On Religion: Coronavirus Crisis Creates Legal, Doctrinal Minefield for Priests and Their Flocks

Every now and then, while a priest is traveling or out running errands, a stranger will approach and ask: “Father, will you hear my confession?”

This can happen on a city sidewalk or in a quiet corner of a big-box store. Often the question is urgent — because something disturbing has shaken someone’s faith.

“I’ve been asked for confession in a taxi. I’ve been asked while on a train,” said Father Fergal O’Duill, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth branch of the Catholic movement Regnum Christi. His name is pronounced “O’Doul” and he is originally from Dublin, Ireland.

These requests happen, he added, because “people see you and they know you’re a priest. We’re priests no matter where we go.”

Hearing confessions is crucial during the penitential season of Lent, which precedes Easter, which is on April 12th this year for Catholics and Protestants (and April 19th for Eastern Orthodox Christians). Centuries of Catholic and Orthodox tradition urge believers to go to confession during Lent, before receiving Holy Communion on Easter.

The irony, right now, is that O’Duill can hear confessions during chance encounters, but not during scheduled times at the school where is serves as a chaplain.

The evolving coronavirus pandemic has turned Lent into a confusing minefield of legal and doctrinal questions for pastors and their flocks. In many communities, but not all, state or local officials have ordered people to “shelter in place” — staying home unless they have “essential” needs elsewhere. This has raised an obvious question: Is going to confession “essential,” even if Catholics are preparing for Holy Week and Easter rites they will have to watch on digital screens at home?

For most of March, O’Duill was one of several priests who heard confessions in a giant parking lot, or in a pair of tents, near the Highlands School in Irving, Texas. Every effort was made to provide enough privacy to maintain the “dignity” of the sacrament, he said, while priests remained a safe distance from the penitents. Priests offered similar “drive-through” confession opportunities in a few other parts of America.

Then, on March 22, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a “shelter in place” order effective through April 3 and, perhaps, beyond.

The ground rules changed. While Dallas Bishop Edward J. Burns had welcomed the “drive-through” confessions, said O’Duill, he cancelled all scheduled confessions — even outdoors — because that would require Catholics to leave their homes and could create crowds. Priests can still travel, during emergencies, to hear confessions or perform baptisms. Funerals are allowed, with restrictions on social distancing.

Orders of this kind fueled heated debates in Catholic social media.

In one case, the Catholic writer Eric Sammons tweeted: “If your parish priest has not found a way to continue hearing confessions during this pandemic, I’d say that’s a sign that you need to find a new parish when this is all over. (And if your bishop has forbid the hearing of confessions, perhaps you need to find a new diocese.)”

Another popular Catholic writer, Father Dwight Longenecker, replied: “As a priest in a diocese where hearing confessions has been suspended are your recommending that I disobey my bishop? … I can think of some ways to minister while still observing the distancing rules, but we not only obey the bishop, we work in solidarity with our brother priests. If one person breaks ranks there will be chaos.”

It’s possible the rules could change again, said O’Duill. At the moment, Regnum Christi priests are exploring whether — even if “shelter in place” orders continue — it may be possible to celebrate Easter in an outdoor, drive-in theater. Also, he said he will keep his eye on Rome to see how Pope Francis stages the traditional outdoor Stations of the Cross rites on Good Friday.

“I believe that this crisis is becoming a time of grace,” said O’Duill. “One of the last confessions I heard the other day was one of the most amazing that I have heard in my life.

“This is a time when people are really digging deep and thinking about what matters. I think that will continue when this is all over. … The Lord isn’t going to let us down. He is with us as we go through all of this, no matter what.”

Terry Mattingly (tmatt.net) leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.