No regular confession in my parish

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JackieMom

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I’m trying to regain my faith, which is very weak. My parish offers confession once a month for 30 minutes before the Saturday vigil mass. I work most Saturdays so I called the parish to see if I could make an appoibtment for confession at another time. The secretary said no, that more confessions would be offered the week before Easter and I only needed to go then. Is this normal now? I’ve been away for a while.
 
Normal, no. But not unheard of. It depends on the parish staffing levels. If one priest is covering two or three parishes, he has to rotate. So a neighboring parish will probably have Confession on weeks yours doesn’t.

I suspect the Secretary was wrong about no appointments. That I’ve never heard of.

Check another parish. masstimes.org can help you locate one.
 
That’s really odd, and I wouldn’t say it’s normal. I guess it might be understandable if your pastor is the administrator for several churches or something and is spread very thin – but I wouldn’t call it normal.

Look around the other parishes in your area and see what their confession times are, or whether you can make appointments for confession at those parishes.
 
JackieMom said:
The secretary said no, that more confessions would be offered the week before Easter and I only needed to go then. Is this normal now? I’ve been away for a while.
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I would have said that there is no guarantee that I would still be alive by then and don’t want to put my immortal soul at risk of being damned.

Where there are priest shortages or small towns where the priest travels to rural parishes each Sunday it can happen. In a medium-large city it really shouldn’t happen, and at minimum you should be able to book an appointment. If someone is in the state of Mortal sin, they can’t really wait long amounts of time for an opportunity to go to confession, as confession is the regular means of returning to a state of grace.
 
JackieMom said:
I’m trying to regain my faith, which is very weak. My parish offers confession once a month for 30 minutes before the Saturday vigil mass. I work most Saturdays so I called the parish to see if I could make an appoibtment for confession at another time. The secretary said no, that more confessions would be offered the week before Easter and I only needed to go then. Is this normal now? I’ve been away for a while.
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Confession is suppose to always be offered every Saturday before Saturday vigil mass.
look for another Catholic Church to go to and use the confessional. You are suppose to be able to make and appointment. Calle the parish back and just ask to make an appointment with the priest to met with him. the secretary sounds like she is blowing you off.
 
robwar said:
Confession is suppose to always be offered every Saturday before Saturday vigil mass.
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Is there an actual church law that states this? I’ve been in many parishes that offer adequate confession times, but do not happen to offer it on Saturday afternoon. Not everyone can make it then, and I greatly appreciate other options.
 
The solution should be fairly simple:

Make sure you talk to Fr. **after ** the VERY NEXT Mass you can attend and let father know that you have been unable to attend the normally scheduled times for reconciliation and that you were told that you could not schedule an appointment. Ask of Fr. when he would have time to hear your confession. Fr. might take your confession right then and there provided it can be done so in a reasonable setting. I’d also ask Fr. about setting up a regular schedule.

Please, goto Fr. at the very next Mass you can attend! Not next Sunday (well… ofcourse if that is the next Mass 😃 " , not next week, not the next month… but the very next Mass that you can attend!

You mention that you are coming back to the faith… and that it’s weak yet:

Respectfully I offer you a few simple things to keep in mind:

- First, Welcome Home.
  • After Mass, turn around a look at the congregation… you are not alone. Now either with Fr.'s help, or a Deacon, or one of the Ushers… find another person or family there that can help you thru the rough times as your faith grows. There is a reason we are one body. Are your God Parents/Sponsor close?
-Please keep in mind as you walk with us… the Evil-One hates the Sacraments, and Hates us because of the Grace we receive thru Our Lord and the EO will try to prevent you from coming back to the Body of Christ using whatever means are available.

If offered in your Parish or one locally… try to find a TMIY (That Man Is You) program. This has been sanctioned in by my Arch Bishop and by many all over the country. You can find more information thru ( TMIY Or try to find a Catholics Coming Home Program.

Prayers:
EVERY DAY,
(Guess what… I’m not perfect with these either… but I try… and I try every day to pray at least these - and with three kids (4th on the way), a wife, the dog, the job, and life I don’t always get even these done. SO a stumble is not a fall… just start again)
  • Bless yourself… that’s right… the simple Sign of the Cross… You’ve called upon Our Father, Our Lord, and The Holy Spirit! - Easy - do this when you get out of bed and before every prayer.
  • Prayer to our Guardian Angel! (Angel of God, My Guardian Dear…) I have a prayer card next to the door on the way out…
  • The Our Father… Our Lord Gave this to us ( I do this as part of my daily Rosary).
  • The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
  • The Rosary (at least the set of Mysteries for that Day… can’t remember which one is for the day… Pick one and Pray it… no prayer said with the right intentions is ever lost) Personally, I started with the Luminous Mysteries (I’m a convert, starting to learn these at mid-life is a challenge - and worth it) when learning the Rosary.
  • The prayer to St. Michael the Archangel (I actually say this right after the Guardian Angel, I’m already asking for help from one Angel: the Angels have the face of God ( : Matthew 18:10)
  • And last, but not least, were you named after a Saint? Do you have a Confirmation Saint? Ask them to pray for you.
OH - ONE MORE THING: Get you a Rosary, have it blessed, and keep it with you… in your pocket, at all times. I have a “cheap” plastic one; however, the next chance I get I’m going to find a small finger rosary. Why, blessed, it has the prayers of the Church. Why, beacuse it is a reminder of our faith. Why, because you can pull it out on a car trip and pray the Rosary. Why, stopped by a train… you can pull it out and pray the Rosary. Why, waiting in the office or on someone… you can pull it out and pray the Rosary.
 
