly like it that way because it’s always very quiet, and it’s the best place to examine my conscience, pray, and get ready to confess my sins.
 
I like hearing that there are places where there are long confession lines … don’t see that by me … it’s a blessing to hear that there are long confession lines.
 
LiamQ said:
Our main parish usually has two lines of 20 - 30 folks in it.
In terms of finding long lines frustrating, well, to me it really depends. I’m happy if there’s lots of folks going to Confession, and I’d be OK even with waiting a couple of hours for my turn. But not if lots of people are taking almost 10 minutes each, although patience is something I try to work on in those situations.
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Well, a couple hours is a long wait to me. But, yes, overall, I am encouraged to see loads of people waiting and taking their faith seriously. I relate to the frustration of long confessions. In some cases, such as a long time away from the Church, sure, but if you’re a regular confessor, I don’t understand a 10 minute confession. Sometimes the priest can be long-winded too. But yeah, 10 minute confession and 30 people in line = 5 hours. That’s a definite test of patience!

Anywho, thanks all for your (name removed by moderator)ut. More have responded with long lines than I expected, I think that is a great sign.
 
The lines are so long at my parish that I have to leave up to an hour before confession starts. No exaggeration. And that’s Wednesday evening, Saturday afternoon and first Friday. Friday mornings are a little better, but confession is only 45 minutes before Mass then. And most of the time we have all four of ours parish priests there with sometimes a fifth visiting priest.

This goes on all year by the way. You can imagine what Advent and Lent are like. :eek:
 
More people confess during Advent and Lent than at any other time of year, but I wouldn’t say lines in my parish are long even during those periods.

There is always a line during Confession times at the ICRSS apostolate, but I wouldn’t call those lines “long” either.

The last time I saw a Confession line that was truly long by my definition was at Westminster Cathedral in London. By the time I joined the line there were 26 people waiting and Confession wasn’t due to start for 35 minutes. Once the priest arrived, it took another 40 minutes before I entered the confessional. As I was leaving the cathedral after saying my penance, the line had grown to 45 people. This was during Lent a couple of years ago.
 
FrancescaMaria said:
Our parish has confessions by appointment, so you just call or text the priest. They also offer “ask me whenever you see that I am around” kind of style. No lines, best deal ever. We are so fortunate!
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I am glad you find it as fortunate! As someone who prefers anonymous, begind the screen confession, this keeps me out of regular confession.

We are not offered the option of behind the screen anymore at my parish, and it has kept me from confessing all but mortal sins. I used to try to go on a regular basis, mortal sin or no, but not now that I jave to do it face to face.

No, we do not have long lines, the most I have seen is 8 to 10 people. Usually just 2 to 5 if at all.
 
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