The following is from the Diocese of Sacramento, posted last week on the diocesan website:
Liturgy Reminders:
Commentary on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal
Re: Sacrament of Reconciliation: the Confessional
Confessionals should be built so as to give penitents the option making their confession from behind a screen or ‘face-to-face’. Penitents cannot be required to offer their confession in one way or the other.
From the USCCB, October 20, 2000 –
“Provision must be made in each church or oratory for a sufficient number of places for sacramental confessions which are clearly visible, truly accessible, and which provide a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor. Provision should also be made for penitents who wish to confess face-to-face, with due regard for the Authentic Interpretation of canon 964, §2 by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, July 7, 1998” (AAS 90 [1998] 711).
Thank you for all that you do.
James Cavanagh Director of Worship
Good this is how confession should be not the Novus Ordo face to face confession, once again all this could have been avoided by never gutting the TLM, a complete no brainer! Are you hearing me Novus Ordonarians???
There appears to be a contradiction here:
On the one hand, Mr. Cavanaugh states, “Penitents cannot be required to offer their confession in one way or the other.”
On the other, the Authentic Interpretation of canon 964, §2 referred to in the same note gives the priest confessor the right to hear confessions behind a screen exclusively, if he prefers. That right of the priest entails requiring penitents to confess from behind a screen instead of face to face, if the priest does not want to hear confessions face to face.
Since the Authentic Interpretation is binding and Mr. Cavanagh’s statement is not, the contradiction is solved by admitting that Mr. Cavanagh’s statement is incorrect.
There should be no face to face option. All sacraments should be as they always were. The “Vatican II implementation” mantra is getting pretty thin. Time for a restoration.
Amen, St. Christopher!
The Director of Worship also distributed official diocese confessional information signs:
“Confessions will be heard on Saturday from 4:00pm to 4:15pm, and by appointment if necessary.”
Same in our Parish so if I want a screen or be anonymous for a confession shall I use John Doe wants an appointment for confession. Typically when you make an appointment you are invited to the Rectory office for confession.. The priest walk over to Church and just sit and read or say evening office in Confessional. Those Days are gone my friends..
This was never broken. Yet they ‘fixed’ it and wreck-o-vated many churches for very little reason. Now they are going back to what should not have been removed. Is their any hope for the return of communion rails? Where has the reverence gone for the reception of Holy Communion and the careful handling of Jesus in the holy Eucharistic bread? It is our Lord! We should be kneeling at the very least. The alter servers should use patens even if communicants choose to use their hands. Like on EWTN.
How does one remain anonymous when one makes appointment for confession? Where does confession take place at the rectory’s?
Doesn’t the priest see you there?
Something tells me there is a relationship between whether a Confessional is still available and the number of Confessions heard on a daily basis. Many good people are ashamed of their sins and want to remain anonymous to their parish priest. If they can’t remain anonymous, they simply don’t want to go and have a face-to-face meeting and repent in shame, after all, Our Lord knows who we are and what we did. To think after the wreckovations of removing confessionals, how many hundreds of millions of souls stopped going to confession before they died and didn’t receive forgiveness for their sins! How many have either elongated purgatory sentences or worse yet, have been cast into hell!