Use of the Confessional Screen

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LindaJ

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Dear Friends,

I hope I am not being too personal but…confession has always made me very nervous (that is probably why I don’t go as often as I should). I usually use the confessional screen. But sometimes I feel foolish using the screen because it seems so old fashioned. But realistically, this is the only way I think I am able to face the confessional. The parish I belong to gives you the choice of using the confessional screen or sitting in a chair opposite of the priest. I am wondering…do people still use the screen or do most sit before the priest? For some reason, I am thinking the most people sit before the priest and that the screen has become a thing of the past. Please enlighten me. Thanks so much 🙂
LindaJ
 
I meet with my priest in his office. This is just because I work during the regular hours for confession so I have to make appointments. I find talking face to face allows me to be more personal, but then I have never used a screen.
 
I’ve wondered about this myself. Personally, I use the confessional screen.
 
I tend to just sit with the priest in my own parish. Probably because I think it would be awkward to use a screen when I know him so well . When I attend reconciliation at another parish or with a priest I don’t know personally, I tend to use the screen.

I actually like the old fashioned confessional booths, probably because I remember them from when I was a kid. I think they add a certain solemnity to the sacrament that - at least for me - gives the event a bit more gravity and helps me appreciate the penitential humility of reconciliation :gopray: . Too bad hardly anyone uses them anymore.

Sometimes just sitting there speaking with the priest is a bit too informal - more like therapy than confession. But either way I value the sacrement as a true gift from God. 👍
 
When I knew my priest well I was able to confess face to face. Most of the time I do not know the priest well so I use the screen. I am able to kneel and close my eyes and make a better confession. I am sure there is nonverbal communication that is being missed out on but when I confess face to face I forget things and I stutter and just want to get out fast.
 
I prefer the confessional screen, too, but I grew up in Catholic schools back in the day.

I have a trust issue, I suppose, in meeting face-to-face with the parish priest as opposed to being anonymous. Ours is a new priest to the parish and I’ve been getting to know him through certain volunteer opportunities for the church. I guess I’m too ashamed or embarrassed to have him know my business for all time. How does one forgive and forget? and do priests do that? I know they absolve our sins but then are they able to not look at you differently the next time they work with you or think twice about accepting your request for a particular assignment…things like that?
 
I would like to make two comments. One is that it is very clear in the documents that the only proper place to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation is in a room specifically set aside for this Sacrament. Some still refer to this Reconciliation room as a Confessional. The garden, the golf course, an office are all improper places. Second is that a screen must according to Canon Law always be available for those who wish to use it.

Personally only hearing a voice and not seeing a person is better for me.
 
In our parish nearly everybody just uses the confessionals–no face to face–because that’s the way the church is built. If you want to go face to face you would need to make an appointment. I also know some parishioners who feel that they know all their own priests too well to be comfortable even behind the screen, so they go to the next parish over.

JimG
 
Br. Rich SFO:
Second is that a screen must according to Canon Law always be available for those who wish to use it.
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“Those who wish” – Including the priest.

I was recently told – But I do not know the veracity of this “fact” – That the priest has the right to force screened confessions. That is: The penitent has the option of choosing screen or no screen, only if the priest first allows the option of no screen. (The priest cannot force a no-screen confession, if the penitent chooses the screen)

Can anyone verify this?

(BTW: Me? I go both ways, depending on a variety of circumstances)
 
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JimG:
In our parish nearly everybody just uses the confessionals–no face to face–because that’s the way the church is built. If you want to go face to face you would need to make an appointment. I also know some parishioners who feel that they know all their own priests too well to be comfortable even behind the screen, so they go to the next parish over.

JimG
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And then there is the old saw that for *really bad * sins, you go to the ethnic parish in the next town, and confess to Fr Stanislaus (from the old country), who understands no English and always give the same penance: “T’ree Hail Mary… T’ree Hail Mary.”
😛
 
That is correct. The Priest can decide that he will only hear Confessions with a screen, face to face would not be an option. Also a priest should refuse to hear (outside of danger of death) a Confession outside of the “confessional”.
 
