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HoosMommie
Guest
Face to face because I need that big dose of humility. 
When you go to confession do you go behind the screen or face to face?
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allyrae
Guest
I’ve always done face to face…it’s just how I prefer it. However, considering that my priest is also my boss, I do try to seek out another priest if I am at a parish reconciliation service and more than one is available. I don’t want the awkwardness of confessing to an employer to come into play.
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BettyBoop416
Guest
Even though I always go to another parish for confession, I still prefer to be behind a screen. Just a personal preference, I guess.
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Rete
Guest
The screen seems silly to me. I can’t bring myself to use something like that. Your paris priest obviously knows who you are anyway.
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Avila123
Guest
I prefer to kneel behind a screen. I am more comfortable in the privacy of the confessional and on my knees because I am ashamed of what I have done. I feel uncomfortable with sitting down in full view in the church (I know no one is watching or listening but it is too public and distracting especially if people are chatting nearby. Plus if my eyes were to leak, no one will know.
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babochka
Guest
One more, from my tradition:
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phil19034
Guest
I prefer the confessionals. I guess it’s because I felt uncomfortable during my first confession as a child when it was face to face.
Not looking at a priest helps me focus on confessing. Though, a few confessions ago, I did later set up an appointment after confession to speak with priest one on one.
Not looking at a priest helps me focus on confessing. Though, a few confessions ago, I did later set up an appointment after confession to speak with priest one on one.
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
Seeing I could pick more than one answer on the poll, I took them both. Whether I go face-to-face or behind a screen makes no difference to me, and where I live you tend to have one or the other but not both. To confess, all I need is a priest. The rest is negotiable.
That said, I will take extraordinary steps to avoid confessing in the open. I don’t care if anyone sees me confessing, but I don’t want them to hear what I say. I also don’t want to hear what other people confess. My parish has confession during Adoration on Fridays, and the priest sits in a corner at the back of the nave. No confessional, no reconciliation room—just Father and an empty chair. Sometimes the confessions get so loud I can’t concentrate on my prayers before the Blessed Sacrament, so I retreat to the sacristy or step outside. It’s unbearable.
That said, I will take extraordinary steps to avoid confessing in the open. I don’t care if anyone sees me confessing, but I don’t want them to hear what I say. I also don’t want to hear what other people confess. My parish has confession during Adoration on Fridays, and the priest sits in a corner at the back of the nave. No confessional, no reconciliation room—just Father and an empty chair. Sometimes the confessions get so loud I can’t concentrate on my prayers before the Blessed Sacrament, so I retreat to the sacristy or step outside. It’s unbearable.
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Minenedanielito
Guest
Behind the screen.
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jediliz
Guest
always behind the screen
last time I had a face to face was when they had confessions in the school gym at my catholic high school with priests sitting at tables scattered through the gym. They weren’t too close together so you could hear people’s sins. And before that, when our sanctuary (main church area) was being re-done (new carpet, etc), we had confessions in the basement in the Boy scout meeting room. Those were the only times I’ve done face to face.
last time I had a face to face was when they had confessions in the school gym at my catholic high school with priests sitting at tables scattered through the gym. They weren’t too close together so you could hear people’s sins. And before that, when our sanctuary (main church area) was being re-done (new carpet, etc), we had confessions in the basement in the Boy scout meeting room. Those were the only times I’ve done face to face.
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babochka
Guest
Absolutely! I think we get way too hung up on externals here and this is the bottom line. Thank God for priests who are generous and willing to hear confessions in all times and places.
It really isn’t a danger if a person exercises just a bit of awareness. I’ve never overheard a confession that is made out in the open, but I’ve frequently been able to hear them in an old-fashioned confessional, as they typically don’t have walls like more modern “reconciliation rooms” do.
How does this provide more protection from overhearing/being overheard than out in the open?
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DaveBj
Guest
You left out the option for “both.” I go behind a screen when I go out to the OLAM Shrine because that’s the only way they do it, but I go face-to-face with our pastor.
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JimG
Guest
That would be quite a feat. There are about 10,000 people in my parish. I don’t think the priest knows everyone by voice. In any case, there is only the confessional for regular confessions.
Sometimes priests will also hear confessions at the altar rail when the line for confessions is long. That is ‘in the open,’ but it doesn’t bother me. Priest and penitent both speak softly and no one can overhear. Also, it’s not really ‘face to face,’ as the priest shields his eyes and looks down during the confession.
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
In that case, there must be a dearth of awareness here. It’s gotten so that if I walk into a church and see confession in the open, chances are I’ll simply leave.
Lucky you!
Agreed. The antique confessionals can be tricky. In that case I look at the entire setup—where the confessional is in the church, how big the church is, what’s going on aside from confession, etc.—and proceed from there.
The local ICRSS oratory solved this problem by hanging heavy curtains in the booth entrances for the penitents. They fall to a point high enough off the ground that you can see if the booth is occupied. At the most one hears quiet mumbling, even during Adoration, which is so silent you could hear a handkerchief fall on the carpet.
In many cases, it doesn’t. I’m totally with you on that. Maybe this is back to that awareness thing. For some reason, people in these here parts are quieter in the confessional than they are in the open. I recall one time when a confession was so loud I could tell you everything penitent and priest said up to the moment I fled to the sacristy because I just couldn’t stand it anymore. The two of them were in the very back of the nave. I was in the second row from the altar!
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SgtZabka
Guest
Face to face, always. It is tradition in our Church, also it helps the priest better for spiritual direction. 
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Cider
Guest
I’ve never been in one that is open like that. And I’ve only confessed in a confessional not a room. They always have doors that close and we make a point to stand in line far enough away that you can’t hear.
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MissRose73
Guest
I prefer behind the screen to be anonymous no matter if its a room or a confessional box of some type. The last time I went to confession a few months ago, the room did not have a screen, and we had to be face to face with the priest but I managed just fine.
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KCT
Guest
I love the old fashioned confessionals. I have photos of all sorts of them from churches in Italy. I visited St. Patrick’s in Montreal in May, and there must have been at least a dozen gorgeous, wood confessionals - 6 on each side of the church. The ones in back had a corner area with benches. It made me wonder if there was a time when all those confessionals were in use. What a sight that must have been!
My most unique confession was at the Youth Rally and Mass before the March for Life in January. Confessions were in the Acela Club, which is essentially the bar in the Verizon Center! The line to get in was really long, but the sisters kept it moving. Once inside, it was very quiet, and you could not hear what others were saying. It was a great experience.
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VivienneJ
Guest
In the confession “room” behind the screen. As far as I know, that is the only way it is offered in our parish, unless you were to make a private appointment, when you would probably see the priest in his office.
My parish is probably as large as yours, Jim, however, I don’t delude myself that the screen gives me anonymity. Within my community my skin tones and my accent are unique; when the priest leaves the confessional, if I am seated anywhere close by, and if he looks, he will know that I was in the confessional, however, with the number of penitents at confession I doubt he remembers what I have said, just that I was there.
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