“This summer there has been a marked difference in demand compared to last summer … We don’t usually offer confessions in August but have done this year.”
Not sure why, but I doubt they have a good reason. As far as the US, I think if a parish of a few thousand families is offered confession an hour before the vigil Mass 51 times a year, it might not demonstrate that confession is all that important.
FReegards
One of the problems in the US has been that parishes never offer confession - and then complain that no one goes to confession!
Offering confession once a week for 30 minutes on a Saturday afternoon is ridiculous. It used to be offered on Saturday mornings, but also before any mass. All it takes is one priest to come and sit in the box for about 15 minutes before each mass.
They used to sit there peacefully reading their breviaries while they waited for people to come in, and many of them actually regarded it as a sort of reflective moment of the day.