Question About Confession During Covid

[sealabeag]

Hi all,
Where I live there has been no confession since the beginning of Covid, 8 months ago. I have managed to get a few times in that time, though, by driving to another area that has confessions sometimes, depending on what level restrictions are at. I would love to get confessions again soon, but can’t.

Anyway, I would like someone to help me understand how someone should deal with a situation where they are unable to receive the sacrament of penance.

• If one were to fall into mortal sin, and repent sincerely with the intention of getting to confession when possible, should one still abstain from receiving the Eucharist? I always assumed the answer to this would be “Yes”, but someone implied the opposite in a recent comment on the forums and I’m a bit confused now
• I know at the beginning of Covid there were certain dispensations and plenary indulgences offered under certain conditions - are any if those still in place, for instance regarding confession, etc?

And if anyone has any other relevant thoughts on this please share.
I guess I’m just feeling a bit discombobulated, as my spiritual life has always revolved around regular confession, Mass and Adoration. Now everything is erratic and I have to try to reconfigure everything.
It’s hard! :-1:t2:

 

[Phemie]

Have you tried simply calling your pastor and asking to go to confession? That’s what I did before we resumed weekly confession. We’re a small parish and Fr. had probably noticed that I hadn’t been receiving so he set a time for me to present for confession.

 

[sealabeag]

I did that once, at the very beginning of Covid, however I would not like to do it again as our priest made it clear to me he was making an exception and is not very personable. Not a criticism, just the way it is.
Thanks for the idea, though.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

• If one were to fall into mortal sin, and repent sincerely with the intention of getting to confession when possible, should one still abstain from receiving the Eucharist? I always assumed the answer to this would be “Yes”, but someone implied the opposite in a recent comment on the forums and I’m a bit confused now

First of all, how is your parish offering regular Eucharist without also offering regular confession? The parishes I’ve seen are either offering both Confession and public Mass with Eucharist, or else they are offering neither.

Second, let’s say you do somehow find yourself in some situation where you have not been able to confess a grave sin but Communion is being offered. The applicable provision in the Code of Canon Law is this one:

Can. 916 A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

The discussions on this on past threads have revolved around what constitutes a “grave reason” to receive. Everybody agrees that if you are in danger of immediate death, such as you’re very sick in the hospital or you’re about to go into battle, then that’s a “grave reason”. The confusion is coming from the fact that some people here think the pandemic creates a danger of death and hence a “grave reason” to receive, even if you haven’t had an opportunity to confess. Other people don’t think just having a pandemic going on while you’re not sick and are social distancing, etc presents such a “grave” situation.

I would recommend that in order to keep from confusing yourself even more, you talk to a priest about this at the earliest opportunity. Like I said above, if a church is offering public Mass with distribution of Holy Communion, then confessions are almost certainly available, at least by appointment. If you try to make an appointment and the priest says he is not hearing confessions at all for whatever reason, then you can ask him what to do about Communion and follow what he says.

• I know at the beginning of Covid there were certain dispensations and plenary indulgences offered under certain conditions - are any if those still in place, for instance regarding confession, etc?

The Pope’s March decree on plenary indulgences in the time of COVID is still in force.

If you are trying to get a plenary indulgence, and you can’t get to confession and/or communion (and/or you can’t fulfill the third condition of prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, I presume that would be if someone is too sick or too busy caring for a sick person to be able to pray), then you need to have the “will” to fulfill all of the missing conditions “as soon as possible”.

 

[Jen7]

I’m confused. How is it okay to receive to prevent desecration, when it’s a desecration to receive in mortal sin?

With the Easter duty - part of the Easter duty is to confess mortal sins annually. If you can’t do that you can’t do the duty. I don’t think there’s a pass to receive Communion w/o Confession so part of the duty gets fulfilled.

 

[Kima]

I did that once, at the very beginning of Covid, however I would not like to do it again as our priest made it clear to me he was making an exception and is not very personable. Not a criticism, just the way it is.
Thanks for the idea, though.

WOW, that´s really bad of him. You have THE RIGHT to access confession whenever you need to regardless of the pandemic. Make sure you hold him to it or find another priest. You are not to live in mortal sin just because he´d prefer not to see you for confession.

 

[HeDa]

The priest has now had months to find a way to hearing Confessions in a safe way for both him and the penitent. There are lots of examples in the internet that he could get some inspiration from.

I can only think of, if the priest is elderly or has an illness that causes him to be in more danger than others, then his bishop might have told him to ask other priests to help out with confessions, Mass and other sacraments.

 

[sealabeag]

First of all, how is your parish offering regular Eucharist without also offering regular confession? The parishes I’ve seen are either offering both Confession and public Mass with Eucharist, or else they are offering neither.

I don’t know, but they are. I can’t speak to my priest’s personal reasons and so I’ll have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is doing what he thinks is best. Although I would disagree. Oh, and Mass hasn’t been regular, it has been available occasionally, depending on what level covid restrictions are available. I’d say Mass, with pretty severe restrictions in terms of numbers, etc., has been available for less than half of the past 8 months.

Like I said above, if a church is offering public Mass with distribution of Holy Communion, then confessions are almost certainly available, at least by appointment.

