For many years I’ve had the clear sense that most parishes allot an inadequate amount of time each week for Confession. In my experience, most parishes set aside one hour per week for scheduled Confessions, some set aside two hours, and very few set aside more than that.
What does that all that mean in practical terms? Well, I decided to dust off my calculator to see if there really is a “Confession shortage.”
First, let’s assume a large parish of 2,000 families, such that there are more than 4,000 people who have made their first Confession. This number can be validated to some extent by adding up the number of people at all the weekend Masses that satisfy the Sunday obligation, virtually all of whom receive Communion. There is always going to be a fair number of nominal Catholics who really do not participate in the sacramental life of the Church. But let’s assume that in our parish there are 4,000 people who consider themselves Catholic and who have already made their first Confession.
Second, let’s assume that the average person needs to spend 15 minutes per year in the confessional, whether it’s 15 minutes all at once or perhaps three five-minute Confessions over the course of the year. I’d suggest that the average adult Catholic needs to spend much more than 15 minutes per year in the confessional (I know I do!), but let’s go with this very conservative number.
If the 4,000 parishioners spend on average 15 minutes in Confession per year, the parish needs to allot 1,000 hours per year for Confession. This amounts to 19 hours per week. Since our parish is on the large side, let’s say we have two priests instead of one, which in many places is an unrealistic luxury. If both priests hear Confessions for two hours on Saturday, that’s still only four hours per week. Even allowing for a certain amount of “catch up” before Easter and Christmas through special Penance services, and taking into account that a handful of people do make appointments for Confession outside of the normally scheduled hours, we can quickly see that this sacrament is drastically under-utilized.
Sacramental Confession is an awesome encounter with the mercy of God. Without regular recourse to the sacrament, our sinful tendencies will likely get the better of us, dragging us and our loved ones deeper into darkness and away from the Lord. Further, this lack of Confession combined with frequent Communion is a deadly mix, as receiving Communion in a state of mortal sin in itself is a mortal sin that drags us down even farther.
There are many reasons for the current situation, and it’s not my intention here to single out any particular group for criticism, as all of us need to take responsibility for our own spiritual well-being and for the spiritual well-being of those entrusted to our care.
One reason why parishes don’t schedule more Confession hours is because people don’t show up. Maybe we weren’t catechized well, or our pastor doesn’t encourage Confession enough. And maybe our diocese is suffering from a shortage of priests and just doesn’t have the ministers to meet the needs of the faithful. These are all likely factors, and surely there are many others.
But priests do draw encouragement from lay people. I remember how edified my parish priest was twenty years ago when our young adult group showed up en masse for the Saturday evening Confessions. This unanticipated demand led the priest to call in reinforcements (i.e., the pastor) and to stay an hour longer than the scheduled time.
And especially during this "Year for Priests," maybe we can go out of our way to thank our parish priests for making themselves available to hear our Confessions.
The point in all this is to stress that we need to teach (and pray) about vocations, and teach about (and get to) Confession. Our faith is rooted in our personal relationship with the Lord that begins at Baptism, but those two topics are crucial when it comes to living our Baptism as effective Catholics in the world. We need ministers of God’s mercy. Even more to the point, we need God's mercy.
This article, in modified form, originally appeared at the CUF Blog.