Why the lack of Confession times?

[JimG]

At the parish I attended which had the most confession times, I would note that the confession line moved pretty quickly. It was common for a priest to hear 15 or more confessions in a half hour, which would make the average confession time about 2 minutes. And that’s reasonable. It doesn’t take long to confess sins and receive absolution. I suspect that if people had to wait a half hour and only two or three people got in, the lines would disappear from discouragement.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Why is it that most churches have very limited confession times these days?

There’s fewer priests, and they have less time, and with fewer people bothering to go to confession, the priest finds it easy to limit the time for an activity that parishioners don’t seem interested in. When really he should be trying to get them more interested in it…but then he’d potentially have more penitents than he would have time to hear confessions of.

 

[powerandglory]

Actually, 2 of them were. They only had 4 hearing due to it being Holy Week.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

the trend in this area seems to be that parishes are offering confessions more often, and guess what? People are going.

This wouldn’t surprise me, especially if it was accompanied by priests mentioning during the Mass announcements that they were offering confessions and encouraging people to go they way they do with “The Light is On For You” promotion at Christmas and Easter. As I’ve mentioned before, confession for many Catholics seems to be a monkey-see monkey-do activity. If they come to church for something else, like Mass or a retreat, and they see confessions being offered, a lot of them will just go ahead and get in the line. But if you expect them to actually get the idea at home on their own to go to confession, and especially to come to church at a special time just to confess, a lot fewer people will be so inspired.

And if somebody comes trying to confess and gets shut out because confession isn’t offered that day or the line’s too long or the line isn’t moving quickly or one person is taking up 20 minutes of the half hour, that person either won’t come back to confession at all or maybe will find another church to confess at…but that’s a big maybe and there isn’t always another church to choose.

 

[JSRG]

At the parish I attended which had the most confession times, I would note that the confession line moved pretty quickly. It was common for a priest to hear 15 or more confessions in a half hour, which would make the average confession time about 2 minutes. And that’s reasonable. It doesn’t take long to confess sins and receive absolution. I suspect that if people had to wait a half hour and only two or three people got in, the lines would disappear from discouragement.

I don’t know about that. At the university campus Catholic Church near me, confessions can go on for so long that they end up going into the mass (for Sunday masses, confessions are held starting 45 minutes beforehand and because they have 3 priests, the confessions can continue into the mass by having one priest do confession and one do the mass). Seriously, a few weeks ago confessions wrapped up something like 40-45 minutes into the mass. One of the people who went into confession was in there at least 15 minutes. Maybe university students are just more diligent about confession than normal.

Then again, I was in line and got discouraged by the wait so I left the line before the mass began (I had arranged to meet someone for mass), so at least one person left due to the length. It probably made all the people behind me happy, though.

 

[po18guy]

If the Sacrament is not preached, it is forgotten. At one parish we attended a few years ago, a younger, very good and holy priest hammered on confession constantly. You should have seen the lines!

if the conscience does not motivate, then peer pressure does!

 

[Powdercoater]

Thank you so much for offering this information. Super helpful!

 

[baz82]

I feel very fortunate. My Parish offers confession for 1hr on Thursday, 40 min Friday morning, 90 min on Saturday with 2 priests hearing confession. Then our pastor offers reconciliation in Spanish on Sunday as well.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I do wish confessions were offered more frequently. I don’t think enough people would come to make it worth the time the priest would have to take from other duties to sit there waiting though. My parish doesn’t have Confessions at all this week, and it’s Holy Week! Nobody seems to mind. I went to the next parish over because they had 4 priests hearing Confessions these past nights. I guess it depends on the parish.

It’s pretty obvious in this case that your parish is free-riding off the other parish. If you went over to the parish next door then likely so did a whole lot of other folks from your parish.

I don’t really buy this “people don’t come to confession” business when I regularly see lines for confession almost everywhere I go across at least three or four dioceses. It might be some of the same people coming over and over every two weeks while other people only go once a year or not at all, but it’s still a line for confession even if you see the same people in it regularly.

If the people at a particular parish aren’t coming to confession, then it’s likely a case of the priest not offering it at a good time for people to come, and/or not emphasizing enough that people need to be confessing regularly rather than just at Easter and maybe at Christmas. Alternatively, it’s possible, especially if the parish is small, that people are scheduling individual confessions.

