Catholic Minority Report pretty much sums up my opinion on how effective a handbook by the Vatican will be to get Catholics to return to confession.
I think that as long as Confession is relegated to a half hour block on Saturday nights as is done in most parishes there will be a lack of people going to confession. Making an appointment when you want to be anonymous, as is your right, does not work.
My main parish has confession before every Mass and there are lines. Another parish I go to just started that practice. When Catholics see other Catholics lining up for confession it certainly brings it up to them and shows that “No it did not go out with Vatican II.”
The lack of preaching on sin certainly has lead to this problem. “God loves you where your at” and all that means you don’t have to do anything like actually repenting. We don’t have to go all “Hellfire and Brimstone”, but certainly the reality of Hell needs to be preached. Our Culture is preaching “I’m OK, You’re OK” 24/7 and it needs to be counteracted when the reality is “I’m a Sinner, You’re a Sinner and we both need to continuously repent.”
Efforts like Archbiship Wuerl’s effort to emphasize confession starting from the bishop down is important.
Regular confession by the Catholic faithful will help to bring about an actual springtime of the Church. All renewal starts with self-renewal and that self-renewal is via the grace of God and the great sacrament of confession is an important component of this.
31 comments
We hear a lot about liturgy abuse. There is also a lot of “confession abuse” too.
In one parish with three priests it is not uncommon to find the church locked at posted confession times, and if it isn’t, the pastor is hearing confessions, in “civilian clothes” and a stole, on his feet in the center aisle rather than one of the four confessionals.
In another parish, a banquet or golf tournament may be adequate “reason” to cancel confessions.
In my parish, our former pastor decided to cancel confessions during Lent.
I have written letters to the prsident of the bishops conference, and to the papal legate concerning the slack attitude of priests toward this sacrament, but have never gotten a reply.
St. Margaret Mary in Oakland, CA: Confessions daily before Holy Mass; Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon; prior/during three Masses on Sunday; and of course by appointment. Does it get better than this? Thank you Father Zak and Father Moreau (ICSK).
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Our parish has them available on Saturdays before he evening Mass for one hour. There is a line.
I agree completely about not wanting to make an appointment!
What were confession schedules like in the good old days? Was it possible to have one’s confession heard prior to Mass on a Sunday morning?
Wonderful news ! The devastating V2 song,” No matter what do God still loves you ” with piano
is certainly a factor in the demise of the faith
in the young of that period…I still shudder at the thought.
Wonderful news ! The devastating V2 song,” No matter what do God still loves you ” with piano
is certainly a factor in the demise of the faith
in the young of that period…I still shudder at the thought.
well, if they had regular hours that we could sneak in and confess it would help.
But saying we can interrupt the priest before mass to do a quickie confession isn’t going to work…
Maybe combining an afternoon or evening of Eucharistic adoration with saying Father will be in the confessional at a specific time will work. That way the church is not empty, and no one knows if you are going to confession or just praying.
I am happy to say that at our parish you had better be early or you won’t make it in the confessional before Father has to say Mass. Sadly though, I was visiting a church in Long Beach where the priest (70ish) preached that Jesus had already died for our sins and thus there was no need for confession. It was a beautful, older Gothic style church. The confessionals had beem removed.
I am happy to say that at our parish you had better be early or you won’t make it in the confessional before Father has to say Mass. Sadly though, I was visiting a church in Long Beach where the priest (70ish) preached that Jesus had already died for our sins and thus there was no need for confession. It was a beautful, older Gothic style church. The confessionals had beem removed.
My parish has 2300 families. During Holy Week, ONE HOUR was allotted for confessions (and though we have two priests, only one confessional was open.)
We arrived 10 minutes before confessions started, and still were turned away (along with about 80-100 people in line behind us.)
My parish also offers confessions between 6:30-7 on Saturday nights.
We are actually in the process of switching churches over this issue!
I was born in 1978 but grew up going to the Latin Mass, and confession was always heard for 30-45 minutes before EACH Sunday Mass.
I am very grateful to the priest at my church. Confession is scheduled starting an hour before each weekend mass and for “as long as needed” afterward. At the end of mass he always mentions that he will be hearing confessions. Every Advent and Lent there is a penitential service with a bunch of priests available for confession. Moreover, Father actually mentions the need for repentance and reconciliation in his homilies. This must make a lot more work for him than just having 20 minutes on Saturday, but he does it and I believe God will bless him for it.
I am very shy and it is a great thing for me to know that confession is available every weekend without having to make a special appointment and that there is a SCREEN available so it is anonymous. I’m sure I can’t be the only one who feels like this, even among the not-shy.
I think the single most effective thing for returning people to the sacrament would be a simple homily on the Scriptural, social, and psychological bases for Confession. I would venture to guess that most Catholics, like myself for many years, don’t really know why we confess through a priest, and thus don’t feel any real need to show up.
Bryan Kirchoff
St. Louis
C Matt:
Thank you.
