When Father Milton Hipsley hears confessions at the Federal Correctional Institution and the Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland, he sits at the back of a room wearing his clerical collar and a simple stole draped around his neck.
Placing his head in his hands and closing his eyes, the pastor waits for some of the most hardened convicted criminals in the state to take a seat beside him and whisper their sins in his ear.
The pastor of St. Mary in Cumberland has heard everything, far more than even the judges who sentenced the criminals will ever know. And while many of the men will continue to struggle with serious sins long after they receive absolution, there are life- changing moments when the priest believes the grace of God penetrates their hearts.
Father Hipsley remembers one man in particular who was so spiritually moved after receiving forgiveness for his sins that he pledged that if there were ever a prison riot he would throw his body atop the priest’s to protect him.
“I feel awestruck that I’m used in a spiritual way,” said Father Hipsley, a priest for 35 years. “It’s not always a joyride. I do it as a service and a labor of love. I’m used as an instrument that will result in joy and peace for the person.”
For priests throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore, hearing confessions for the sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation is one of the most important responsibilities of their ministries.
Serving as confessors isn’t easy. Tremendous prayer and preparation is necessary and a sense of pastoral outreach is needed to serve penitents in a sensitive way.
At times, hearing confessions can be time consuming and emotionally draining. But the spiritual rewards of the sacrament can be just as great for the priests who absolve sins as they are for those who sins are forgiven.
Father Brian Nolan, associate pastor of St. John, Westminster, and a priest since 2001, said much study goes into becoming a good confessor. The young priest reads spiritual classics throughout the week to understand morality and how people can grow in virtue. Part of his job is to study people and understand how their desires and passions work, he said.
“I look at what inspires people and what gets in their way,” said Father Nolan, noting that going to confession himself on a regular basis is essential.
Father Nolan keeps a prayer for confessors adapted from St. Vincent Ferrer attached to his bathroom mirror. The priest recites the prayer every day:
Lord, help me to radiate the warmest charity,
Give me the grace to encourage the faith-hearted,
To put the fear of God in the hard- hearted,
But let me do both motivated by pure love.
Father Andrew Carr, C.Ss.R., has been hearing confessions for 50 years. The associate pastor of the Catholic Community of St. Michael and St. Patrick, Fells Point, agreed that prayer is essential for a priest to be a good confessor.
Father Carr asks for the intercession of St. Alphonsus Ligouri, the patron saint of confessors and the founder of the Redemptorist order of priests and brothers to which Father Carr belongs.
Father Carr said he also prays the rosary in the confessional while waiting to hear confessions. The Holy Spirit plays a key role in helping a confessor know what questions to ask of penitents to help them understand their sin and reform their lives, Father Carr said. He remembered one confession in particular in which he was inspired to ask a woman a question that no other priest had ever asked her.
After the confession, the woman asked the priest if he realized that by posing the question he had just changed her whole life.
“A good confession like that changes the priest’s life as well,” Father Carr said.
Father Raymond Harris, chaplain of Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, understands the anxiety that penitents may feel. He makes an effort to be gentle and understanding, he said.
“I encourage them to try to respond to God’s grace, but trust that they’re coming to a merciful God. Trust that God’s priest is there to help you experience God’s mercy and accept that God has forgiven them.”
Going to confession makes him a better confessor, Father Harris said.
“I think the experience as both penitent and confessor has deepened my sense of God’s love for me and all people, but has also deepened my sense of accepting God’s mercy as a gift and trying to be an instrument through which that gift is given to others,” he said.
Catholics believe that the sacrament of Reconciliation was instituted by Christ when he gave the apostles the power to forgive sins. That power was transferred through apostolic succession to two millennia of priests.
While many priests continue to hear confessions in traditional confessionals with screens, many offer the sacrament in Reconciliation rooms where penitents may confess their sins face to face.
It’s not uncommon for priests to be stopped at an airport or while walking down the street by those who have need of the sacrament.
Father Nolan said one of the titles for Satan is “The Discourager.”
Many people lose faith because they continue to fall into the same sins even after they confess them regularly. It’s the job of the priest to help lift them up, he said.
“Don’t give up,” he said. “If you give into discouragement, that’s a form of pride. You’re saying, ‘ I should be able to never sin.’”
“People say it’s a burden for priests to hear sins, but it’s not,” Father Nolan said. “ It’s a tremendous grace to say the words, ‘ I absolve you of your sins.’” Father Hipsley noted that being a confessor strengthens his priesthood and keeps him attuned to the needs of those he serves.
“It makes me feel like I’m 100 percent involved in human life,” said Father Hipsley. “You know the essence of what it is to be real and human. It puts me in touch with the crucified and risen savior.”
Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
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