I’ve yet to hear any diocese simply own up to the fact that if every parishioner confessed monthly, the priests probably wouldn’t be able to handle the workload from a time standpoint. Even if every parishioner was done in 5 minutes, which you know some of them wouldn’t be, when you have 5000 parishioners and only 2 or 3 priests, that would be a huge effort, especially since confession can’t be shoved off onto a deacon. Each priest would have to spend over 2 weeks working full-time just hearing confessions, every month.

((5 minutes x 5000 parishioners)/60 min/hr) = 417 hrs
417 hrs/8 hrs per working day = 52 days
52 days/ 3 priests = 17 days per priest just to hear confessions

Even if you had a small parish, let’s say 500 parishioners and one priest, he’d have to spend about one work-week of 8 hour days just hearing confessions.

((5 minutes x 500 parishioners))/60 min/ hour) = 42 hours
42 hours/8 hours per working day = 5.2 days

That is the real reason they only emphasize confession a couple times a year, IMHO.

 

[Gorgias]

The lack of confession times is related to the shortage of priest.

To an extent. But, I’d assert, it’s also related to the shortage of penitents…

There are not a lot of confession times because not enough people go to confession. However, more people would attend confession if it was offered at various times.

I wonder about that assertion. Essentially, it’s an argument about convenience, to a certain extent. Forty years ago, there were lines at the confessionals every Saturday. People made an effort to get to confession on Saturday morning. Today we hear the excuse “I can’t get to church on Saturday for confessions – why aren’t there more times???”

If we’ve gotten to the point where people aren’t willing to make time for confession, then how does making it more available to people who are less interested in it help us?

When both husband and wife work, Saturday becomes the day for rest, fun, household work, kids sports, shopping, etc.

I think you’ve just answered your own question here, but let me rephrase it for you: “when both husband and wife work, and prioritize rest, fun, household work, kids’ sports, shopping, etc over their spiritual life, is it any wonder that they claim that confession isn’t offered conveniently for them?”

Here’s my suggestion: if folks want confession on a day other than Saturday, call the parish office and ask to schedule an individual confession. Priests aren’t dummies – if they start getting 50 calls for 50 individual confessions each week, I’m betting they’d say to themselves, “hmm… all these individual confessions are eating away at time that I need to spend on other duties; perhaps I should offer another hour of confession during the week?”

 

[Gorgias]

That is the real reason they only emphasize confession a couple times a year, IMHO.

I think you’re creating a narrative where none exists. I’m betting that the number of priests who’ve thought the math through in this way are few and far between. Over and above that, even if they have thought through the math, it seems highly improbable that they’d have had the reaction “oops! I better not talk up confession, or else I’ll have a big job on my hands!”…

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s hard for me to think that they have not at least considered it, given that some of the churches I visit have very long lines for confession already when it’s not being talked up. Partly this is due to the size of the parishes involved. When you have a 3000 person or a 5000 person parish, it’s pretty easy to draw 30 or 40 devout people for confession regularly even though that’s just 1 percent or less of the parishioners. If you only have a half hour for confession and you have 30 people turn up, that’s pushing it right there even with 2 priests.

 

[JimG]

Maybe university students are just more diligent about confession than normal.

That is great, and your post is quite encouraging. Maybe when priests preach on confession and long lines follow, the next step might be to encourage brevity. We once had a priest who preached a mission at our parish, and one evening was a penance service. He told the congregation that no matter how long since their last confession, he would have them out in two minutes. That may have been an exaggeration, but not by much. One can confess a lot of sins in a short time if one just tells the sins and not the life story.

 

[phil19034]

Here’s my suggestion: if folks want confession on a day other than Saturday, call the parish office and ask to schedule an individual confession . Priests aren’t dummies – if they start getting 50 calls for 50 individual confessions each week, I’m betting they’d say to themselves, “hmm… all these individual confessions are eating away at time that I need to spend on other duties; perhaps I should offer another hour of confession during the week?”

Well, first I’m not saying that the times are a reason of low # of confessions, I’m saying it’s a circular problem - that it’s one factor.

