Confession Times

[Lil Red]

every time I go, there is a line. it's super hard as a mom to go to Saturday afternoon confession, simply because my husband works  every day of the week until 6p.m. My kids are too young to stay in the pew by themselves while I'm in confessing, and not burn down the church :| 

 

for advent, the priest at our parish did offer Wednesday evening confessions, but i don't know that it was that well-attended, simply because I think too many people are in the habit of thinking Confession=Saturday afternoons. There is one priest in town that offers Confession before each of his Masses, but it's not always feasible to go there either (once again, my husband is at work). 

[franciscanheart]

3 days per week, 45 minutes per day. Most weeks you have more than one option for confessor.

[OnlySunshine]

My home parish has Confessions on Wednesday morning after Mass and the Rosary and on Saturday afternoon before 5pm Mass.  Wednesday is until everyone is finished and Saturday is from 3:30pm to 4:30pm but it can sometimes go until 4:45pm.  We used to have two priests but the associate got reassigned so now we are down to just one to do everything.

[IcePrincessKRS]

every time I go, there is a line. it's super hard as a mom to go to Saturday afternoon confession, simply because my husband works  every day of the week until 6p.m. My kids are too young to stay in the pew by themselves while I'm in confessing, and not burn down the church :|

 

for advent, the priest at our parish did offer Wednesday evening confessions, but i don't know that it was that well-attended, simply because I think too many people are in the habit of thinking Confession=Saturday afternoons. There is one priest in town that offers Confession before each of his Masses, but it's not always feasible to go there either (once again, my husband is at work). 

 

One parish here has it on Sunday at 8:00 am before the 9:00 Mass (which I never take advantage of) or by appointment. The other parish has it at 4 on Sat. before the anticipated Mass (which I where I always go). If my husband can't be there I park my kids in the cry room; Adrienne is now old enough to wrangle her brother fairly well, so I send her in to confess first, then Genevieve, and I go last. It was much, much harder a couple years ago to get to confession regularly (some people might say to take turns with your spouse, but that's a lot easier to do when your spouse isn't deployed.)

Edited May 29, 2013 by IcePrincessKRS

[Chestertonian]

I live in a really small town, so we don't have set reconciliation times. After Mass every Sunday, Father encourages us to just knock on his door, day or night, because "that's what he's there for."

[dymphnamaria]

We have a parish in the city that offers an hour of confession in the morning and 3-hours cofession in the afternoon everyday except on Sundays.

[cmaD2006]

My parish offers confession before every weekday English language Mass (5:15 daily).  Also for the spanish community, there is confession pretty much before every Mass except at one of the Sunday Masses (because the priest is usually running from a previous Mass at another parish).

 

This particular priest is very, very flexible.  If he's available, and you want to go to confession after Mass he will stay and listen.

 

And here at the parish particularly in the spanish community  -- nope, the problem is not that no one goes but that Fr. usually runs out of time.  I've showed up 40 minutes before Mass and there is usually at least two - three people ahead of me.  And yes -- there are a group of us that go weekly.

[Norseman82]

You know what would be great?  If every parish had two priests hearing confessions at one time.  

For some parishes, having two priests would be a luxury.

 

 Then you can have one line for those who want the spiritual direction, and another "express lane.,,"   "ten sins or less!"     :P

 

Or they could take a cue from the old Zayre department store commercials:  "If there are more than three people in line for confession, we'll open a new confessional". 

[Norseman82]

 

 

Also, I remember reading that one of the suggestions of the Synod on the New Evangelization was that each diocese designate a location for 24/7 confession.  Found it http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_25_xiii-ordinaria-2012/02_inglese/b33_02.html , it's Proposition 33. 

 

I pity the priest who has to man the confessionals at 2AM on Friday and Saturday nights....

 

 

Seriously, there is a parish here in downtown Chicago that has confessions all day long and all afternoon Saturdays.  Here is their schedule: 

 

http://www.stpetersloop.org/service_sched.shtml

 

 

 

[dominicansoul]

I've been to that church!  After walking all day in downtown Chicago, me and my niece and a friend just happened upon the church and decided to stay for the vigil Mass.  Big mistake, we were sooo exhausted we were falling asleep standing up....! :lol:

 

 

 

That's a pretty intense confession schedule, though....wow....I especially like how there is a priest designated for spiritual direction....pretty awe.some....

[dUSt]

My spiritual director advertises confessions from 4-4:45 on Saturday afternoons before the 5 p.m. Mass. but he's usually in the confessional around 3 p.m. People already know that, and they line up at that time. The line continues until just before Mass, when He'll come out and tell everyone who didn't make it in to "wait until after Mass and I will be hearing confessions then, too."

He's just an amesome priest...


what bothers me though, is people don't really know how to confess. It's not a time for spiritual direction, especially when there are 40 people in line waiting to get in there...you go in, say your sins, wait for penance, do your Act of contrition and get out. If you want spiritual direction, that's when you make an appointment...i've witnessed people taking up to 20 minutes in the confessional...it gets so bad that by the time I get into the box, i've added a few more sins to my list.... :P

Our priests literally have signs on the confessional doors that say "Be brief. This is not a counseling session."

Lines are still very long with two priests.

[Nihil Obstat]

The more available confession is, the more people go.

[filius_angelorum]

My spiritual director in graduate school, who heard confessions on Saturday afternoons and Sunday evenings, used to say to priests who complained about no one coming to Confession: "Well, Father, if you preach about sin, and you tell them about confession, they will go." I think he was right. He also thought that you needed to have regular times later in the evening. Not everyone works for the government and gets Saturdays off!

[ToJesusMyHeart]

My situation is highly unusual, and it is probably because we're a college parish. We have Confession 6 days a week (except Sunday) from 4:30-5:20pm and Monday longer, from 3pm-5:20pm. There is always a line. Which, when you think about it, is a really good sign of the spiritual maturity of the parish. Especially at a college. 

 

I'm satisfied. But I definitely see the problem at "normal" parishes. 

[ChristinaTherese]

My parish (which has both Polish and English Masses) has confession on Saturday afternoons and before daily Masses.

     I assume that there's a line on Saturdays, but I've never been then.

     I've never seen a line before English daily Mass, and (generally) have to wait for Father to finish whatever it is he's doing (presumably praying, but certainly something having to do with a book) before he'll hear my confession.There are only maybe 8-10 of us who go to English daily Masses regularly, though, so it makes sense that there wouldn't be much of a line. He's always there for a bit (maybe 10 minutes) before Mass so that we have access to the sacrament, but there really aren't enough of us to make a line unless we all went before daily Mass and all went weekly.

     I don't know about before Polish daily Masses, though. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a line then.