Priestly Duties

[brycehecht]

I understand the priest has many duties. Is it possible to hear confessions every day as a priest, or is this up to the discretion of the local bishop, (how many days they can hear them)? Also, can a priest celebrate daily mass for his parish if he wants? I want to be a diocesan priest, but I want to be a priest like Padre Pio who heard confessions for 14 hours of his day.

Thanks!

 

[JerryZ]

From what I understand a priest can celebrate mass twice a day normally and requires to have a special permission from his Bishop if he requires to say it a 3rd time. Although the Pope can provide a blanket permit for very special occasions.

Maybe some one else can comment on the confessions…

Peace

 

[JD27076]

In this society, you’ll probably be sitting in the confessional all alone for 13 hours.

 

[Dorothy]

I understand the priest has many duties. Is it possible to hear confessions every day as a priest, or is this up to the discretion of the local bishop, (how many days they can hear them)? Also, can a priest celebrate daily mass for his parish if he wants? I want to be a diocesan priest, but I want to be a priest like Padre Pio who heard confessions for 14 hours of his day.

Thanks!

Padre Pio belonged to an order, he was not a secular priest with varied duties. And, it would seem, that he was strongly led by the Holy Spirit, and so gifted, to hear confessions for many hours at a time.

And, right now, I just thought of Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney. He was a secular priest and heard confessions for many hours!

So, perhaps it is about the Holy Spirit and getting permission from the bishop?

 

[InThePew]

Diocesan priests generally celebrate mass most days of the week. At Christmas and particularly at Easter this becomes several times a day over several days! Hearing confessions (or indeed doing anything for 14 hours straight probably wouldn’t be too good for your health! Most priests work six days a week, living where they work and, unlike a regular job, there’s really no such thing as “after hours”. Given this, taking care of your own spiritual and physical well being takes on a whole new importance and is why bishops will often restrict their priests from saying more than a certain number of masses within a particular time period.

 

[Joannm]

If you are a diocesan priest it most likely will be impossible to sit in a confessional for 14 hours a day with all the daily duties a parish priest has to perform. You might be lucky to to be able to hear confessions for a 1/2 hour after daily Mass.

 

[bobballen_18]

I don’t know where to verify this, but as far as I know, there is no restriction on how often a priest can hear confessions. Now, how often a priest hears confessions will probably have at least a little bit to do with how much he encourages his parishioners to go. I personally think a priest should set aside a good chunk of time for confessions and regularly encourage his parishioners to take advantage of that time.

At my parish, the priest “advertises” ten minutes of confession time per day before daily Mass, and half an hour on Saturdays. In my opinion, that is not nearly enough. The priest before him had it quite a bit better - he would be in the confessional a half hour before each Mass (well, 25 minutes of availability) and an hour on Saturdays. That schedule gives parishioners a little bit more flexibility with time, which is important.

 

[IvanHR]

First thing’s first: brycehecht thank you!

You made me remember one thing I want to do as a priest: be helpful to all the believers in my parish-to-be (that’s IF I become a priest).

I had similar thoughts like you (confessing whenever someone wants to and stuff like that) and it just came to me that I’d rather be a diocesan priest than a monk (I was seriously thinking about Dominicans). Of course, there’s still a long road ahead, and whatever happens. I hope it’s God’s doing.

Cheers! I hope you’ll be a great priest.