Here’s the only problem with appointments: a lot of people prefer their secrecy.

A lot of the people who don’t like Confession are afraid of what the priest will think of them. They fear judgement.

So these people are not going to be very willing to call to make an appointment. And you would be surprised at the number of Catholics who don’t know that are allowed to attend confession at other Catholic Churches.

So all I’m also Priests to do is (at a minimum) offer confessions on other days (including Sunday) for at least 15 minutes.

In talking to some of my priest friends, no priest is so busy that he can’t find an additional 15 minutes a day.

God Bless & Happy Easter

 

[Gorgias]

Here’s the only problem with appointments: a lot of people prefer their secrecy.

We already saw the answer to that, upthread. Make the appointment and arrive to the confessional before Father arrives.

A lot of the people who don’t like Confession are afraid of what the priest will think of them. They fear judgement.

There is some serious irony here, in that a Catholic might fear the judgment of their actions by another person more than they fear the judgment of their eternal soul by God.

In talking to some of my priest friends, no priest is so busy that he can’t find an additional 15 minutes a day.

In talking to some of my lay friends, no layperson is so busy that he can’t find an additional 15 minutes a day, such that it’d free him up so that he’d be able to get to confession at the scheduled time.

 

[phil19034]

phil19034:

Here’s the only problem with appointments: a lot of people prefer their secrecy.

We already saw the answer to that, upthread. Make the appointment and arrive to the confessional before Father arrives.

A lot of the people who don’t like Confession are afraid of what the priest will think of them. They fear judgement.

There is some serious irony here, in that a Catholic might fear the judgment of their actions by another person more than they fear the judgment of their eternal soul by God.

In talking to some of my priest friends, no priest is so busy that he can’t find an additional 15 minutes a day.

In talking to some of my lay friends, no layperson is so busy that he can’t find an additional 15 minutes a day, such that it’d free him up so that he’d be able to get to confession at the scheduled time.

Look, I don’t know why we are arguing about this.

Neither of us are wrong.

If adding 15 minutes of confession a day adds just 1 more person person per priest to receive confession, it would be worth it.

The church needs to meet people where they are, and sometimes it means going out of our way.

 

[Gorgias]

Look, I don’t know why we are arguing about this.

On this point? Because you seem to think it’s reasonable to say “oh, he has extra time to do this stuff, so it’s OK to tell him ‘do more stuff!’…”

My experience has been that priests are pretty well stretched to the limit as it is. Telling them “surely, you have 15 minutes more that you can do your job” sounds rude to my ears – essentially, it says “you’re working at my convenience, buddy, so snap to!”

The church needs to meet people where they are, and sometimes it means going out of our way.

Laity are “the church”, too, and this statement applies to laity just as much as you seem to think it applies solely to priests…

 

[ralfyman]

Very few attend. I think in some areas they have a particular time of the week or even time of the year (like Holy Thursday or Good Friday) set aside for it. Sometimes in the latter, there are too many attending.

 

[Paddy1989]

I was thinking about this Subject yesterday. Most parishes here only have confession for half an hour a week!!!. Disgraceful. How can an entire parish be absolved in half an hour. As for those who say it is because so few people attend, so what, should the Church mold to the desires of it’s parishioners who have become so lax, should it not be the role of the Church to continually remind it’s flock of the importance of confession so one is absolved from the stain of sin. To save their souls, isn’t that whats most important???

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Paddy, you are completely right that if everyone in an entire parish went to confession even just once a month and took only 5 minutes per person in the confessional, the priest would have to spend days if not weeks hearing all the confessions. I had some mathematical calculations in one of the other threads showing this. Obviously if everyone went back to confessing weekly as used to be the case, it would be even worse.

The sad fact is that our current system with the current shortage of priests only manages to keep working for confession because most people only confess once or twice a year at Christmas and Easter, or at other large gatherings (such as special shrine Masses, retreats etc). At all these places there are a large number of priests who hear confessions for fairly long periods of time and get everybody “processed” as it were. A parish can bring in 10 to 20 priests for one night of confessions and hear hundreds of confessions within a few hours’ time. But the parish can’t do that every week.