Where Have All The Confession Boxes Gone?

[HolySpirit08]

I’m so upset. I drove all the way into the city to go to Confession at another parish since my own offers Confessions every other week only to have the priest not show. I left after waiting almost a half hour (6 min short of the end of the Confession half hour time limit). I called the church office, (Immaculate Conception on Kauai) to confirm that confession is offered between 4 and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The priest, God bless him, answered the phone and asked if I’d been to the rectory and if I’d rang the doorbell. Expecting that confessions would be heard in the church in a confession box , I said no. I was so upset and disappointed.

What the heck has happened to this sacrament, anyway? Our own parish does not encourage or even remind people to go to confession prior to receiving Communion when they are guilty of mortal sin.

I am very discouraged.

 

[Guyonthestreet]

A friend of mine, a catholic, tells me her priest hears confession in the open, sat in a pew, at the front of the church, with people sat all around them

This alone is enough to make me think I wouldnt be going to a catholic priest to confess sins any time soon.

 

[Mike_Dye]

What do we need confessionals for? Have you not heard the latest? There is no such thing as serious sin anymore.

That seems to be the current thinking.

In my youth Sat. afternoon was when we went to confession. We went even if we were not in Mortal sin. There were two confessionals one on the right and one on the left and the priests were busy the entire time. Now my youth is a distant memory. I am still in the same parish and now we have but one priest. The sacrament is now offered after the 5:30 Mass and our pastor usually leaves after Mass because after years of an empty confessional he just gave up. I will continue in my next post.

 

[EasterJoy]

Our parish has a private room in the parish center where confessions are heard when made by appointment; it’s just a conference room. Father doesn’t walk you over to the church.

How many priests and how many parishes do you have on Kauai? How many Masses do they have to cover each weekend, not counting the weddings? Maybe there is just a shortage of priests where you are.

Still, love for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is where you get more priests, not just love for the Mass. Keep praying more. The more priests, the more time for hearing confessions.

 

[Mike_Dye]

To continue ( I hate long posts so I like to break them up), Another parish in our region does not use the face to face method and still uses the old style confessional with the curtain and everything. They have Mass every day at 11:00 AM and offer confession before Mass. There is a line every day and usually the priest has to come back after Mass to serve the penitents that he couldn’t grt to before Mass.The regular weekend confessions are well attended too.
So much for face to face.

 

[I_Believe]

A friend of mine, a catholic, tells me her priest hears confession in the open, sat in a pew, at the front of the church, with people sat all around them

This alone is enough to make me think I wouldnt be going to a catholic priest to confess sins any time soon.

You are judging the entire Priesthood over one priest ?

That would be like denouncing all Protestant preachers because of Jim Baker.

 

[Lydilos]

That would be like denouncing all Protestant preachers because of Jim Baker.

That was clever.

 

[Like]

I’m so upset. I drove all the way into the city to go to Confession at another parish since my own offers Confessions every other week only to have the priest not show. I left after waiting almost a half hour (6 min short of the end of the Confession half hour time limit). I called the church office, (Immaculate Conception on Kauai) to confirm that confession is offered between 4 and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The priest, God bless him, answered the phone and asked if I’d been to the rectory and if I’d rang the doorbell. Expecting that confessions would be heard in the church in a confession box , I said no. I was so upset and disappointed.

What the heck has happened to this sacrament, anyway? Our own parish does not encourage or even remind people to go to confession prior to receiving Communion when they are guilty of mortal sin.

I am very discouraged.

I don’t know how long you have lived on Kauai, but quite a bit of difference here from the mainland. Mostly due to a priest shortage. The two confessionals were taken out about 8, 9 yrs ago. Confession is in the front priest office on Sat.4:15 to 4:45PM with the Vigil Mass at 5 PM and before all other Masses upon request. You do have the option of face to face or behind the screen. If you’ll PM me I have some info you might like. I don’t know your age or if your pre or post V II, but I do FEEL YOUR PAIN!

PS: Before the confessionals were taken out there was always a line & confession was 2 hours if memory serves me right. Now I guarantee you, there is NO line.

Our parish has a private room in the parish center where confessions are heard when made by appointment; it’s just a conference room. Father doesn’t walk you over to the church.

How many priests and how many parishes do you have on Kauai? How many Masses do they have to cover each weekend, not counting the weddings? Maybe there is just a shortage of priests where you are.

Still, love for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is where you get more priests, not just love for the Mass. Keep praying more. The more priests, the more time for hearing confessions.

Easter Joy, I believe there are 10 Churches with about the same amount of priests, but only 5 or 6 parishes. St. Catherine has 2 priest and serves 3 Churches.St Catherine has 1 Sat Vigil Mass, 3 Sun. morning & 1 Sun. evening Mass,

St. Sylvester in Kilauea (24 miles north) has a Sat Vigil & 1 Sun. morning Mass.

