The Case for Sunday Confessions

[phil19034]

phil19034:

I was NOT suggesting that they need to work more hours in the day.

IIRC, the suggestion was that they should stop doing the things they’re doing now – that is, the things that no one else is doing, but which need done nevertheless! – and start doing other things, too.

No… the suggestions is to reevaluate priorities and make sure making time for confession is near the top.

 

[Mi_Rose]

Yes for our priests, the eighty six year old with health problems and the one who had been up for 36 hours due to his work schedule,when Sunday mass started. We are lucky to have mass and will be merged with another parish if either of them can’t say mass. That is the priority.

 

[Gorgias]

No… the suggestions is to reevaluate priorities and make sure making time for confession is near the top.

Fair enough.

But, when there’s not help in doing the normal “keeping the parish running” requirements, how do we decide how to triage? In the end, it seems like the suggestion is “keep doing that” but also “do more of this and this, as well”!

 

[babochka]

Talitha712:

It is exhausting for them. If they had to do Confession on top of it they’d drop.

It’s too exhausting to sit in a booth for 30 minutes?

No, too exhausting to hear Confessions. People need physical and mental rest.

 

[anon65111186]

I agree, I think I would go to confession more often if it were more available, like on Sundays.

 

[babochka]

OK… so, the direction this thread is going, seems to be (at least from some posters) that we need to do a better job:

• coordinating confession times among neighboring parishes
• choosing times that are accessible to people in varying life situations and geographic locations

rather than simply saying “add more” or “encourage people to blow off Mass in order to go to confession.”

So… what’s stopping ya’ll from going to your parish’s pastoral council and making these requests? “Hey, can we coordinate the confession times of St Agatha, St Bernard, and St Columbkille parishes, so that they’re not all at the same time? Is there someone … oh, say, a Dean or a bishop, maybe, who can ask these pastors to work together to enhance our ability to have access to the sacraments?”

I’m in agreement here. I checked nearby parishes (within 6 miles)

Parish A - Saturday at 3
Parish B - Saturday at 4
Parish C - Saturday at 4
Parish D - Satruday at 4
Parish E - Saturday at 4:30
Parish F - Saturday at 4:00 and Tuesday at 7
Parish G- Saturday at 3:30
Parish H - Saturday at 3:30; Wednesday at 6:00 (Spanish)

Yes, I do know what a blessing it is to have so many Catholic Churches within 6 miles of my home.

I think your suggestion is an excellent one. Perhaps it just isn’t something that anyone has thought of, or the idea has come up from time to time, but everyone suffers from inertia. And sometimes there is just tremendous resistance to change. If you’re moving Confession times vs. adding times, the people who are used to going at the old time will complain. It is nearly impossible to please everyone.

I’m on the parish council, but we’re so tiny that we just do what works. We have Sunday mornings and before all scheduled services because that’s when the parishioners are there, though we do know to send Father a text to make sure he gets there early if we want confession before a weekday service. We sometimes have non-parishioners come by because they see on Masstimes.org that we have Sunday morning Confessions.

 

[Talitha712]

It’s too exhausting to sit in a booth for 30 minutes?

I get what you’re saying. It sounds like the easiest part of being a priest, sitting in a booth for 30 minutes. But the thing is, these two priests aren’t like that. They are invested in their flock. When I go to them, they are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually there. They listen, care, and advise. They offer comfort for the hurting and answers for the questioning. It’s so very different from going to a priest who listens to a list of sins and rattles off absolution and a penance. It takes energy.

I have had the misfortune of priests who “just sit there” before. Often, they are burned out priests who tried so hard to be perfect before that they neglected themselves too far. Such priests can cause more harm than good. Is it nice to have more frequent Confession times? Absolutely. But when two parishes are run by two priests, each saying up to 3 Masses a day, every day, with hospital calls and private appointments, weddings, funerals, Baptisms, homilies to be written and practiced, weekly Confession, the requirements of their prayer and community life (my priests are members of a religious order) it gets to be a lot.

Ultimately, the best thing for my parish is for my priests to not become burnt out or destroy their health. If they say Sunday Confessions is too much, then it’s too much.

 

[Tulitas]

Our priest doesn’t refuse anyone, but I’m baffled as to why people just can’t be responsible and go during the posted hours.

