Penance given in confession was too vague

[JimG]

This question from Fr. Z’s blog about a vague penance made me wonder how common such experiences are. I’ve only been given a vague penance once or twice; but it’s disconcerting and confusing when it happens.

Vague Penance

 

[MaryT777]

I have never been given a vague penance in my many years of life. If I did I now would take the advice of the priest writing this blog. This was an excellent article by this priest. Thanks for posting the link.

 

[Usige]

I can’t say that it’s happened to me more than once or twice. At the time I didn’t know that I could ask for a clearer penance, so I just did my best.

I didn’t get worked up about it any more than I do if I forget if it was “2 Our Father’s and a Glory Be” or if it was “2 Glory Be and a Hail Mary”. For the most part any penance is really less about what is done so much as it is the attitude we do it in. Nothing we do will makeup for having offended God so I always measure if my penance is complete by the depth of sorrow I had while doing any penance and my willingness to make whatever amends I could.

That’s not to say I just blow off what Father says and do what I want, but rather that getting anxious about if God is going to hold it against me if I forgot something or didn’t do something 100% correctly is counter productive to growing to love God more deeply. I agree that any penance should be clear, but I always try to understand it in regards to corrective action to lead me closer to God.

 

[buc_fan33]

Two points:

First, a wonderful old priest I knew who has since passed to the next life would always give one Hail Mary as penance. Short. Sweet. Simple. To the point.

Second, the only thing that bothers me is the underhanded tone attacking the Novus Ordo. From the original questioner:

We attend the local TLM and it is difficult to make it to Confession because the lines are always so long.

and

[My wife] went to the nearest Novus Ordo parish where there is hardly anyone in line.

And Fr. Z’s sort of underhanded response:

No wonder there is a difference in the length of lines.

Why the need to disparage what is the ordinary, meaning the one normally celebrated, form of the Roman Rite? Why the need to insinuate that those who attend the extraordinary form are much better Catholics and thus there is always a long line? Why the need to insinuate that those at the ordinary form parish are lazy Catholics who don’t take their faith seriously, and thus there is no line for confession?

Why the need for Fr. Z to affirm this attitude in his response? What possible good can come out of that?

Are there misunderstandings around the sacrament of Reconciliation? Absolutely. Are some people (perhaps those at the EF parish) too scrupulous? Yes. Are there others who are too lax (perhaps those at the OF parish)? Yes. Are there good people at both? Yes. Finally, are there OF parishes which have long confession lines? Absolutely. I’ve heard confessions in multiple OF parishes where the line ran right up to the start of Mass, and could have gone longer if I hadn’t needed to leave to go celebrate Mass.

Please don’t disparage the form of the liturgy which Holy Mother Church has stated is the ordinary and normative form of the liturgy in the Roman Rite. (Not saying the OP is doing this, but sadly, I hear this attitude all the time. It’s the primary reason why I am reluctant to offer the EF in my parish. Well, that and the fact that I haven’t been trained in it, and don’t know how. But, I would be willing to learn if A) I was convinced that enough people wanted it to make it worth the while, and B) was convinced that these same people would not engage in OF-bashing at coffee, right after having received the Holy Eucharist).

 

[Amator_Dei]

I was once given a vague penance - at a TLM parish. I confessed to wasting time at work and I was told that my penance was to “make amends for the time I had wasted”. Sounds simple enough until you try to actually do it. I couldn’t actually find a legal way of making amends to my employer. Of course I didn’t realize that until after I had left the confessional and had a good hour to think about it.

I estimated the amount of time that I had wasted and then multiplied it by my hourly pay and donated half that amount to a food bank and half to my parish. It actually took me two whole months to do that penance.

 

[Amator_Dei]

Two points: Finally, are there OF parishes which have long confession lines? Absolutely. I’ve heard confessions in multiple OF parishes where the line ran right up to the start of Mass, and could have gone longer if I hadn’t needed to leave to go celebrate Mass.

I actually go to a FSSP church for confession because the lines are short. They offer confession for 20-30 minutes everyday before mass. I show up 10 minutes after confessions start and wait at most 5 minutes though usually I sail right in. At my N.O. parishes the line starts forming 30 minutes before the once or twice weekly confession. If you arrive at the published confession time you have to wait in line - standing on concrete - for at least an hour. On two occasions during Lent, I had to wait three hours to confess. That is a line!

 

[babochka]

I actually go to a FSSP church for confession because the lines are short. They offer confession for 20-30 minutes everyday before mass. I show up 10 minutes after confessions start and wait at most 5 minutes though usually I sail right in. At my N.O. parishes the line starts forming 30 minutes before the once or twice weekly confession. If you arrive at the published confession time you have to wait in line - standing on concrete - for at least an hour. On two occasions during Lent, I had to wait three hours to confess. That is a line!

That’s been my experience as well. At the FSSP parish, there will be, perhaps, 4-5 people in line, though it is constantly 4-5 people, so new people are coming in all the time. The priests do tend to spend a little more time with people in confession there, but there are usually 2, sometimes 3 priests hearing confessions and the line moves quickly. My husband went to our local parish the other day and estimated 40-50 people in line, with one priest. The local parish has confessions 1 hour and 45 minutes each week, the FSSP parish has confessions at least 10 hours per week. That’s a blessing that goes along with having three priests for a relatively small parish.