People Left Out of confession

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I remember one time a few weeks ago I raced to confession on my lunch break and got there just as the Priest was locking the confessional.

When I asked him if he would hear my confession, he angrily chastized me saying “Sheesh, I’ve been sitting here for half an hour” and slammed his papers down on the radiator.

I said “well, Father, I’ve been sinning for a lot longer than that…”

He didn’t know what to say 🙂
 
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JimG:
I guess it’s pretty much a personal thing; but I can confess a lot of sins in 2 minutes! Heck, I can confess a lot of sins in 30 seconds. Someone above mentioned a 30 minute confession. In 30 minutes I could sum up the sins of the entire congregation over the past 30 years.

For me, confession is an opportunity to have my sins forgiven, not a counseling session. You can always arrange a counseling session separately, or have a spiritual director. But, especially if one is in a line where you know there are people waiting and the priest has limited time, I think it would be charitable to those waiting to forgo the counseling, and just state the sins.
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I usually spend only a minute or two so in confession. I once spend nearly 20 minutes in confession because I wanted to actually talk to the priest. It wasn’t a counseling session. I think a good confessor should talk with the penitant, helping them to understand their sins and ways to overcome commiting them. I specifically go to that confessor because I know he’ll talk with me rather than just grant absolution. If I know i’m going to be a while I try to be the first person in the confessional in order to leave time for others.

All the churches around me have 30-45 minutes of confession before the Saturday vigil mass. That doesn’t seem like much to me.
 
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HappyCatholic01:
When I asked him if he would hear my confession, he angrily chastized me saying “Sheesh, I’ve been sitting here for half an hour” and slammed his papers down on the radiator.

I said “well, Father, I’ve been sinning for a lot longer than that…”

He didn’t know what to say 🙂
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What a great response! He’ll be telling that story to young priests for years to come!
 
Judging from many of the responses here, it seems that priests need to start making more time available for confessions. I’ve noticed that the priest who used to come out for cofessions 30 minutes before afternoon Mass is now coming out 5 or 10 minutes earlier, and when the lines are longer, two priests may come out for confessions.

If the sacrament is in demand, they will get the message.
 
At my parish, we have confession for fifteen minutes before each weekday Mass, but it always seems that our priest is late, and then in a rush to finish up and start Mass. 😦

And then there are the times when he doesn’t even show up. :mad:

I understand that priests have many duties, but hearing their flock’s confessions, comes near the top of the list of their responsibilities. I think it would be wonderful if it was more common for confession to be heard before Sunday Mass, because then if we couldn’t make it during the week, at least we could be assured of a second chance at confession then…
 
I try to find out the confession times of the various churches around where I live so I have a choice. We actually have a Carmelite chapel in a mall near where I work and usually go there during the week.
 
Our church can hold maybe 1500 to 2000 people and on Sunday we have 10 Masses. The vast majority of people go up to receive Communion. Our priest, trying to make a point about conessing sins before receiving our Lord, repeatedly highlight it is strange that at Confession times he only sees about 20 people in the line but Communion lines are long.
 
First, confession is highly in demand at the chapel at my university, and the priests have made quite an effort to make it readily available. Besides arranging an appointment with a priest, there is confession every day except Sunday from 4:00 to 4:45 (mass at 5), usually with two priests now due to the long lines last year.

Speaking of long lines, I have a question regarding some earlier posts. Despite the availability of confession here, sometimes the line is long enough that there are still people in line at the beginning, middle, and even end of mass. As long as the priest in the confessional was not scheduled to celebrate that mass, confession has usually continued for as long as it takes for the line to end. I never knew of a rule that confession had to stop at a certain point during the mass. Can anybody who mentioned the rule above show where that is from, and why? I would honestly be quite surprised, as the priests here are quite orthodox (and give great sermons!).
 
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urbana:
First, confession is highly in demand at the chapel at my university, and the priests have made quite an effort to make it readily available. Besides arranging an appointment with a priest, there is confession every day except Sunday from 4:00 to 4:45 (mass at 5), usually with two priests now due to the long lines last year.

Speaking of long lines, I have a question regarding some earlier posts. Despite the availability of confession here, sometimes the line is long enough that there are still people in line at the beginning, middle, and even end of mass. As long as the priest in the confessional was not scheduled to celebrate that mass, confession has usually continued for as long as it takes for the line to end. I never knew of a rule that confession had to stop at a certain point during the mass. Can anybody who mentioned the rule above show where that is from, and why? I would honestly be quite surprised, as the priests here are quite orthodox (and give great sermons!).
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Well, in this area, the confessionals are in the Chapel and near the altar. The Priest is also usually the Celebrating Priest.
Otherwise, I’d guess there is nothing forbidding it or against it, but some might see people moving around and such might be distracting to the Sanctity of the Mass, but if it was say in another room or seperated area of the Chapel where the Mass would not be disturbed… 👍
Just my :twocents: and thoughts
 
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BlueRain:
I went to confession today, they usually end at 4:45 p.m. because the Mass Vigil starts at 5:00. Today there were many people. The priest left and there were at least five people who didn’t get a chance to confess. I understood the situation, but I think some people may have been upset, but I’m not sure. What would be the correct thing to do? Should the priest have stayed a bit longer? I think it would have taken another 1/2 hour at least to finish the confessions. I’m glad a lot people showed up though.
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If there is a larger crowd on the first Saturday, then I believe the priest should make more time either before or after Mass.

At my parish there are at least two confessionals running prior to Mass. It is not uncommon to see the priest who will be the celebrant leave the confessional with 15 minutes to go before Mass time, leaving people standing there. However, in my parish, it is not uncommon to see these priests come back following Mass to allow people to finish.

One other thought is about the time slot. We also have confession on Saturdays between 2:30 and 3:30 (posted), but it often runs until the 4:00pm vigil Mass. This is in addition to the confessions beginning 1/2 hour before each Mass. But, people often will come strolling in with 20,15, or even 5 minutes before Mass to stand in line. This has led my pastor to remind people, in the bulletin, that they really need to get there earlier, or take advantage of the Saturday confession.
 
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urbana:
First, confession is highly in demand at the chapel at my university, and the priests have made quite an effort to make it readily available. Besides arranging an appointment with a priest, there is confession every day except Sunday from 4:00 to 4:45 (mass at 5), usually with two priests now due to the long lines last year.

Speaking of long lines, I have a question regarding some earlier posts. Despite the availability of confession here, sometimes the line is long enough that there are still people in line at the beginning, middle, and even end of mass. As long as the priest in the confessional was not scheduled to celebrate that mass, confession has usually continued for as long as it takes for the line to end. I never knew of a rule that confession had to stop at a certain point during the mass. Can anybody who mentioned the rule above show where that is from, and why? I would honestly be quite surprised, as the priests here are quite orthodox (and give great sermons!).
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In our church the priest hearing Confession is also the celebrating priest so Confession has to stop for the Mass to start.
 
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Mary1973:
I try to find out the confession times of the various churches around where I live so I have a choice. We actually have a Carmelite chapel in a mall near where I work and usually go there during the week.
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Is that Bergan Mall in Paramus? If so, I heard it was closing. I would love to hear that it has/will not.
 
All our parishes, with the exception of the Cathderal, have a half hour of confession on a Saturday. All parishes have it at the same time after Saturday morning Mass. The exception is one parish that has an extra half hour slot between Sunday Masses. I find it really hard to get there given the lack of opportunity.
 
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