Confessions resume on Saturday, 30 May 2020 from 4-5 pm.
You must call the Parish Office (740.653.0997) to make a reservation, please do not show up without an appointment.
On Saturday arrive no more than five minutes before your appointment. Please park in the lot immediately behind the west school building. Only one person at a time will be allowed in the Spirit Center. There will be a door person to open and close the door, preventing the need for you to touch anything. The next person will be allowed to stand on the outside of the door, waiting for the person ahead of them to exit. Remember to keep six feet apart from the door person and the person who is exiting. All others are to remain in their cars until five minutes before your appointed time, then you can exit your car and take the position outside of the door. Once inside the Spirit center you will remain standing for the Sacrament, with the option to either face the priest or to remain anonymous, by standing behind the priest.
Please read the following guidelines released by the diocese and follow them. There is also an Examination of Conscience for your use.
A Guide for Making Your Confession During These Extraordinary Times
1 – DO make an appointment to have your confession heard as confessions are scheduled in advance.
2 – DO NOT “show up” without an appointment in fairness to everyone who schedules their confession appointment in advance.
3 – DO stay at home if you are ill with anything contagious, especially if you are showing symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus. There will be other opportunities to have your confession heard when you are well.
4 – DO take your temperature before leaving home for confessions; if you have a temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (the threshold “symptomatic” temperature for potential coronavirus) please do not come to confessions; wait until you are healthy.
5 – DO stay at home if you of age or have other factors that put you in the “high risk” category for getting the COVID-19 coronavirus. There will be opportunities to have your confession heard in the future.
6 – DO use your own hand sanitizer and wear a mask when you arrive for confession.
7 – DO arrive no more than 5 MINUTES before your confession appointment in order to avoid starting a line.
8 – DO prepare for your confession at home – you will have only 5 MINUTES to have your confession heard given these extraordinary times.
9 – DO keep your confession brief – succinctly confess your sins.
10 – DO NOT use this opportunity for confession to seek counseling. If you need to speak with a priest about counseling on a particular issue in your life please make an appointment to discuss this with him outside of the confession setting.
An Examination of Conscience Based on the Seven Deadly Sins
(based on an examination from My Catholic Life!)
Pride: “Pride is an untrue opinion of ourselves, an untrue idea of what we are not.” Have I a superior attitude in thinking, or speaking or acting? Am I snobbish? Have I offensive, haughty ways of acting or carrying myself? Do I hold myself above others? Do I demand
recognition? Do I desire to be always first? Do I seek advice? Am I ready to accept advice? Am I in any sense a “bully”? Am I inclined to be “bossy”? Do I speak ill of others? Have I lied about others? Do I make known the faults of others? Do I seek to place the blame on others, excusing myself? Is there anyone to whom I refuse to speak? Is there anyone to whom I have not spoken for a long time? Am I prone to argue? Am I offensive in my arguments? Have I a superior “know-it-all attitude” in arguments? Am I self-conscious? Am I sensitive? Am I easily wounded?
Envy: “Envy is a sadness which we feel, on account of the good that happens to our neighbor.” Do I feel sad at the prosperity of others? At their success in games? In athletics? Do I rejoice at their failures? Do I envy the riches of others?
Sloth: “Sloth is a kind of cowardice and disgust, which makes us neglect and omit our duties, rather than to discipline ourselves.” Have I an inordinate love of rest, neglecting my
duties? Do I act lazily? Am I too fond of rest? Do I take lazy positions in answering prayers? Do I kneel in a lounging way? Do I delight in idle conversation? Do I fail to be fervent in the service of God?
Lust: “Lust is the love of the pleasures that are contrary to purity.” Have I desired or done impure things? Have I taken pleasure in entertaining impure thoughts or desires? Have I read impure material, listened to music with impure lyrics, or looked at impure images, whether in photos or on television or in movies/videos or on the internet? Have I aroused sexual desire in myself or another by impure kissing, embracing, or touching? Have I committed impure actions alone? Do I dress immodestly or am I too concerned with the way I look? Do I use vulgar language or tell or listen to impure jokes or stories? Have I given into sexual desires (e.g. fornication, adultery) even in my imagination? Have I had sexual relations with a person outside of marriage? Have I participated in sexual activity with persons of the same-sex?
Covetousness: “Covetousness is a disordered love of the goods of this world.” Do I dispose of my money properly or selfishly? Do I discharge my duties in justice to my fellow man? Do I discharge my duties in justice to the Church?
Gluttony: “Gluttony is a disordered love of eating and drinking.” Do I eat to live or live to eat? Do I drink to excess? Do I get drunk? Do I misuse prescription drugs? Do I use illegal drugs? Have I allowed myself to become addicted to alcohol and/or drugs?
Anger: “An emotion of the soul, which leads us violently to repel whatever hurts or displeases us.” Am I prone to anger? Does practically any little thing arouse my temper? Am I what is generally termed “a sore-head”? Do I fail to repress the first signs of anger? Do I fail to get along well with everybody? Do I ponder over slights or injuries and even presume them? Do I rejoice at the misfortunes of others? Do I think of means of revenge? Of “getting even”? Am I of an argumentative disposition? Have I a spirit of contradiction? Am I given to ridicule of persons, places, or things? Am I hard to get along with? Do I carry grudges, remain “on the outs” with anyone? Do I talk about the faults of others? Do I reveal the faults or defects of others? Do I reveal the faults of others from the wrong motive?
“For these and all the sins that I have committed during my life, I am truly sorry.”
ACT OF CONTRITION
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
Please depart quietly, remove your mask only when you are in your car,
do your penance at home. Thank you for your cooperation!