More than 200 churches across Poland are hosting late-night confessions ahead of Easter as part of an annual initiative to cater to busy Catholics who may not otherwise have time to confess. The event, called Night of Confessionals, is now in its thirteenth year.
This year, parishioners can avail of a special website and a smartphone app that allows them to find out which churches are offering nighttime confessions, book a confession, and find the quickest route to each church from their location.
The digital tools also provide information on the requirements for a successful confession, a digital prayer book, and a downloadable examination of conscience that can be played as an audio recording read by Jesuit priest Jacek Prusak.
W Wielkim Tygodniu już po raz 13. wiele polskich parafii bierze udział w inicjatywie #NocKonfesjonałów. Polega ona na zorganizowaniu w tym czasie spowiedzi trwającej przynajmniej do północy. Wydarzenie odbywa się pod patronatem @Abp_Gadecki. https://t.co/89ZFvmxsSU pic.twitter.com/fpTPRZHTK8
— EpiskopatNews (@EpiskopatNews) April 5, 2023
“The Night of Confessionals is a specific initiation of a dialogue with contemporary culture and busy lifestyles,” Grzegorz Adamski, the coordinator of the event, told the Catholic News Agency (KAI). “Hence the idea of opening churches at night, as churches are the only free space for spiritual reconciliation with God.”
Adamski also explained how the initiative is in particular directed at Catholics who have returned home for the Easter holidays, often from abroad, and have not had the opportunity to participate in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation.
At least 213 churches are taking part in this year’s Night of Confessionals, with many hosting confession from 6 p.m. until midnight. Almost 160 of the churches will stay open until midnight on Good Friday.
Poland's Catholic church has issued new rules for priests on appearing in the media.
Clergy can only speak to traditional media with the permission of their superior while live online broadcasts of holy mass must be deleted immediately after transmission https://t.co/gxwVi3tvFU
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 1, 2023
Polish parishes abroad also regularly take part in the Night of Confessionals, with the Our Lady of Poland Catholic Church in Lancaster in the United Kingdom joining this year’s campaign. In previous years, Polish parishes in the United States, Switzerland, and France have joined the initiative.
The Night of Confessionals was first organised in April 2010 in Szczecin to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the passing of Pope John Paul II. At that time, clergymen in three local churches heard confessions throughout the night, until 6 a.m.
Since then, a few hundred churches take part in the initiative every year. The only exceptions came in 2020, when the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, when only 66 churches took part as social distancing and public health measures were still in place.
Poland is one of Europe’s most religious countries, with over 90% of the population officially classified as Catholics. However, recent years have seen a dramatic fall in church attendance, which fell from 37% to 28% between 2019 and 2021.
Poland’s first online parish office has opened, allowing Catholics to book a confession or arrange a baptism, wedding or funeral.
The local priest hopes it can make the church – often associated by Poles with bureaucracy – more accessible https://t.co/F3S8tCI3Pa
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 24, 2022
Main image credit: cottonbro studio / pexels.com
Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.
