The following comes from a February 16 Valley Catholic article by Liz Sullivan:
If Father Joe Kim, Director of Vocations and Evangelization for the Diocese of San Jose, ever needed proof the Diocese’s The Light Is On for You campaign was reaching people, he just needed to be reminded of the letter he received last Spring.
The letter was from a man who said he hadn’t been to church in 54 years, since he was 12 years old.
However, one day the man was driving around San Jose when he saw an ad for The Light Is On for You campaign on the back of a VTA bus. The ad was welcoming people back to the Church to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession.
The invitation struck a nerve with the man, who had always wanted to return to the Church. It was the first time in all of his years away from the Church that the man had been asked to return to the Catholic Church and so he did; the man went to his local parish on a Wednesday when the campaign was taking place and participated in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
All because someone invited him.
This year, the Diocese of San Jose will once again hold The Light Is On for You campaign on Wednesdays, from 6-8 pm, in all 54 parishes from February 17 to March 23.
Last year, in the campaign’s first year, Father Joe estimated that 20,000 people participated in parish Reconciliation services. Father Joe said there are no plans to really change anything done last year, but just try to reach as many people as possible.
What an inspiring story.! Hey everybody, get to confession, and bring a friend!
Up until recently, as far as I know, St. Casimir’s Church in Los Angeles had confessions before every Mass. This means confessions were held daily.
At my last parish for 8 years 2 of us priests heard confessions for 45 minutes Monday thru Saturday in the morning 45 minutes in the evening Monday thru Friday 1 hour, and 3 priests for 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon, and we turned people away so that we could say Mass, eat and attend to other parish duties, offering them an opportunity for private confession or return the next day earlier to get to the front of the line We priests also went to confession weekly.. The need is great. It must be answered by a bishop directing his clergy to do so, or it will not happen.
A priest in my parish has regular posted confession hours every day of the week except Sunday. And I’m sure if asked he would hear your confession then, too!
He urges people to go to confession often–even every day if they are dealing with persistent sins.
The diocese also has a Catholic LGBT Ministry with “All are welcome” Masses held monthly at various participating churches. From their website “The Church welcomes us all and is better when we all come to Mass – as we are, as God made us.”
https://www.dsj.org/cultural-ministries/catholic-lgbt-ministry-council/
At my Parish in Oakland, there is confession before daily Mass (two Masses a day; three Masses on Thursday); an additional hour+ on Friday and Saturday afternoon; and six and one-half hours scheduled on Sunday (four Masses).
Gravey, pray tell what parish in Oakland has all of these sacraments available. I live near Oakland
Our Lady of Peace Shrine in Santa Clara many know is open 24/7 for adoration: year-round it has extended confessional times. (2800 Mission College Bl, Santa Clara 95054 (exit Great America Pkwy E from the 101 fwy).
The order that staffs it has traditional confessionals in the adjacent parish hall (the lines became too much for the rear of the church), and they have at least 2 priests on duty during the 8am, noon & 530pm (also 730pm Wed) weekday Masses. Sunday Masses range from 730am to 800pm on Sundays, and always have confession during all the Masses. As well, the entire devotional atmosphere at OLP is silence, prayer, adoration—and the church is always full, even at other than Mass times.
FYI, however: there is no noon Mass on Saturdays, so no confessions at that time, nor prior to the 530pm Sat evening Mass.
https://www.olop-shrine.org/
By contrast, beloved St Dominic’s in SF only has 20-minute confession time-frames, before the Sat eve and Sunday Masses. Good luck on that, because the lines are usually pretty full, and you have a better than 50:50 chance of being turned away (has happened often to me).
https://stdominics.org/parish/masses
Steve – I think It’s a very legitimate complaint if a parish doesn’t have sufficient confession times, as you have pointed out. Have you contacted the parish about your complaint and what did they say? Do they know there is a line that gets turned away, for example? I’m going to guess…and it really is a guess…that the 20 minute time frame was instituted when the parishoners didn’t appreciate the value of confession and so 20 minutes probably was largely unused. Now that more Catholics appreciate the value of Confession, they may not be aware.
By the way, “Sonia Bailes”, if you have a problem with the “reporting” on CCD, you can increase your donation(s) to them (as I am sure you are already donating monthly to them..ps: I do), so they can staff a couple full-time reporters to give you the adequate investigative Catholic journalism you demand.
Since they are all part-time plus 2 volunteers, why not ante up, put the $$$ where the keyboard is, and you will do something beautiful for God, right?