Dust off the curtain, polish the stall – confessions are making something of a comeback, according to a Redemptorist priest at Galway’s annual solemn novena.
However, penitents are less concerned about sinning and more focused on “just having someone to chat to”, Fr Clement MacMánuis says.
Fr MacMánuis, who is one of a team of Redemptorists celebrating the nine-day festival in Galway Cathedral, says he was struck by the number of people who said they had been going to confession far more regularly.
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Queues outside confessional stalls during the 11am novena Mass on Tuesday appeared to bear out his observations.
“For some people, they don’t want or can’t afford to be waiting for counsellors or psychiatrists,” Fr MacMánuis told The Irish Times.
“They don’t want labels, they want to be treated as normal,” he says. “The confessional is somewhere they can find a little reassurance.”
“The original confession was based on the notion of an ‘anam cara’, or spiritual friend, who gave guidance, before the church introduced all these rules and regulations,” he adds.
‘Points-obsessed’ environment
Dominican priest Fr Denis Murphy, who has also been hearing novena confessions, said that the "listening ear" was valued by parents struggling to rear children in a highly competitive "achievement and points-obsessed" environment.
Up to 10,000 people are expected at this year's novena, and both Brendan and Molly Feely from Garrison, Co Fermanagh, who sell rosary beads, candles and statues, said "everyone has their own saint that they are looking for".
Students from the city’s colleges were among those in congregations on Tuesday, even as some of their colleagues sought out a different kind of spirit at the unofficial rag week.
Queues were forming at pubs and off licences from before 10am on Tuesday to celebrate "Donegal day".
One Co Tipperary participant wearing Donegal colours, who was reluctant to give his name, explained the attraction.
“I am a graduate, and took two days off work to come up and see old friends,” he says.
“There is far less drinking than during Galway Race Week, yet no one goes around questioning those people about their social habits.”
