When you go to confession do you go behind the screen or face to face?

[rfournier103]

I drive to another parish where the priests don’t know me. Where I go depends on what I might be confessing. Sometimes behind the screen, sometimes not.

 

[SalesianSDB]

I think I have only done behind the screen once. And honestly, I think it’s a maybe. Maybe I didn’t.

I’ve always done it face to face.

Usually, whenever I went to confession in high school it was after a retired bishop (very well loved in the local exile community) would give morning Mass at high school. He always made himself available after Mass for confession so I would wait in the chapel as he was removing her liturgical garb. We’d then have confession in the chapel. It was wonderful and something I’d never forget. My grandparents who loved him were jealous of how close I was to him.

My favorite confession was when I was at a conference and my former pastor who became a bishop walked in. After his talk I went over to say hi, he gave me a hug and I asked for a confession. We went outside and I confessed while walking around my high school campus.

 

[Pax2u]

I would prefer confessing behind the screen. But I actually do so face to face. I figure if I was big enough to commit the sins, I should be big enough to confess them in a face to face confession. I consider it part of my penance!!

 

[CutlerB]

My first Confession (before being received into the Church) was face-to-face. Going behind the screen then wouldn’t have made much sense, since I made the appointment with the priest and he would have known who I was.

Since then, however, I go behind the screen. I prefer to kneel, rather than sit. Since we’re asking forgiveness of the infinitely holy God Whom we have offended in sin, I think kneeling is a more appropriate posture, but that’s my preference.

My parish doesn’t have a confessional, but a reconciliation room. It’s sort of a hybrid. When one goes through the door, there’s a wooden wall, with a door to the left that can be closed with a curtain. Straight ahead is a kneeler with the screen behind which the priest sits. So people can choose which they prefer.

I love the old-fashioned confessionals. Though I have yet to actually use one, I have seen some really cool ones in churches I visited, such as the one attached to this post.

 

[UpUpAndAway]

Wow! How did you get that deal?

I can’t speak for the specific case of Oneofthewomen, but the arrangement she describes isn’t unusual nor reserved to a privileged few. I used to have it available to me when I had a spiritual director, and I probably will again whenever I find another.

 

[Miserissima]

For me, it depends. I usually chose behind the screen.

My friend was the best at what we called “drive by” confessions. She had an uncanny knack of finding a priest almost anywhere (restaurants, airplanes, malls, you name it) for a four minute confession and then carrying on like nothing happened.

 

[Nelka]

Behind the screen.