I did not know that confession should only take place in a confessional. When I was in Indonesia there was no confessional in the chapel where we attended. The Priest came on Sunday’s for Mass from another Church south of town and would hear confessions before Mass. However, he would sit in the back of the chapel and we would just talk quietly into his ear while others kept a discrete distance. There was no imminent threat of death involved so now I’m wondering if those confessions were valid?
 
For many years I went face-to-face and thought that was just fine. Then a few years ago when I started attending ‘mornings of recollection’ I started to go into the Confessional because that’s what everyone else was doing. Well to my surprise, I found that I could reflect much better in the Confessional and seem to feel a little more sense of the awe of the Sacrament…more like the unseen voice is really that of Jesus, (which it really is when you consider the priest is ‘Persona Christi’). Anyway those are just my thoughts on the matter. Thank you Jesus for leaving us the Sacrament of Reconciliation! (BTW I still go face-to-face if I need to).🙂
 
Br. Rich SFO:
Also a priest should refuse to hear (outside of danger of death) a Confession outside of the “confessional”.
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Can. 964 §3 Except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional.
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I do not know that I would equate a “just reason” only with “in danger of death” (but I am not a canon lawyer).
 
<<<Well to my surprise, I found that I could reflect much better in the Confessional and seem to feel a little more sense of the awe of the Sacrament…>>>

**I had the same experience serveral years ago at a Call to Holiness Conference. I was amazed at how much better the sacrament “felt” when I was no longer distracted by the priest sitting across form me. I especially liked kneeling, and the sense of privacy and of being with Jesus was wonderful. **
 
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Charles:
he would sit in the back of the chapel and we would just talk quietly into his ear while others kept a discrete distance. There was no imminent threat of death involved so now I’m wondering if those confessions were valid?
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In order to make a sacrament invalid, there must be a defect in either matter or form. The matter of the Sacrament of Penance is the sins of the penitent, and the form is the words of absolution given by the priest. The location where this takes place makes no difference at all to the validity of the sacrament. It may be incorrect to celebrate this sacrament outside the confessional or reconciliation room, but it does not invalidate the sacrament.

Now here comes my opinion - I think the “just reason” mentioned in a reply above is very broad. There are many instances when it is not possible to use the confessional - the sick in hospitals, the homebound, at large religious conferences away from church buildings, etc, etc. We want more people to go to confession - let’s not place restrictions where they are not necessary.

To answer the original question - I’m screen all the way - it seems more like talking to Jesus if I’m not face to face with the priest.

Betsy
 
Don’t misunderstand me. I meant that if a Reconcilliation room or Confessional is available it should be used. Because it is 200 feet down the hall from his office is not sufficient reason not to go there to celebrate the Sacrament. The example of the priest sitting at the back of the church is fine if there is no “Confessional”. Or as with some Reconciliation services there are not enough “Confessionals” for the number of visiting priests. Then sitting in the pews is also ok.
 
Dear LindaJ.,

I always use the screen and have for over 50 years. It is up to the penitent to decide whether to confess face-to-face or with the screen. Either way is acceptable. I just feel more comfortable using the screen. I also like the idea of kneeling and seeking forgiveness as opposed to sitting more comfortably in a chair. Sitting face-to-face seems too Freudian, like babbling to a psychiatrist.
 
My parish only has the confessionals which were built long before face-to-face was an option. Having become accustomed to that, I think I’d have a much more difficult time (personally–YMMV) going to confession at all if behind the screen were to become unavailable.
 
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larryo:
Dear LindaJ.,

I always use the screen and have for over 50 years. It is up to the penitent to decide whether to confess face-to-face or with the screen. Either way is acceptable. I just feel more comfortable using the screen. I also like the idea of kneeling and seeking forgiveness as opposed to sitting more comfortably in a chair. Sitting face-to-face seems too Freudian, like babbling to a psychiatrist.
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Your mention of face to face confession seeming to be to Freudian struck a cord with me. It was as if a lightbulb went off in my head…Sitting there, just “talking” is too much like seeing your threapist…
I have only had one behind the screen experience, and it was a very good one…I was amazed at much easier it was to concentrate on what I needed to say…I also liked the kneeling…I felt more like a penitent that way…Not a patient.
 
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