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

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I always try to go face to face. I have bad knees and can’t kneel anyway but, really, I’m just more comfortable looking the priest in the eyes. “A good dose of humility,” someone else wrote, I agree with that. Also mentioned, there’s better spiritual direction when the priest knows who you are. Anyways, I’m always the first one in line for confession every weekend and the priest has to walk by me to get into the “Reconciliation Room” so it wouldn’t really be anonymous if I did use the screen.
 
I have never really had a good experience going behind the screen, but I always felt too embarrassed to do it any other way. I recently decided to try making an appointment to meet face-to-face with a priest from another parish, and it was amazing. I really felt different when I left - truly forgiven and completely whole like I have never felt in my life.
 
I usually go face to face.

We don’t have a confessional anymore; a Reconciliation Room, with the option to confess anonymously, had been installed about 10 years before I came to this parish in 97 and the built-in confessionals had fallen into disuse. The space they occupied was converted to other uses in 2000.

From 2003 to 2012, through a succession of pastors, there were no scheduled confessions; tapping Fr. on the shoulder and asking if he had time before or after Mass became the norm. Seemed hardly worth pretending to be anonymous after having to do that.

Things changed last year with our new pastor who hears confessions every Saturday afternoon. An hour is scheduled, but Fr. won’t leave if someone is still waiting – he hasn’t missed afternoon tea in a year if that tells you anything. But he doesn’t sit in the Reconciliation Room waiting for penitents, he sits out in the church and you still have to go ask to confess so, again, confessing behind the screen in a pretense of anonymity seems rather pointless.
 
My church doesn’t have a closed booth confessional, and I prefer not to do it face-to-face. So my question is does anyone know what Catholic churches in Western North Carolina have closed booth confessionals?
 
I’ve been to confession with screens and to confession in confessionals-I’ve never been to face to face confession.
I much prefer the confessional with its sense of quiet and wish my local church would reopen the confessionals (currently used as storage spaces) and return them to sacramental use. They feel peaceful to me and give me a “just me and God feeling.”
In the screened area there’s light and furniture and distraction. I think confessionals fit especially well with my love for contemplation.
 
smichhertz said:
It would seem people prefer behind the screen more than when I posted a poll a few years back: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=560692
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Perhaps in your next confession poll, you might offer a confessional option?
The anecdotes on this thread, seem to suggest that many who confess face to face found it initially uncomfortable.
I wonder if we might see more people coming to confession if confessionals were more broadly made available as an option?
 
SPART said:
My church doesn’t have a closed booth confessional, and I prefer not to do it face-to-face. So my question is does anyone know what Catholic churches in Western North Carolina have closed booth confessionals?
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All the parishes in my local area of NC has the option of both behind the screen or face to face. If behind the screen is chosen, the priest won’t be able to see who the penitent is. You have to walk around to enter the room on the other side of the screen in order to confess face to face.
 
jeannetherese said:
Perhaps in your next confession poll, you might offer a confessional option?
The anecdotes on this thread, seem to suggest that many who confess face to face found it initially uncomfortable.
I wonder if we might see more people coming to confession if confessionals were more broadly made available as an option?
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Well the question was simply “What do you prefer?”. Not really “Is there a confessional at the church where you regularly confess?”.

I see your point though, a confessional forces people to go behind the screen rather than face to face. So over time, one may tend to prefer what they’ve been getting used to, even if their true preference would be different if they were offered a choice.
 
smichhertz said:
Well the question was simply “What do you prefer?”. Not really “Is there a confessional at the church where you regularly confess?”.

I see your point though, a confessional forces people to go behind the screen rather than face to face. So over time, one may tend to prefer what they’ve been getting used to, even if their true preference would be different if they were offered a choice.
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My apologies. I meant to differentiate between a screen and an enclosed confessional (which also has a screen between the priest and the one making confesssion.)
I’ll cheerfully commute to a church with confessionals in use and prefer the enclosures to the screen in an open room.
There’s something about that still small darkened space that helps me focus on Our Lord.
 
Strictly behind the screen.

It’s probably an old habit from my wayward younger days (back in the day, I would be absolutely mortified if the priest who heard some of my confessions was in a position to recognize me outside the confessional).

