When you go to confession and find it is only face to face

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Face to face makes me more nervous and therefore more prone to not saying all my sins (which is a sin in and of itself). Behind the screen I feel more calm and say all my sins.

So for me, behind the screen is best.
 
Just recently I went to my first drive through Confession.
There was no screen option and Confessions had not been happening in my Diocese for weeks. After the Archbishop allowed them to start, my regular Parish wasn’t having any yet but another Parish in my area was having a drive through on Saturday afternoon.

Had this been a choice, I probably would have gone behind a screen because I have never confessed to this Priest before. But I actually ended up having a very good experience. I found this Priest to be very kind and patient
 
With Confessors I know, and who know me, that is what I prefer. It is more of a conversation and more “open”.

In some situations I prefer to be behind a screen or curtain (if it isn’t my home Parish or I do not know the Priest).
 
It doesn’t bother me a great deal. The priests doing the confessing tend not to stare at you when you do that anyway, and tend to face downward and just listen to you and contemplate what you are saying. . . .
 
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I had this come up recently because of Covid. The priest was hearing confessions in the sacristy to allow for social distancing. By the time I realized the situation he had already seen my face and welcomed me so I went through with it. But I would not have gone there had I known that in advance.
 
That is normally the way I confess. Have done both ways - if I am at an older parish which offers confessionals, but face-to-face, if Father allows it. God knows I am a sinner when I walk in, and so does Father.
 
I prefer not to … … but the Lord knows my feelings on this, so if this is the situation then I accept it is His Will for me at that time, and so I gather up my courage in both hands and make my confession. Though after that occasion I avoid that Church if that is the only option they provide for confession and will find another Church with a screen in their confessional.
 
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Dolphin said:
Face to face makes me more nervous and therefore more prone to not saying all my sins (which is a sin in and of itself). Behind the screen I feel more calm and say all my sins.

So for me, behind the screen is best.
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I write everything down on paper when I do my examination of conscience. That way I don’t forget anything and all I really have to do is read them off.
 
Behind the screen must be available by law. If not, I just suck it up and do it. If I wasn’t too ashamed to sin in front of Jesus, I shouldn’t be too afraid to confess it to His priest.
 
mdgspencer said:
This is just to see how Catholics respond to this situation.
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It’s certainly not my preference and I was delighted when they finally redesigned the reconciliation room to put in a partition with a grille that allows you to kneel and confess your sins. I have no illusions that the priest doesn’t know who I am and there is not other place to go to confession within a 6 hour drive so there’s that.

If I have to go face to face, as sometimes occurs when there is a reconciliation service and the helping priests are not behind a screen, I simply keep my eyes down and confess without looking at Father.
 
I prefer the screen, but I don’t have a problem with face-to-face. When it is a confession that requires more of a conversation — not all confessions lend themselves to “be brief, be bold, be gone” — I actually prefer face-to-face. For one thing, it is much easier for me to sit, than to kneel.

Once I had to make a deeply troubled confession (troubled on account of my life circumstances at the time, more than the sins themselves, though all sins should be “troublesome”) and I simply could not kneel, so I asked the priest if I could reach around and get the folding chair I saw sitting right by him. He was happy to allow this.
 
Until recently, that was the case with our priest, who is from Ghana. I can sense the action of the Holy Spirit through that touch.
 
mdgspencer said:
This is just to see how Catholics respond to this situation.
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I’m trying to think how I would end up in such a situation. Probably only if I committed a mortal sin while traveling and had to confess ASAP with no traditional or traditional-minded parish available (where a screen is the norm). In that case I would go face to face. Not a high chance I’ll be in such a situation though.

I have confessed face to face before a few times, but probably more than 10-15 years ago. It always felt “off”.
 
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Most of my confessions have been face to face. So nothing unusual about it.
 
When I have confessed before priests behind screens, I’ve found that at best I could only make out a silhouetted shadow of the priest – I couldn’t see any details of his face. I’m pretty sure that’s how he could see me, as well – a vague shadowy figure behind the screen.

When they recognize you, it’s usually by your voice, if they’re familiar with it.
 
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