"The Light is on for you."

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whatevergirl

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This is the Diocese of St Petersburg’s Lent initiative (their ‘slogan’ in the title)…to have confessions heard all over the Diocese this coming Wednesday…every church will be open for confession from 5:30pm to 8pm. It’s neat, the parish we attend now, one of the priests is hearing confessions at his residence. I plan to go…just curious…anyone’s parish/diocese doing something similiar for Lent?🙂
 
I have a better slogan: “The Door of Mercy is open for you.”
 
I think the slogan is to mean the confessional light, and God’s Light…sort of a play on words. I don’t know if we should be saying that there is one slogan better than another…this is the slogan the Diocese has selected, and I think it deserves respect.
 
whatevergirl said:
I think the slogan is to mean the confessional light, and God’s Light…sort of a play on words. I don’t know if we should be saying that there is one slogan better than another…this is the slogan the Diocese has selected, and I think it deserves respect.
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What’s a confessional light?

Sorry about my comment. I wasn’t trying to dis the slogan, but I guess I did.
 
Ok…sorry to seem so serious in reply.:o

The ‘light’ that is green, and is ‘on’ to show a priest is available for confession. Maybe that is totally the wrong wording. lol

For the priest that we are going to see for confession, his porch light will be on. 👍
 
whatevergirl said:
Ok…sorry to seem so serious in reply.:o

The ‘light’ that is green, and is ‘on’ to show a priest is available for confession. Maybe that is totally the wrong wording. lol

For the priest that we are going to see for confession, his porch light will be on. 👍
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I’ve never seen such a green light, but I have seen a red bulb over the confessional door. It’s hard to see if it’s on or not, though, given the lighting in the church. I think green would be better though. 🙂

I love the idea of going to a priest’s house! 👍
 
We’re having a parish “Penance service;” most churches do. In our diocese, the parishes invite priests from other parishes to hear confessions.
 
SAN DIEGO DIOCESE usally has like certain churches each week have like 20 priests stationed for at least one day for lenten confessions. My parish, St. Mark’s, is scheduled on April 6th, Holy Monday.
 
passus said:
We’re having a parish “Penance service;” most churches do. In our diocese, the parishes invite priests from other parishes to hear confessions.
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Yes, that is happening also…and then our parish priest is going to be hearing them at his house…I’m assuming this would be face to face confessions, then? I have been to face to face before, but I prefer anonymity…but God knows it’s me, lol:D…so, I guess I shouldn’t be concerned.:o
 
Eucharisted said:
I’ve never seen such a green light, but I have seen a red bulb over the confessional door. It’s hard to see if it’s on or not, though, given the lighting in the church. I think green would be better though. 🙂

I love the idea of going to a priest’s house! 👍
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Yes, we have red and green lights…red, of course, someone is ‘in’ the confessional, and green means GO! 😃
 
Yes, as KCT said, we have it in Baltimore.

One priest was quoted in our diocesan paper saying that he would do the whole program for the whole of Lent just for the sake of one of the confessions he heard on a Wednesday night. Someone had been alienated and away from the church for many years and came home that night.

At another parish, there were 50 people waiting for the priest to arrive. Two priests stayed there that night for an hour longer than planned.

I’m thinking about going over to the Cathedral on Wednesday night to see how it is. I almost feel bad about it, since I go to confession regularly all year, but I want to see it for myself.

I love the title of the program. Remember the old Motel 6 ads that said, “We’ll leave the light on for you?” Didn’t that make you feel as if you would be welcome? So they’re leaving the lights on at the churches and over the confessionals for anyone who wants to come. I think it’s just the best thing ever!

I made sure to send a thank you note to Archbishop O’Brien for doing this. Maybe everyone should thank their bishops, so they keep doing great stuff like this.

Betsy
 
Eucharisted said:
I’ve never seen such a green light, but I have seen a red bulb over the confessional door. It’s hard to see if it’s on or not, though, given the lighting in the church. I think green would be better though. 🙂

I love the idea of going to a priest’s house! 👍
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Many of the old confessionals have the center door for the priest and the side doors on either side of the priest’s door for the penitents. When the green light is on, over the center door, it indicates that the priest is in. When the red light is on over the side doors, it indicates that someone is inside. When the light is off, you may enter.

We still use our old confessionals in addition to the “Reconcilliation Room”. In fact the old confessionals are used most of the time now, since our present pastor prefers the old ones. However, he will only allow us to use one side. So no-one is on the opposite side while we go to confession. I think most people are grateful for that.
 
Our confessional has red lights. I always open the door very carefully, and last time I told Fr. that I’m always afraid someone is going to be there. Why? he asked. The lights are confusing. When his red light is on, does that mean go or stop? He agreed and said he wants to change his to white or clear. As it is, one red light means “go”, 2 red lights mean “stop”.

This weekend and I went on the face to face side, after a minute or so, he put up his hand and motioned me to stop. And leans over and says “I can only do one at a time” I guess someone had opened the door to the other side. I never heard anything. Then when I proceeded he tells me - no one’s there. Are you SURE?

I think this “The light is on for you” program is awesome! I wish our diocese would take a page from it!
 
acadian said:
Our confessional has red lights. I always open the door very carefully, and last time I told Fr. that I’m always afraid someone is going to be there. Why? he asked. The lights are confusing. When his red light is on, does that mean go or stop? He agreed and said he wants to change his to white or clear. As it is, one red light means “go”, 2 red lights mean “stop”.

This weekend and I went on the face to face side, after a minute or so, he put up his hand and motioned me to stop. And leans over and says “I can only do one at a time” I guess someone had opened the door to the other side. I never heard anything. Then when I proceeded he tells me - no one’s there. Are you SURE?

I think this “The light is on for you” program is awesome! I wish our diocese would take a page from it!
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I was thinking if would be less confusing with a traffic signal hanging above the door. lol 😃

Seriously though, the red and green lights are very helpful to keep things moving smoothly.
 
baltobetsy said:
Yes, as KCT said, we have it in Baltimore.

One priest was quoted in our diocesan paper saying that he would do the whole program for the whole of Lent just for the sake of one of the confessions he heard on a Wednesday night. Someone had been alienated and away from the church for many years and came home that night.

At another parish, there were 50 people waiting for the priest to arrive. Two priests stayed there that night for an hour longer than planned.

I’m thinking about going over to the Cathedral on Wednesday night to see how it is. I almost feel bad about it, since I go to confession regularly all year, but I want to see it for myself.

I love the title of the program. Remember the old Motel 6 ads that said, “We’ll leave the light on for you?” Didn’t that make you feel as if you would be welcome? So they’re leaving the lights on at the churches and over the confessionals for anyone who wants to come. I think it’s just the best thing ever!

I made sure to send a thank you note to Archbishop O’Brien for doing this. Maybe everyone should thank their bishops, so they keep doing great stuff like this.

Betsy
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Hi betsy;

It’s weird, but I was going to write a letter to my bishop ‘complaining’ about the prior parish we were at, but thanking him for this idea, would be a better route. I still might send a separate letter letting him know that not all parishes are subscribing to tradition, and there are some idle abuses out there…borderline, perhaps. But, what a great idea to thank him for this wonderful idea!! 🙂
 
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