First off, my pastor called Confession by it's real name from the pulpit on Sunday - PENANCE. People are going to argue with me on this, but I'm right. And yes, words do matter. In fact, Monsignor refuses to use the word "reconciliation" when referring to the sacrament.
We only have the "booths" with curtains. Five of them. One side of each has a screen, the other has a chair and two are wheelchair accessible. On Good Friday, all of them are used, but normally, just two, and there is ALWAYS a line. They starting hearing confessions between Masses on Sunday about two years ago (in addition to Saturday afternoon) and ended up adding another hour, because the lines were so long. Confessions are heard until the canon of the next Mass, and I've seen people not able to be heard as there was such a long line.
It seems to me that McBrien is blinded by his own little world of wishful thinking. Confession is making a serious comeback. People are going and they are taking their time with the priests. Maybe it's just in pockets right now, but it's happening. Even in my parish, it's not everyone going, but the "make it available at convenient times, and people will take advantage" is in effect.
The biggest reason people around here don’t go to Confession is that the priests don’t hear confessions enough. They have one priest for one hour on Saturday afternoon, and that’s it for the entire large parish. When the hour is over, he gets up and leaves, no matter how many people may be waiting.
Our priests are also awful confessors, but that’s another story. The real fact of the matter is that the priests don’t like to hear confessions, avoiding making it available, and that’s why people don’t go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41tOWqcR9Hk
**First off, my pastor called Confession by it’s real name from the pulpit on Sunday - PENANCE. **
My priest has been using the word “Penance”, too. Wow!
After all, repenting of our sins is part of the process.