A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

Bishop Farrell pushes for more Confession March 16, 2012

At the Ordination of Fr.’s Yamauchi, Unachukwu, and MacDonald this past July, Bishop Farrell gave an inspiring sermon where he stressed the Sacramental nature of the priesthood.  He stated that, in addition to a vibrant personal prayer life and the de rigeur action of proclaiming the Gospel, all priests must center their vocation around the offering of Sacraments, and must make time for them as much as possible.  To this writer, the Sacrament of Confession has been sadly overlooked over the past several decades.  Confession is such a key, foundational aspect of the faith, and yet so few have availed themselves of this great Sacrament.  Pope Benedict XVI himself has repeatedly stated that regular Confession is a fundamental part of anyone’s relationship with God.  To have any hope of growth in the Faith, we must avail ourselves of this Sacrament regularly – that means, at least monthly.

But, even with Bishop Farrell’s stirring words last summer, many parishes still have only very limited Confession times, generally only an hour a week.  There is one parish I know of that has none.  So, Bishop Farrell is initiating an apparently Diocese-wide initiative to have simultaneous Confession at every parish in the Diocese from 6:30-9pm on April 4th – that is, Wednesday in Holy Week.  That’s a great start, but it must be only a start.  Confession is not a once-a-year event.  It should be an ongoing, regular part of one’s life, and thus generous Confession times should be available at every parish.

In the current issue of Texas Catholic, there is also a listing of most confession times in the Diocese.  I say most, because I note at least two parishes where the list does not appear complete.  But having said that, you can get a pretty good idea of when Confession will be available at your parish, or one near you.  There is far too much information to list in a blog post.  But I’ll provide a few summary data points:

• It appears a fair number of parishes have increased the amount of time for Confession in the past year or two.  It appears that now about 1/4 of parishes have more than 2 hours of Confession time a week.
• Unfortunately, around 1/3 of parishes have one hour or less
• Most parishes fall somewhere in between 1 and 2 hours per week. 
• Reconciliation services, which involve a public gathering followed by individual confessions, are pertty wisdespread during Lent. So long as these services don’t involve the problematic, most likely unefficacious “general absolution,” that’s fine.
• During this immediate Lenten period, many parishes like St. Mark in Plano and St. John the Apostle in Terrell are having, or have had, many extra periods of Confession.

There are some standout parishes.  St. Thomas Aquinas in Dallas has quite extensive ongoing Confession times, as does St.  Jude in Allen, Immaculate Conception in Corsicana, St. William in Greenville, and a few other parishes.  Some parishes have Confession five or more days a week, which is also very important.  One thing I have noted, is that the more Confession time is available, the more our priests place an emphasis on the Sacrament by concrete action, the more souls tend to avail themselves of it. 

I pray there will come a time in this Diocese, AND SOON, that Confession will once again be a daily, or nearly daily, part of life in every parish.  I love this Sacrament so much.  It has done such good for me, even though I am still a wretched sinner, and have so many sins that continue to crop up.  But coming out of the Confessional, being “clean” again, returning to the life of Grace, or just getting a spiritual “tune-up,” is such an incredible feeling.  It is so very good for the soul.  I don’t know how this Sacrament fell out of favor, but I find it absolutely critical for spiritual development.  There is no question that as one avails themselves of this Sacrament regularly over time, along with a preparatory and daily examination of conscience, that more sins and imperfections will be revealed, more things will become apparent that need to be excised from one’s life, and one will grow further in the spiritual life.  I really believe that at least bi-weekly Confession is critical for good spiritual growth, and if one has been lost in the culture for years, and has absorbed many of the evils that abound, more frequent Confession may be necessary for quite some time. 

A great thanks to Bishop Farrell for emphasizing this critical Sacrament.  I pray that more and more priests will be even more generous with their time in the Confessional!