St. Williams in Hanalei (another 8 miles north) only has 1 Sun. morning Mass.
The 2 priest take turns, 1 full week saying all the Masses at St. Catherine (5 Sun. & 6 weekday Masses) and the other says the 3 Sun. Masses at our mission Churches (St.Sylvester & St.Williams).

St Catherine goes through Priest faster than any Church I’ve been a member of here or the mainland. Average priest stays 2 to 3 years & most are from the Philippines (sp) & usually very young & recently ordained .

I once emailed the diocese in Honolulu to ask why we go through priest so much & was told that because they are on loan from other diocese. The 2 here right now have been here about 3 months & the pastor is under 40 & was told he started the seminary at the age of 12.

They may be on loan, but I believe they actually get burnt out.

 

[LilyM]

A friend of mine, a catholic, tells me her priest hears confession in the open, sat in a pew, at the front of the church, with people sat all around them

This alone is enough to make me think I wouldnt be going to a catholic priest to confess sins any time soon.

If you lived in the first near-1000 years of Christianity, you wouldn’t have had the option of an enclosed confessional. Our Eastern Catholic and Orthodox brothers STILL don’t use confessionals. Didn’t and doesn’t stop them from confessing when they needed to by the looks of it.

Palm Sunday a few years back I was very humbled to see our priest huddled in a corner of the church (albeit a more out-of-earshot one) with a parishioner. It looked like he was giving her a last-minute confession. And was a good example to the rest of us, and showed that he has his priorities well and truly in the right place.

 

[Shin]

When I find a priest who hears Confessions without a Confessional, I run, I do not walk, to the next church with one.

Of course people in desperate situations sometimes have to go to these priests.

But it’s a clear sign against choosing that priest for one’s regular Confessor.

 

[HolySpirit08]

I’d like to thank each of you for your responses. I’m of the age too where people lined up for confession weekly with one confessional on either side of the priest. My parish on Oahu offers confession like this each Saturday afternoon still.

The Church wonders why Catholics have left in droves. There are many reasons, I’m sure. I’m of the belief that the Church does not do enough to keep people stimulated or educated. The subject of proper preparation for receiving Communion bothers me to no end because the priest does not take the responsibility to educate or encourage people about this. No one ever goes to confession but everyone at mass goes to Communion each Sunday. People just attend mass and go to Communion like robots it seems. And the priests are saying mass and giving Communion robotically (sp) as well. It’s sad.

For decades we’ve only had two priests in our parish cover all the masses but they always found the time to hear weekly confessions. What additional duties do the priests have now that the priests in the past didn’t have? In the past the priests even found time to attend catechism classes once in a while and to visit parishioners in their homes.

 

[sonofourlady]

It must be stated that face to face confession is against Canon Law (Canon 964 or 983 Subsection 1).

 

[Phemie]

It must be stated that face to face confession is against Canon Law (Canon 964 or 983 Subsection 1).

Not quite. The CCL says that the penitent must be given the option of being behind a screen but doesn’t mandate that confession only be done that way.

Can. 964 §1. The proper place to hear sacramental confessions is a church or oratory.

§2. The conference of bishops is to establish norms regarding the confessional; it is to take care, however, that there are always confessionals with a fixed grate between the penitent and the confessor in an open place so that the faithful who wish to can use them freely.

 

[cameron_lansing]

Not quite. The CCL says that the penitent must be given the option of being behind a screen but doesn’t mandate that confession only be done that way. . .

As well, according an authentic interpretation of cano 964, the confessor for a just cause, may do so (Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, June 16, 1998, confirmed by the Supreme Pontiff, July 7, 1998).

 

[Spera_in_Deo]

When I was a youngster confessions were heard from 3 PM until 5 PM and then again from 7 PM until 9 PM - by at least two priests! The lines at the confessional were always very long. On Sundays perhaps 50% to 65% of those at Mass went to Communion.

Today, if you can find one priest hearing confessions for one hour on Saturday you can count yourself lucky. Don’t worry about long line - there aren’t any. And on Sunday 99.9% of those at Mass go to Communion!!!

So you see, the previous respondent, Mr Dye, is correct. Serious sin has been basically done away with - so who needs confessionals!

 

[HolySpirit08]

Hearing from people from all over the country on this subject is leaving me more upset than ever. The Church is very contradictory. They say that Confession is a very important sacrament, one is not allowed to receive Communion without having confessed serious sin yet Confession is not encouraged, barely mentioned and the priests are turning away from offering it it seems.

I am really sick and tired of the contradictions in the Church and the mediocrity of priests. It seems that the Church is quite corrupt as proven by all of the sexual abuse that went on for years and not dealt with by Rome.

I don’t know, maybe it’s time to become a Lutheran or an Episcopalian.

 

[EasterJoy]

When I find a priest who hears Confessions without a Confessional, I run, I do not walk, to the next church with one.

