Parishes invite the faithful for Lenten confessions

As part of its Welcome Home to Healing initiative, parishes in the Diocese of Paterson will, for the 15th year, have their church doors open and penance service available on Monday evenings, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., from Feb. 27, 2023, until March 27, 2023.

A website dedicated to the initiative, which includes an informative video, may be found at welcomehometohealing.org. The website includes resources about how to go to confession, a FAQ section, and resources for parishes to help raises awareness of the initiative. Guidelines for the sacrament of confession will also be available at each parish in Morris, Passaic, and Sussex counties.

“This initiative was started so that confession was readily available for people,” said Father Stephen Prisk, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Pequannock, who is the vice chancellor and director of Worship for the diocese.

The hope is to give people easy access to the sacrament by making it available at every parish at a set time and on a set day. Many people simply do not take advantage of reconciliation, Father Prisk said.

“This is for anybody,” he said. “The sacrament of reconciliation is meant to be an ongoing sacrament we receive at least once a year, particularly before Easter.”

Father Prisk said Advent and Lent are the times when people tend to take the extra initiative to celebrate the sacrament. Confession is good practice, he said, noting there exists, at times, a lack of forgiveness in society.

“We try to be nice, do the right thing, say the right things, but then we sometimes don’t even forgive each other,” Father Prisk said. “A lot of that boils down to having enough humility to say I’m wrong; I did wrong.”

He also adds that there is often a misconception about the sacrament of reconciliation.

“At least in my experience as a priest so far, it is that some people feel like, ‘I don’t need therapy,’” Father Prisk said. “That’s not what confession is; it’s not a lengthy conversation to figure out the problems of your life. You go in, you confess your sins, and you receive penance; you receive God’s mercy. It’s not a therapeutic session.”

Confession is unloading ourselves of our sins and receiving God’s mercy in response to that act of faith, that act of trust of giving those things over to him, Father Prisk said.

“We want to emphasize that it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to confession in a while; there’s no shame, there’s no judgment. It’s offered for everybody,” he said.

Welcome Home to Healing begins the Monday after Ash Wednesday and concludes on the Monday prior to Holy Week.