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"there aren't many sinners in this parish!"

Yours too?!! Lol! Father, recognizing the 'saintliness' of our parishioners, now schedules 2 Reconciliation services each year. These are truly beautiful with readings and the Gospel, followed by a series of introspective questions intended to examine the conscience. After this Father plants himself in the confessional and we take turns.

As a parish, we are truly blessed with many saints! There are so few who show up at these Reconciliation services. Actually, acclaiming those who don't show up as saints is a misnomer. Most saints are well aware of their human failings and attend Confession on a weekly basis :-).

We have the two reconciliation services in Advent and Lent. They are always VERY well attended, in fact at the last one there were so many people waiting for individual confession that they canceled the rest of the penance service so that the priest who was leading it could go take his place in the confessional. They called in extra priests from surrounding parishes, in addition to our three there were at least five others, scattered about anywhere they could find a quiet corner. I heard later that it took over three hours to get all the confessions heard, even with 8 or more priests "houseling and shriving as fast as shelling peas" . . . (stolen from one of Arthur Conan Doyle's historical novels) < g >

I think a lot of folks just can't make it to the Saturday 4:30 p.m. scheduled weekly confession. With the very best will in the world, I try to make a monthly confession, but what with sports practice, family activities out of town, work, dog trials, etc. I sometimes come panting in and find the priest has already left! If it were offered between the two main services on Sunday, or more frequently, I think there would be more frequent participation.

Our pastor does something like that...although he gets several other priests in the area to help him. He does this during Advent and during Lent. If he doesn't think enough people come to the sessions, he will hold another one...and the week before Christmas and the week before the Triduum, he stays in the confessional for about five hours a day.

In the year and a half since he's been here, he's had to increase the confession period by a half hour because the number of people went to two or three a week until it was getting difficult to hear everybody. I had had to ask him to hear mine after Saturday night mass because he ran out of time!

And we have 20 people in our RCIA (maybe double those of last year) and 23 kids in the special sacraments class.

Devotion, adoration, and taking it seriously make a real difference. Church lite doesn't do anything like the real thing.