Waiting to get confession

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You have unrealistic expectations. If mass is starting and there are 15 people in line, and a church full of people waiting for mass to start I do not expect the priest to stay in the confessional. If there were another priest available at that time I’d understand it, but there isn’t. This is a very large parish with more than one confession time everyday. And, people can always make appointments if it is urgent.
 
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PeterT said:
It’s extremely sad for me to read that a priest stops hearing confessions when there are people waiting in line for the sacrament. It should be the priority for the priest to hear ALL OF THE CONFESSIONS even if that means that the start of the Mass will be delayed.
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Obviously the pastors of churches and rectors of cathedrals disagree with you. It’s also not fair to those who have arrived for a Mass to delay the start of the Mass; many people have work schedules or other commitments and cannot hang around waiting another 20 minutes for Mass to begin, and for Sunday Masses, it would likely cause logistical problems with the overall Mass schedule to delay a particular Mass.

I have had a priest at a Cathedral stop hearing confessions when it was time for him to say Mass, but he offered to hear the confessions of anyone still in line after the Mass even though that was not a scheduled confession time. Several of us took him up on the offer. However, I realize that sometimes that’s not possible for priests to stay after Mass if they have another urgent commitment after the Mass.

If someone is that desperate to get to confession then they have the option of arriving early to be first in line, or making an appointment to confess at another time. It’s not difficult. Obviously if the confession lines are so long that a priest is routinely having to cut off the line then the church might need to schedule more confession times or have them at a different time when the Mass is not happening immediately afterwards.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Obviously if the confession lines are so long that a priest is routinely having to cut off the line then the church might need to schedule more confession times or have them at a different time when the Mass is not happening immediately afterwards.
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This particular parish certainly could stand to make this change, but there aren’t enough priests for it at this time. We have a good number of young men in seminary right now, so hopefully in the not too distant future, there will be more priests available to hear confessions.

Until then, I’m very grateful to have a parish near me with multiple confession times 7 days a week! Many in less populated areas are not this fortunate.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
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PeterT:
It’s extremely sad for me to read that a priest stops hearing confessions when there are people waiting in line for the sacrament. It should be the priority for the priest to hear ALL OF THE CONFESSIONS even if that means that the start of the Mass will be delayed.
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Obviously the pastors of churches and rectors of cathedrals disagree with you.
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It’s totally unimportant that they disagree with me. What’s sad is that they disagree with the bishop and the church’s teachings.

Though I do know of priests who have delayed the start the Mass to hear someone’s confession. It’s not that uncommon to do so.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
You have unrealistic expectations. If mass is starting and there are 15 people in line, and a church full of people waiting for mass to start I do not expect the priest to stay in the confessional. If there were another priest available at that time I’d understand it, but there isn’t. This is a very large parish with more than one confession time everyday. And, people can always make appointments if it is urgent.
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Where did this exactly occur? Or is it just a hypothetical scenario that you made up?

All the Catholic churches I’ve ever been to that regularly have longer confession lines before the start of Mass have more than one priest assigned to them, so the priest hearing the confessions can keep hearing confessions while another priest celebrates the Mass.
 
I’m sorry, but I disagree with you, and with what you claim are the Church’s teachings.

It isn’t prudent or fair to delay the start of Mass for the sake of people still in line for confession. We publish the times for Confession, we hear Confessions at those times. If need be, we can usually cover additional time, i.e. there are still ten people in line, so the other priest comes and finishes off while the one who had been hearing Confessions starts Mass. But this isn’t always possible.

We publish the times, we offer it daily, and people know when it is. If they get turned away, they can come back. If it’s really urgent, they can ask after Mass or for an appointment. But it isn’t fair to everyone else to start Mass late.

-Fr ACEGC
 
edward_george1 said:
I’m sorry, but I disagree with you, and with what you claim are the Church’s teachings.
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I’m only going by what I’ve heard other bishops and priests state, including Bishop Robert Barron (in the video clip I provided) and what I’ve seen practiced at my parish and other nearby parishes. I guess other priests and dioceses have different priorities.
 
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PeterT said:
Or is it just a hypothetical scenario that you made up?
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No, it is not hypothetical. It is a real situation I ended up in in the last couple months.

