Seventeen Hawaii parishes have responded to Bishop Larry Silva’s request to make the Sacrament of Penance more available to parishioners during Lent, according to the diocesan Office of Worship.
“During this Year of Faith, one of the great gifts that we need to make even more available to our people is the Sacrament of Penance,” the bishop wrote in a letter to pastors and parish administrators on Jan. 9.
He said that, in addition to the Lenten penance services most parishes offer, “we would like to strongly urge an even greater effort to make this beautiful sacrament available during Lent by selecting a night on which the priest(s) of a particular parish in the vicariate would be available for at least one hour (hopefully more) for confessions.”
Bishop Silva also asked that the schedules be published in the Hawaii Catholic Herald (right), on the diocesan website (www.catholichawaii.org) and in parish bulletins and parish handouts.
The special individual confession schedules vary widely, ranging from one hour for the entire Lenten season at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, to five hours every Friday at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Papaikou.
Most parishes have scheduled a half-hour or an hour of confessions on one selected day of the week during Lent. St. Rita Parish, Haiku, set aside two days of the week, two hours each day.
In addition to providing special individual Lenten confessions, 24 parishes have scheduled communal penance services. The schedules were submitted by parishes to the Office of Worship.
Here is the Office of Worship parish penance schedule including the days and times for regularly scheduled confessions, special individual Lenten confessions and the Lenten communal penance services.