They aren’t, unfortunately.

Can. 916 A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

Thanks for this quote, that’s what I was looking for! Yeah, I don’t feel that it’s a grave reason. Maybe it is, but my conscience would feel clearer just not receiving and waiting until I can get confession somewhere.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m sorry that your priest is not offering confession to those in need, especially with the Eucharist being regularly distributed. That is a bit mind-boggling to me. It doesn’t seem right of him to do that, but who knows what’s going on behind the scenes. I hope you’re able to find a way to go to confession soon.

 

[sealabeag]

Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. Our priest isn’t a bad man, I think it’s just an error in judgement driven by the fear of Covid and maybe he’s very busy, I don’t know. But the spiritual effects of it can’t be good… I would word my thoughts more strongly but in the case of criticising a priest I just try to err on the side of biting my tongue.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

That’s very charitable of you. God Bless you.

 

[InThePew]

First of all, how is your parish offering regular Eucharist without also offering regular confession? The parishes I’ve seen are either offering both Confession and public Mass with Eucharist, or else they are offering neither.

This is what I’m also struggling with. I could understand if there was no public administration of the sacraments (except in danger of death) but I don’t understand how the mass could be being celebrated (and communion offered to the faithful) but not confession.

The discussions on this on past threads have revolved around what constitutes a “grave reason” to receive.

Deprivation from the eucharist for an extended period would probably count as a grave reason.

 

[Anne1964]

Sadly, there a number of parishes in my diocese that offer Mass or Communion services, but no opportunities for confession.

 

[sealabeag]

This is what I’m also struggling with. I could understand if there was no public administration of the sacraments (except in danger of death) but I don’t understand how the mass could be being celebrated (and communion offered to the faithful) but not confession.

Yes, it’s unfortunate.

 

[Socrates92]

The only catch being it is impossible to know if you have successfully done this.

 

[InThePew]

Sadly, there a number of parishes in my diocese that offer Mass or Communion services, but no opportunities for confession.

This sounds a bit bizarre to me but, anyway. Covid brings its own set of challenges and restrictions but, while there’s of course a first time for everything, I can’t imagine a diocese allowing public worship (and the faithful to receive communion) but not allowing confessions - if anything, the reverse is more likely. So, assuming that there’s not some bizarre, backwards restriction in place then the default position is that a priest has an obligation to hear your confession at any reasonable time and you should hold him to this.

Granted, there are priests who seem to regard confessions outside of scheduled times (or indeed, at all) as an inconvenience (all too often “by appointment” really means “don’t ask”) and, while they won’t exactly say no, their reluctance is more than a bit obvious. That though, is their problem - if fulfilling the minimum expectations of their ministry is a hardship then that’s just too bad. Be polite, but also be persistent - door stepping or being able to be there right away is always a good tactic. If one parish doesn’t answer the phone, try another. If you keep getting the runaround, call the bishop’s office - not to complaint but to ask if they could help you to find a priest; you never know, you might even get the bishop himself!

 

[sealabeag]

I know it might sound hard to believe but I assure you, this is the case where I live. And has been for 8 months - occasional Mass, no confession. At all. As I said in a reply to another user, at the very beginning of Covid lockdowns, because I wanted confession so badly, I did contact my parish priest and ask if I could get confession. He obliged, but made it clear that this was an exception. And I would honestly need to be in a bad state of sin to humble myself to the point of feeling like such a nuisance to him again. We have one other priest in our parish, and, to be very charitable, that’s a no-go. So yeah, my only option is to seek confession elsewhere, which I will do, when possible.
The problem is that, although, yes, priests may be obliged to provide the faithful with the sacraments, we the faithful are only human, and don’t want to feel like a nuisance, or to be humbled by the reaction of a priest. But of course, if we were holy enough, we wouldn’t care! Still not holy, I guess.

 

[Jen7]

Well whoops. I don’t know what’s wrong.

 

[InThePew]

I know it might sound hard to believe but I assure you, this is the case where I live. And has been for 8 months - occasional Mass, no confession.

Okay that is weird. First up, contact your bishop’s office and ask if priests are allowed to hear confessions at this time.

If the answer is yes, then that’s your cue. Expecting someone to do their job doesn’t make you a nuisance - I know that’s how it seems from the reaction of some priests but, if it helps, remember that you’re kind of helping to save their soul too! If nothing else, their inconvenience is their problem unrelated to your level of holiness because you’re expecting to be holy “enough” this side of heaven it’s not going to happen.

 

[Phemie]

In spite of the fact that Confession is offered once a week (no full parking lot that day), our priest granted General Absolution after the Confiteor at each of the three Christmas Masses. No mention of the requirement of Can. 962 §1.

Long before covid, our parish went through about 10 years of no scheduled Confession. It started when one Pastor announced that since no one came to Confession he was no longer wasting his time sitting in the reconciliation room for an hour each Saturday. From that time on, unless you made an appointment, something he never even suggested, or tapped him on the shoulder before Mass, the only time Confession was offered was at the Lenten and Advent Penitential Services.

Scheduled weekly Confession was not reinstated until the third subsequent Pastor, the one who also reinstated kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer, something that we’d been told not to do by a previous Pastor.