Windows on Confession Rooms?

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CB_Catholic said:
I believe these windows are for the protection of the priest and penitent against claims of improper behavior by either. In this day and age, it seems this might be a good idea.
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Yes. Our parish recently remodeled the confessionals to install windows and our priest made an announcement that the measures are in response to the molestation scandals, in an effort to do everything possible to protect all parties.
 
LPS said:
Yes. Our parish recently remodeled the confessionals to install windows and our priest made an announcement that the measures are in response to the molestation scandals, in an effort to do everything possible to protect all parties.
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Regular confessionals or reconciliation rooms?
 
GEddie said:
If the door is open, so much for the seal of confession, ITASM?
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SOme of the traditional confessionals had but one door - for two confessionals. That door was to the priest’s booth between them.

You have the right to be screened from the priest if you’re roman. You don’t have the right to be screened from everyone else’s view - only from their hearing.

Nor is a door required for the seal. Unless, of course, you can’t keep your voice down.

As a byzantine, I have no right to a screen. I have no expectation even of a confessional. But even when I make my confession just to the south of the ambon, standing before the Pantocrator Icon, the seal is present. I just have to quietly tell my sins to the priest.
 
Aramis said:
SOme of the traditional confessionals had but one door - for two confessionals. That door was to the priest’s booth between them.

You have the right to be screened from the priest if you’re roman. You don’t have the right to be screened from everyone else’s view - only from their hearing.

Nor is a door required for the seal. Unless, of course, you can’t keep your voice down.

As a byzantine, I have no right to a screen. I have no expectation even of a confessional. But even when I make my confession just to the south of the ambon, standing before the Pantocrator Icon, the seal is present. I just have to quietly tell my sins to the priest.
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Is this done kneeling, standing, or sitting? And if there is a line of penitents waiting, I presume that they stand far enough back so as not to be able to overhear?
 
JimG said:
Is this done kneeling, standing, or sitting? And if there is a line of penitents waiting, I presume that they stand far enough back so as not to be able to overhear?
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I’m not Aramis, but I can answer…

It is generally done standing, with kneeling for absolution, but this varies widely, from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and even from parish to parish. Each of the three (kneeling, sitting, and standing) can be found. If there is a line, or others in the church, people are quite respectful. In my parish, they generally sit in the back half of the church, waiting for the confession to finish. There is often chanting of the psalms taking place during confession as well, which would make confession difficult to overhear. I have occasionally had to step back a few feet, as I was in danger of overhearing someone’s confession. I have seen pictures of Orthodox confessions (which are basically the same) in which people are standing uncomfortably close, at least it would be for me. I don’t know how common it is, however. The image below is an example.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
When I was in Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day 2011, they only had the priest in a little box while the penitent sat in the open. It was a little awkward.
 
JimG said:
Is this done kneeling, standing, or sitting? And if there is a line of penitents waiting, I presume that they stand far enough back so as not to be able to overhear?
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Typically, standing, bent over. Babochka’s photo is not atypical for OCA village parishes, but note that your whispering almost into the ear of the priest.

When we do confessions at the iconostas, no one sits within about 15 feet.
CatholicZ09 said:
When I was in Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day 2011, they only had the priest in a little box while the penitent sat in the open. It was a little awkward.
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It’s all that the canons actually require. You had the option to not let him see you.
 
tee_eff_em said:
***Do ***the canons so require? :hmmm:

tee
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Canon 964

§1: The proper place to hear sacramental confessions is in a church or oratory.

§2: The conference of bishops is to issue norms concerning the confessional, seeing to it that confessionals with a fixed grille between penitent and confessor are always located in an open area so that the faithful who wish to make use of them may do so freely.

§ 3: Confessions are not to be heard outside the confessional without a just cause.
 
babochka said:
Canon 964

§1: The proper place to hear sacramental confessions is in a church or oratory.

§2: The conference of bishops is to issue norms concerning the confessional, seeing to it that confessionals with a fixed grille between penitent and confessor are always located in an open area so that the faithful who wish to make use of them may do so freely.

§ 3: Confessions are not to be heard outside the confessional without a just cause.
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I read nothing in the canon to indicate the penitent has a right to remain unseen?

NB: A fixed grille impedes physical contact; it does not impede the passage of light through its openings.

tee
 
The photo provided by Babochka is instructive as to how it works. But those other people sure do seem to be standing way too close!
 
JimG said:
The photo provided by Babochka is instructive as to how it works. But those other people sure do seem to be standing way too close!
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Yeah, we never stand that close in my parish.
 
tee_eff_em said:
I read nothing in the canon to indicate the penitent has a right to remain unseen?

NB: A fixed grille impedes physical contact; it does not impede the passage of light through its openings.

tee
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You’re right, of course, and I have argued that point many times on this very forum. Anonymity was never the point of the fixed grille and is not guaranteed in any way. I have limited experience with confession in the Latin Church, and even less in old-fashioned confessionals. Do the fixed grilles sometimes have an opening so that the priest and penitent can see each other?
 
babochka said:
You’re right, of course, and I have argued that point many times on this very forum.
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As have I.
babochka said:
Anonymity was never the point of the fixed grille and is not guaranteed in any way. I have limited experience with confession in the Latin Church, and even less in old-fashioned confessionals. Do the fixed grilles sometimes have an opening so that the priest and penitent can see each other?
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You be the judge — Do you think you could see through the grilles on these confessionals (which, we may note, are the open style described by several posters above, myself among them) ?

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/SantCompostela25.jpg

tee
 
babochka said:
You’re right, of course, and I have argued that point many times on this very forum. Anonymity was never the point of the fixed grille and is not guaranteed in any way. I have limited experience with confession in the Latin Church, and even less in old-fashioned confessionals. Do the fixed grilles sometimes have an opening so that the priest and penitent can see each other?
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In my parish, the fixed grille is covered on both sides by a curtain. In theory, the penitent could pull the curtain aside for a face to face confession, but the priest would have to do the same on his side. As far as I know this is not done, and the priest exercises his option to keep his curtain in place.
 
tee_eff_em said:
You be the judge — Do you think you could see through the grilles on these confessionals (which, we may note, are the open style described by several posters above, myself among them) ?

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/SantCompostela25.jpg

tee
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Interesting. If “old world” confessionals so clearly allow the priest and the penitent to see one another and the stated purpose of the grille, at its inception, was for the sake of propriety, how is it that so many insist that the purpose and function is anonymity?
 
Our confessional does not at this time have a window. It needs one as it offers both the fixed grate option and the face to face option. I would be totally in favor of installing a glass door to protect the priest from any allegation and the children from any danger. As far as seeing who is in confession, that is already possible as they come and go in open view.
 
In my childhood parish, the revamped confessional (1983) was a box with two doors on either side, and a large plate glass window across the front. There was a thin curtain drawn across it for confessions, and the room doubled as a cry room for Mass.
 
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