JackieMom said:
I’m trying to regain my faith, which is very weak. My parish offers confession once a month for 30 minutes before the Saturday vigil mass. I work most Saturdays so I called the parish to see if I could make an appoibtment for confession at another time. The secretary said no…
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Is this the only parish in your area? Go to another parish for your confession. Unless you live in a remote area then you should be able to find another parish that offers confession more frequently.
 
If you live in an urban area, look for a Polish or Hispanic neighborhood church. It seems that they offer confession several days each week. Those cultures are VERY much in tune with our sinfulness and offer lots of options.

I travel on business often and whenever I want to go to confession on a weekday, this is my “tried and true” solution. It has NEVER failed.

Another idea is to look for an Opus Dei parish.

My own basilica offers 30 to 45 minutes on Saturday morning, and we have 10,000+ parishoners. That’s it,once a week. The line isn’t that long. 🤷 :confused:
 
robwar said:
Confession is suppose to always be offered every Saturday before Saturday vigil mass.
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Confession is often scheduled for Saturday afternoons, but it is not required to be then. The Saturday time slot makes it convenient for folks to get to confession before Sunday Mass is all.

To the OP, as others have said, see what the schedule is at other parishes and attend there. Talking to Father after Mass and asking directly for an appointment is not what I’d normally recommend, but since you have already called the parish office, it is a good option in this case.
 
JackiMom

You have my complete empathy! Our priest doesn’t schedule time for Confession at all. None. Nada.

After the first few appointments, father seemed to be getting the wrong idea - that I was there to see him. Augh!!! After all no one else was requesting an appointment.

I’ve started driving several hours on my day off to receive the Sacrament elsewhere. After twenty years of going every week, it’s saddening to cut back. But maybe that’s what God wants of me right now. For whatever reason, sometimes there are obstacles.

Having a regular confessor who’s available every week is wonderful. I’ll pray that you find such a priest.

As someone above advises the Evil One would like nothing more than for none of us to go.

Stay strong! And welcome back.
 
As others have said Welcome Home!

But, if you are up to it, this would be Bishop-writing worthy.
 
JackieMom said:
I’m trying to regain my faith, which is very weak. My parish offers confession once a month for 30 minutes before the Saturday vigil mass. I work most Saturdays so I called the parish to see if I could make an appoibtment for confession at another time. The secretary said no, that more confessions would be offered the week before Easter and I only needed to go then. Is this normal now? I’ve been away for a while.
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Confession is a right. You may make an appointment with a priest for a face to face confession at a mutually agreed time. Its not up to a secretary to deny you this right.
 
JackieMom said:
I’m trying to regain my faith, which is very weak. My parish offers confession once a month for 30 minutes before the Saturday vigil mass. I work most Saturdays so I called the parish to see if I could make an appoibtment for confession at another time. The secretary said no, that more confessions would be offered the week before Easter and I only needed to go then. Is this normal now? I’ve been away for a while.
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Hi Jackie, I was luckey when I came back to find a priest that would see me every week. They are out there and it does not have to be the same one. The church doesn’t mind you going to a different priest each time. Or even to a different mass at a differnent church either. As long as it is catholic. So don’t be afraid just soak up what you never learned before. You may find the music changed and better I think.

Here is a cite that might help as long as you are on line you could get more out of it and you can watch some EWTN on line too.

www.pemdc.org/programs/awakeningfaith.aspx
 
You have one immortal soul and one life to live. If your parish has such an inconvenient confession schedule, then look around at the neighboring parishes. What are their confession schedules? Sometimes you have to be persistent Good luck. I will pray for you.
:signofcross::signofcross::signofcross:
 
ThePaladin said:
(…)But, if you are up to it, this would be Bishop-writing worthy.
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Here, I would only recommend that the Bishop be involved if Fr. refuses to establish any kind of appointment and then only because OP has already tried the normal routes.

As for going to Fr. directly after Mass… I’ll tell you that where I live we’re blessed with three Fr. in very close parishes and they have all said to come to them directly if one wanted to schedule a time for reconciliation. I’ve done this once or twice and what he asked for was a way to contact me and three different dates and three times and if it was OK to inquire with the other priests… and once he even asked me to back to his office right then and there, where we closed the door and there it happend!

**ilySHJ ** may certainly have cause to write the Bishop. For any priest to refuse a sacrament without just cause or grave reason should be brought to the attention of the Local Ordinary. I pray for that Priest… if he has lost even one soul either from the Catholic Faith or worse to Hell because of his actions I can only imagine the… no, I can’t… nor do I want to try.
 
All righty…I stopped the priest after mass and told him I needed to book a confession and that I worked most Saturdays… He said not to worry and to go ahead and take communion until I could make a confession. He said quickly that I should just try my best but that they’d offer more during Lent. He seemed to sort of chuckle me off, as though I were being a bit silly or naive.
 
Either get another parish or complain to your bishop. Your parish is not filling its members’ spiritual needs and is putting them in the path of sacrilege. You need to be in a state of grace to receive the Eucharist. If you are in danger of death, you can make an act of perfect contrition and receive the Eucharist. Since you are not in danger of death, your pastor should never have given you such bad advice to receive unworthily. His chuckle was extremely uncharitable and indicated disdain for faithful Catholics who assert their right to the sacraments. You deserve better.
 
Yes, it seems as though the parish thinks confession is something that’s hanging on by a thread for the little old ladies, and is on its way out. To be honest, I really struggle with the concept of God not offering forgiveness unless someone confesses to a priest - that doesn’t seem reasonable or Godlike to me at all. I am trying to give Catholicism another shot, and trying to do things the “right” way. Not even sure what that means since it seems that a lot has changed since I went inactive. If the priest told me to accept communion - do I go by what he said (after all, I am supposed to cofess all my sins to this same man and trust that I get absolution thru him) or is he wrong regarding confession/communion?
 
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