I have no idea where the other priest was. I assume he was busy with other aspects of his ministry.
 
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I myself have seen exactly one case where the priest delayed Mass to finish hearing confessions. He was late to the church to begin with due to a traffic tie-up, and he only had 3 people waiting to confess, but with 2 of them he took about 10 minutes each. He was 20 minutes late starting Mass and one family who was there with small children ( this was a dinner hour weekday Mass) almost left before he emerged and began the Mass. I thought he probably did this because he himself was late and thus 20 minutes of the scheduled confession time was over before he even arrived.

The normal practice I see in several different dioceses is that the priest will usually cut off the line at Mass time and either offer to hear the remaining confessions after Mass or ask people to make an appointment or come back another time. In a few cases if there’s a second priest available then confessions continue during Mass, but that’s not the norm especially for OF.
 
Do you think there’s something wrong with making that a priority? Canon Law doesn’t.
Can. 843 §1. Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.
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Why would you argue with a priest about this? Why would you argue with bishops about this?

Clearly what Bishop Barron was talking about was confessions that come outside of a church. He spoke about the priest’s life possibly being in danger, and that is certainly not a usual situation in a church, more like in a war zone.

It is good that the parish has a lot of people coming to Confession, but delaying Mass for all those who arrived in a timely fashion is not the answer to a long Confession line shortly before Mass.
 
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Markyman said:
This has happened to me a few times and can be upsetting. I am waiting in line for confession right before mass and I don’t get the chance to do confession because the priest is done giving confessions and had to do mass. Can I still take communion if I’m in mortal sin?
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Are you in a position to get to the Church early and be one of the first in line for Confession? Do that and then ask your Priest what to do about taking communion when you think you are in mortal sin.

And avoid taking communion until you have spoken to your Priest. He has charge of your spiritual life.
 
It is very difficult for us to say what would be more pleasing to God. Maybe it is more pleasing to God that these sinners find a bit of a roadblock so they start taking their lives more seriously?
 
PeterT said:
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edward_george1:
Do you think there’s something wrong with making that a priority? Canon Law doesn’t.
Can. 843 §1. Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.
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What do you think would be more pleasing to God: to delay the start of Mass for about 10 minutes or even 15 minutes, so two or three penitents who might be in a state of mortal sin can receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then fully participate in the Mass, or to start the Mass on time and tell the penitents to come back after Mass (or a later time) to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
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In that case, all Masses regularly scheduled for 5 PM can start at 5:15 or 5:30 from now on. Problem solved.
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PeterT said:
fully participate in the Mass
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One can fully participate in the Mass without receiving the Eucharist. One can also make a spiritual communion during the Mass, and then the Mass can continue on time and the penitent can have their confessions be heard afterwards. If anything it can be a source of penance as they wait: “Jesus, I am so sorry for my sins, I wish I had never done them, because if I didn’t, I could be receiving you in the form of bread and wine”.
 
Fauken said:
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PeterT:
fully participate in the Mass
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One can fully participate in the Mass without receiving the Eucharist. One can also make a spiritual communion during the Mass, and then the Mass can continue on time and the penitent can have their confessions be heard afterwards. If anything it can be a source of penance as they wait: “Jesus, I am so sorry for my sins, I wish I had never done them, because if I didn’t, I could be receiving you in the form of bread and wine”.
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This!!!

This is sooo important…to become that sensitive to your sin, to know the extreme guilt you feel because of it, to know how it separates you from the Lord…when you are able to confess you will feel so lighter.

And when (and it will) that same sin comes around you will remember how it felt to have had to “sit one out” because of your sin. And that will vibrate through every member of your body,

Do I really want to do this?

Do I really want to haft to go back and confess this sin again?

Do I want to miss out at being present and partaking in the Lord’s supper?

The fact you have such a heart and desire to participate and receive the body of Christ, and know your own fault, your own grievous fault it, has penalized you.

If you’re really trying to grow closer to the Lord this is how it works…you become aware of the chasm sin creates.

A microcosm of what being separated from God is.

This is true spiritual growth…
 
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One day while Pope Pius XII was offering Mass, a man came into St. Peter’s Basilica looking for a priest to hear his confession. Pope Pius XII stopped the Mass, heard his confession and then resumed Mass. ❤️❤️❤️
 
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