 

[Mi_Rose]

If I asked I am sure my priest would say yes but why would I pile work on him. I go when it is offered.

 

[babochka]

Our priest doesn’t refuse anyone, but I’m baffled as to why people just can’t be responsible and go during the posted hours.

If the posted hours were Tuesday at 10:30 for every parish around, could you make it as easily and regularly as you do now? Or would you have to make arrangements to take off work, possibly dealing with a loss of income? It isn’t a matter of irresponsibility, it is a matter of conflicting responsibilities.

 

[Gorgias]

I checked nearby parishes (within 6 miles)

Know what? I’m guessing that these times are scheduled in the way that they are, in order to allow (sufficient?) time for confessions and then go right into the anticipated Mass. So, if my intuition is correct, then the problem is bigger than we thought: it’s not the confession times that are the issue – it’s that there are overlapping Mass times!

That’s a harder problem to solve. After all, if you ask a priest to change his confession time to morning or earlier in the afternoon, you’ve just asked him to tie up his whole day. He won’t be able to schedule things in between. So, you’ll get push-back.

But, in order to get the Mass times scheduled so that they’re coordinated with each other (this place at 4, that one at 5, that other one at 6), you have to get the diocese involved. After all, you can’t mess with Mass times willy-nilly… and people get really disturbed when you do!

So… the problem appears to be both priest responsibilities and schedules and Mass schedules. Sounds like something to request that our pastoral councils address, and then push up the diocesan chain of command for their (name removed by moderator)ut and recommendations!

 

[babochka]

But if you’re tying all scheduled Confessions to Saturday evening Mass times, you’re still going to run into the problem of them all occurring on Saturday afternoon, even if you stagger the Mass times a bit. I agree, it is a start, but if someone is working a retail shift from 11-7 on a Saturday, it won’t help much.

 

[Gorgias]

But if you’re tying all scheduled Confessions to Saturday evening Mass times, you’re still going to run into the problem of them all occurring on Saturday afternoon, even if you stagger the Mass times a bit. I agree, it is a start, but if someone is working a retail shift from 11-7 on a Saturday, it won’t help much.

Agreed. Maybe the solution is asking the priests to collaborate? Offer confessions at one parish at a different time (Saturday at 9am? another time?), but always at the same parish (after all, it’s too confusing to ask “are 9am confessions at St Aloysius this week? Or at St Zachary?”.

However, this asks priests to travel – only once every six weeks – to an ‘extra’ confessions session at a neighboring parish. Extra work? Sure. But two hours (including travel time, etc, etc) every six weeks doesn’t sound burdensome…

 

[Talitha712]

This is a good idea but I think I’m missing something. Why would the priests have to travel?

 

[DarkLight]

For a long time my shift was 2pm-11pm. I’ve also had 10am-7pm. That pretty effectively meant I couldn’t do the scheduled times on any sort of reliable basis.

 

[Melodeonist]

This would be great for people like me who work Saturday afternoons and can’t seems to go a day without falling into sin. Yes, it’s my fault because half the time I get really lazy and stop caring (not that I want to!)

 

[Gorgias]

This is a good idea but I think I’m missing something. Why would the priests have to travel?

If not, then the extra confession time would be at a different parish each week. Too confusing.

 

[Talitha712]

What if the parishes agreed to permanently stagger confession times? That’s what happened in my town. The shrine offers it at noon, the Carmelite parish at 4pm, and the archdiocesan parish at 7pm. It doesn’t serve everyone since all three are on Saturday so some private appointments have to be made, but people seem to appreciate the fact that they’re offered at different times.

 

[Gorgias]

What if the parishes agreed to permanently stagger confession times?

That, of course, would work too!

I was just guessing that, since they’re all Saturday afternoon times for the parishes near @Babochka, this means that they were all “confessions immediately prior to Saturday Mass.” To stagger the times, then, would require the priests to re-configure their Saturday schedules. If they’re willing to do such a thing, then great!

 

[TheOldColonel]

Why not have a priest say mass alone while everyone is going to Confession? Then, people can join the lone priest at Communion time, recieve Communion, and head straight for the door. It would be extremely efficient.