Friday, April 17, 2020

Confessions in the United States During the Coronavirus Pandemic

In many dioceses across the country priests are forbidden to hear confessions, sometimes with an exception for the dying. In other dioceses priests and bishops are working hard to provide Catholics with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I get pretty annoyed when people complain that “the bishops” or “the Church” are responsible for this. I even read a tweet blaming the pope. If confession is not available in your diocese, the decision was made by one man, the bishop of your diocese, who is responsible for that decision. Other bishops are not. Most especially the bishops working to provide confessions are not responsible for the ones who forbid it.

I’ve collected tweets about the many priests and bishops working hard to provide confessions. Here are some.