This has been a big issue for me lately. I haven’t received Communion in months, and finally decided that I was really going to turn away from the sins that were keeping me away. That was 2 weeks ago. I *still* haven’t been able to receive, because I still haven’t been able to go to Confession, and I really don’t know how much longer my repentance is going to last without the grace of the Eucharist. I’m trying, but it’s not easy.
Sometimes it takes a story like this to remind me how blessed we are at our parish. Confessions are offered 30 minutes before each scheduled Mass (3 daily Masses on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 4 on Tuesday, Thursday and first Friday; 6 Masses on Sunday) and from 10-noon on Saturday. That’s at least 27 opportunities to receive the sacrament each week.
Fr. Ben, Fr. Libor and Fr. Franics, THANK YOU!
Yeah… a handbook… that will do it…
maybe a website, with movies, and instructions… that should really do it…
I have a better idea… when bishops and priests decide that it is important, and talk about it from the pulpit more i.e. outside of Lent and Advent. Get rid of the B.S. reconciliation services which really devalues the idea of confession. Put more effort into it rather than 15 minutes before the Saturday Vigil service or the appointment schedule book. How you do something shows how much it means.
Before making assumptions about what the Vatican intends to do, I would suggest reading what Mr. Jimmy Akin has to say on the subject: http://www.jimmyakin.org/2009/06/vatican-says-.html
Does anyone know the outcome of the SoulWow campaign they had in NYC during Holy Week? They had priests available nearly 24 straight and a pretty clever ad campaign, and I’m curious to see what effects if had.
Jester?: Apparently you erased this comment. Why?
By Guillermo Bustamante on June 4, 2009 2:12
Jeff:
Great cause!!! San JosemarÃa Escrivá de Balaguer (books in most languages: http://www.opusdei.org) GOES FURTHER AND RECOMMENDS AS A DUTY TO HAVE A SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR REGULARLY.
Please consider that Wuerl, defender of Pelosi’s sacrilege with the Eucharist, IS NOT a commendable spiritual leader: choose among hundreds of saints to commend the Reconciliation Sacrament.
Cordially
I just wish they offered it more than two days at my church. The way it is now, they’re in between Masses (both super packed) and I fear the parking lot! I recall one time when a fellow *sped* his car in front of me to grab a parking space. Later on I saw him at the front of the confession line; always wonder if he confessed “nearly caused accident trying to get here”. So I always pray for a *safe* as well as a good confession.
ANyway, the confession lines are always packed. Last time I went, I was 25 minutes waiting in line and I was getting scared the fathers would close up shop when the Mass started. But I made it thankfully. 🙂
What would the world be like if someone had told John “Another Gospel, come on, that won’t cut it. You should be out there preaching!”
How impoverished would we be because of this mean-spirited comment? It is easy for us to sit here and attack priests for not doing enough. ‘A handbook won’t cut it, they need to preach about confession in every pulpit all over the world’ [paraphrase]. How are they supposed to do that? There aren’t enough priests in the Vatican to do that, but maybe by publishing materials ABOUT the sacrament they can inspire a few priests and bishops to start talking.
Honestly, it would be nice if the Pope could just push the “magic fix-it button” and made the Church perfect, but until then, we’ll have to accept imperfect, gradual fixes.
IMHO, if this handbook inspires one sinner to go to confession, then it was “Good Enough,” even though the arm-chair prelates on blogs won’t know about it.
Agreed that the lack of adequate confession times at parishes is one of the main factors contributing to people not receiving this sacrament. I heard that one of the parishes in our area has stopped having regular confession hours, and at another parish you can go to confession but will likely be told that your sins aren’t really sins, that the Church no longer distinguishes between mortal and venial sin, and that you need to “accept yourself” and maybe see a psychologist about that guilt complex.
We’re lucky–we have a regular hour on Saturday nights, confessions available before Sunday Masses (although they’re not anonymous), and at the youth-oriented Catholic Underground once a month on Friday night. Catholic Underground usually has 4-6 priests hearing confessions non-stop for about an hour and a half. And no funny business, either; just good advice and absolution.
Thanks for writing this column. I ended up sending it with my comments to my Pastor. We have a church of 5,000 souls and confession on Saturday from 3:30pm to 4:15pm before 4:30pm Mass. So you hit it correctly. Also because of you, I started my own blog site – to tap into my own muddled ideas on the topic!
Although I initially struggled with the idea of confessing my sins to a priest, I now recognize that auricular confession and absolution is one of our Lord’s great gifts to us. In the RCIA class in my home parish, confession was not given much emphasis (but then, neither were any of the sacraments).
I do wish that confession were more readily available. At my home parish, confession is scheduled from 9AM to 10AM Saturday, which is difficult for me. The 1 hour on Saturday seems to be the general practice in my area. Fortunately, there is a relatively nearby church that offers confession Saturday afternoon. There is always a line, and there is helpful counsel as well as penance and absolution.
The best thing about this parish is that the priests do give of themselves in offering confession times nine times a week–after each weekday Mass and once during Tuesday evening adoration. And there are lines about the length that most parishes have in their weekly half and hour for each of these weekday times. And there are no confessions on Saturday. The other parishes have that.
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