Of course people in desperate situations sometimes have to go to these priests.

But it’s a clear sign against choosing that priest for one’s regular Confessor.

I have to disagree. I just know too many confessors who hear confessions at penance services where there just are not enough confessional boxes available to accomodate everyone.

If a confessor is in a parish where penitents may choose to be either seen or unseen in the confessional room and they all choose to be seen, if he has penance services where the confessions are separated enough in space for privacy but not enough so that penitents are unseen by everyone else, but he has not received a single complaint, then it is no spot against him that he is willing to hear confessions without a confessional. It is possible to have sufficient privacy without a confessional.

Not everyone is so freaked out about this. Now, if a priest were asked to make the confessional available and refused to do it, that would be a different thing. Nor am I saying that there is a single thing wrong with insisting on being anonymous, if you choose that. But and “it’s a clear sign against using that priest for one’s regular Confessor?” If you haven’t even asked him about it, that is a bit extreme.

OTOH, if you miss out on a great confessor on that account, that just makes his Saturday line a little shorter for everyone else,.I guess.

 

[EasterJoy]

Hearing from people from all over the country on this subject is leaving me more upset than ever. The Church is very contradictory. They say that Confession is a very important sacrament, one is not allowed to receive Communion without having confessed serious sin yet Confession is not encouraged, barely mentioned and the priests are turning away from offering it it seems.

I am really sick and tired of the contradictions in the Church and the mediocrity of priests. It seems that the Church is quite corrupt as proven by all of the sexual abuse that went on for years and not dealt with by Rome.

I don’t know, maybe it’s time to become a Lutheran or an Episcopalian.

Excuse me, because this is going to be kind of harsh. I can’t help myself.

I’m sure the Lutherans and Episcopalians would just die to have a few more parishioners with an attitude like that. Have you experienced these “mediocre” priests yourself, or do you believe these stories just by way of the gossip you’ve heard about them?

“They say” this and “they do” that, do they? Could you identify these "they"s you’re talking about by name? If you could, would you?

Funny how the good ones don’t have their stories spread so zealously. I can understand frustration, because we all want every priest to be as wonderful all of the time as the wonderful ones we’ve known, and we want them to be as plentiful as the need is great, but can you see what you’re being sucked into?

If you’re sick of mediocre priests, then talk to them about it, encourage them, pray for them, do penance for them, support them. Do SOMETHING other than complain about them. Heaven knows, they are stuck with our mediocrity. Nobody praises them for their attitude when they leave the priesthood because of us. If we don’t want that attitude from them, we shouldn’t tolerate it in ourselves.

And please, please, please…pray for more vocations. But also treat the priests we have in such a way that those who are hearing the call but know themselves to only be human will have the courage to answer their call.

 

[Seamus_L]

There’s a night and day difference between Traditional Catholics and nominal Catholics. Any priest who serves a parish that offers the Latin mass, knows he’s going to spend some serious time in the confessional box.
Like so many other essentials that were dumped after V2, the sacrament of penance was also considered outdated. I've seen beautiful old confessionals used for storage, and at another church, I had a priest tell me with a smile on his face, that "no one goes to confession anymore, so we took them out"

 

[Shin]

OTOH, if you miss out on a great confessor on that account, that just makes his Saturday line a little shorter for everyone else,.I guess

Have you ever heard of missing the forest for the trees? These exceptions and whatnot were not part of the original spirit of my remark which if you take exception to that, address it directly and not with constructions. It is very true that a priest who will not make a Confessional available to a penitent by his own decision, freely, has problems with care for his parishioners and that it is a bad sign. At time goes by you gain a sense for these things. . .

I am really sick and tired of the contradictions in the Church and the mediocrity of priests. It seems that the Church is quite corrupt as proven by all of the sexual abuse that went on for years and not dealt with by Rome.

I don’t know, maybe it’s time to become a Lutheran or an Episcopalian

This sort of talk is not Catholic talk, and not Godly talk. Brave heart! God’s truth doesn’t change due to the obedience or disobedience of His followers, just like mathematics doesn’t change when all the mathematicians get drunk and start scrawling 2+2=5 on the blackboard . The Jews proved that, and we prove that.

Remember the delivery of the Ten Commandments?

People who choose a Church because of the perceived holiness of the followers at a particular time and place or not, choose a Church based on Man rather than God. That’s Protestant style church shopping, and God showed the sinfulness of that back in Old Testament times directly… the affect on the soul is worse than the physical consequences he visited back then.

So even remarks like that casually, just don’t do it, yes? We are stronger than that! We can vent but ‘do not let the sun go down’ on your anger, nor let the devil rule you through it. Let us work through personal holiness to restore all these fallen churches to Christ!

Our relationship with the Lord, our holiness, is what determines the future of this entire world. For the sake of one single holy person. . . God spares so much, so very incalculably much.