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| Confessionals | |
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| Topic Started: Tuesday, 4. August 2009, 15:06 (639 Views) | |
| Poesy | Tuesday, 4. August 2009, 15:06 Post #1 |
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What if you walked into a confessional in Vatican City and suddenly realised Pope Benedict was on the other side of the screen ? I read that Pope John Paul used to hear confessions in St. Peter's, and once a lady fainted on finding out her confessor was Pope John Paul II, |
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| Derekap | Tuesday, 4. August 2009, 15:51 Post #2 |
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When I was living and working in Germany I struggled (with some success) to confess in German. The priest once gave me the Litanny of the Holy Name as a penance. He asked me if I knew it, I said "Yes" being sure I would find it somewhere among my collection. I did - in Dutch!! (I didn't have it in Latin!!!) During the Holy Year of 1950 the priests hearing Confessions in St Peter's used to occasionally appear and "knighted" anyone nearby with a cane - gently fortunatly! I think one gained a few days indulgence. |
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| Rose of York | Tuesday, 4. August 2009, 22:27 Post #3 |
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I honestly do not think it would have any impact. It is likely the Holy Father still hears confessions, so before deciding to go to Confession in St Peter's it might enter my head the confessor might be he. Hopefully once inside the confessional, the identity of the confessor would be irrelevant. My aunt never saw any problem with going to her own sons for confession (one son at a time, naturally). I took that as a sign that she had total respect for their ordination, and when they were administering sacraments she viewed them first and foremost as priests, then later in her home she would think of them as her boys. |
  Catholic and proud of it! Talk to God before Mass. Talk to each other afterwards | |
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| Derekap | Wednesday, 5. August 2009, 19:29 Post #4 |
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Perhaps, Rose, your aunt thought she might get a lighter penance. If I were a priest I think I would be embarrassed if very close relatives or friends came to confess their sins to me. When we were teenagers a friend of mine thought he was unknown until, at the end, the priest asked him if he would go and buy 'Ten Players' (a then brand of cigarettes). |
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| Rose of York | Wednesday, 5. August 2009, 20:07 Post #5 |
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Derek I don''t doubt you mean that light heartedly, but my aunt really was able to look upon her sons firstly and foremostly as priests when the occasion required it. She told me, she did not expect either of them would take any notice of the fact that it was their mother who was confessing. |
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Catholic and proud of it! Talk to God before Mass. Talk to each other afterwards | |
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| Derekap | Thursday, 6. August 2009, 10:26 Post #6 |
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When I have gone to Confession in churches for the first time I have had problems fumbling around in the dark and wondering where the place to kneel is - particularly where the priest has penitents on both sides and of course the shutter on my side is closed and therefore there is no light - and ditto on the way out. Another problem can be where a lamp outide is switched on - does it mean the priest is in session or that he is engaged? At least now, in this country, I understand the priest when he is giving the absolution instead of the muttered Latin version. Edited by Derekap, Thursday, 6. August 2009, 10:30.
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| CARLO | Friday, 7. August 2009, 17:57 Post #7 |
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Derek, If you didn't understand the words of absolution in Latin were your confessions validly made? Just asking, Pax CARLO Edited by CARLO, Monday, 10. August 2009, 21:35.
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| Derekap | Friday, 7. August 2009, 21:24 Post #8 |
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Of course they were valid Carlo but I prefer the words in a language I understand.
Edited by Derekap, Friday, 7. August 2009, 21:25.
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| Deacon Robert | Saturday, 8. August 2009, 23:14 Post #9 |
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I wouldn't have a problem with the pope. Is it only me, but I have a problem going to confession with most Priests that I work with. I am in a Fransiscan Parish and over the past 14 years I only felt comfortable confessing to 3 of the 27 Priests assigned there. I go regularly to the Holy face monastery where we sit face to face so it's not that they don't know me. We meet on the streets of town on a regular basis. |
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| Patrick | Tuesday, 18. August 2009, 01:21 Post #10 |
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Derek, Surely you could see where to kneel when looking into the confessional with the door held wide open, just before you entered?
For how long did you have that problem for Derek? I seem to recall you once saying that your experience of pre-V2 was as long as that post V2 - are you seriously expecting us to believe that you went to confession for forty-odd years wondering what on earth the confessional lamp was for without ever finding out? I can imagine the relief you must have felt when the Cromwellian wreckovators moved into your parish... 
But I bet you still used to make the Sign of the Cross and say "Amen" at the end of that mumbled Latin absolution? And of course, the word "absolvo" was lost on you? And of course, I bet in those dark days of liturgy in a dead language, you never had any preparation for your First Confession? Give over, Derek, you're having a laugh. |
  
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| Derekap | Tuesday, 18. August 2009, 20:09 Post #11 |
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Well Patrick in the churches I have gone to regularly I have known where the kneeler is and there is no lamp outside. In visited churches whilst the light in the church may be adequate to go around it is often not adequate enough to see inside the confessional even when the door is open. At present I ask my present parish priest to hear my confession before Holy Mass on Sunday morning and he is sympathetic and understanding to insist I sit on his chair whilst he stands - probably because I would take so long to kneel down and stand-up and I can't stand for long (depending how I feel). In ye olde days the Latin absolution was often a brrrrr brrrr brrr .... Amen - of course some priests did pronounce the words more clearly. I am not doubting the validity. I assure you I am serious in a light-hearted way! |
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| Rose of York | Tuesday, 18. August 2009, 20:33 Post #12 |
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We did not have lights outside confessionals. There were long queues of people waiting for confession. When the priest went into his side, the first person in the queue went into the penitent's side. For the rest of the confession period one person came out, another came in. Patrick you may need a little educating about darkness in confessionals. There are people who due to a combination of visual and physical difficulties, have to be very precise about what they are doing, and feel nervous because one trip on the kneeler can cause a very nasty accident. In this day and age, nobody should have to go into gloom. let alone darkness. Anyway, confessionals are often in gloomy ill lit corners, especially in old buildings. |
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Catholic and proud of it! Talk to God before Mass. Talk to each other afterwards | |
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| CARLO | Tuesday, 18. August 2009, 22:22 Post #13 |
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Tut, how I long for the 4 sided confession box of pre V2 days with or without the bare light bulb we always had. The mumbled Latin absoution was a treasure. I never heard of anyone before who seriously didn't understand it! Salva nos Save us CARLO Edited by CARLO, Tuesday, 18. August 2009, 22:23.
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| Patrick | Tuesday, 18. August 2009, 23:09 Post #14 |
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CARLO, You have some excellent material here for one of your excellent poems.... 
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| Derekap | Wednesday, 19. August 2009, 20:20 Post #15 |
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Carlo wrote: "Tut, how I long for the 4 sided confession box of pre V2 days with or without the bare light bulb we always had. The mumbled Latin absoution was a treasure. I never heard of anyone before who seriously didn't understand it!" I've often seen a 2-sided confessional - The priest sittiing beween the screens and kneelers for the penitents and opening and closing the shutters in turn. I've never heard of a 4-sided version. Absolution in any language is a treasure! I doubt whether many penitents understood the actual words; of course they understood the purpose and significance. |
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