These days, it’s just a reminder to me that it is Christ who is hearing my accusation against myself and it is Christ who absolves me and who reconciles me to Himself (yes, through the priest, but him acting in persona Christi)
 
I’d rather confess behind the screen. That’s what I am used to. I have done face-to-face a few times, but the old way seems to work better for me.
 
I would rather go behind a screen, as I usually feel nervous admitting my sins to a person face to face :o but that’s just me though.
 
jeannetherese said:
My apologies. I meant to differentiate between a screen and an enclosed confessional (which also has a screen between the priest and the one making confesssion.)
I’ll cheerfully commute to a church with confessionals in use and prefer the enclosures to the screen in an open room.
There’s something about that still small darkened space that helps me focus on Our Lord.
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Ahh, I see. Thank you for clarifying!
 
markomalley said:
These days, it’s just a reminder to me that it is Christ who is hearing my accusation against myself and it is Christ who absolves me and who reconciles me to Himself (yes, through the priest, but him acting in persona Christi)
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There’s something about that still small darkened space that helps me focus on Our Lord.
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I have a related question about confessionals…

In the Byzantine church, confession is never behind a screen, but it is not really face-to-face either. The penitent faces an icon of Christ the Pantocrator, while the priest is usually off to the side. The focus, during the actual confession of sins, is on Christ. I find this to be very helpful.

I have rarely been inside a confessional, so I don’t have a wide range of experiences to draw from. Is there ever an image of Christ on the screen of the confessional? Would having such an image help you to focus on our Lord? I don’t know if this is ever done, but it just seems like it would be helpful. I’m not asking if it is a formal or official part of confession in a confessional, just wondering if it is ever done.

Here are a couple of examples of Byzantine Confession:
http://blog.lmsociety.com/wp-conten...lX6bvkfK2VuNg1zWPPiLV9CwqGWeCogl_Yb7AgYCTT4yg
 
babochka said:
I have a related question about confessionals…

In the Byzantine church, confession is never behind a screen, but it is not really face-to-face either. The penitent faces an icon of Christ the Pantocrator, while the priest is usually off to the side. The focus, during the actual confession of sins, is on Christ. I find this to be very helpful.

I have rarely been inside a confessional, so I don’t have a wide range of experiences to draw from. Is there ever an image of Christ on the screen of the confessional? Would having such an image help you to focus on our Lord? I don’t know if this is ever done, but it just seems like it would be helpful. I’m not asking if it is a formal or official part of confession in a confessional, just wondering if it is ever done.

Here are a couple of examples of Byzantine Confession:
Click to expand...
Inside an old-fashioned confessional, it’s dark and there is a screen separating the confessor and the penitent (to provide anonymity). Or a booth for the confessor and two places for penitents (one on each side). Alternatively, there is a chair for the confessor and a kneeler for the penitent with a screen separating the two.

More modern confessionals will have better lighting, better padded kneelers, and, as likely as not, there will be a curtain separating the confessor and the penitent. There will also be a chair next to the confessor if the penitent chooses to go face-to-face.

Alternatively, some post-modern churches have “reconciliation rooms” – I’ve seen a couple that did not even offer the option for anonymity.
 
I always go face to face. That way I have to own up to everything to an even greater extent. I also find it’s more personal. And when the priest gives me advice, I have the advantage of his facial expressions, so that’s better communication.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
I do face to face, but then I also have a regular confessor, confess once a month and make an appointment. My time with the priest (usually 30-45 minutes) includes the sacrament, as well as some spiritual direction.

It would seem weird to do all of this not looking at the person I am talking to.
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Wow! How did you get that deal?
 
My very first Rite of Reconciliation was face-to-face, and I don’t recall they gave us a choice.

Every one after that was screen, my whole life, until three years ago. My wife always went to screen. My older daughter went to screen. My younger daughter…face to face from the first time. About three years ago, I figured: if she can do it, I can do it. And I did. It was so much more rewarding to have a *conversation *like that.

We go to the parish reconciliation service, where there are about half a dozen priests available. Our pastor sets up on a side altar, two chairs facing each other. It’s very open, and despite the perceived lack of privacy, very inviting. And I have to admit, it’s a little intimidating to confess face-to-face to someone who sees you and your family every Sunday. But, for me, so much more powerful to “publicly” come clean.
 
right now I go to confession with my spiritual director in his office, so he has no screen in his office.
 
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