1,000 turn out for confession in a day Four priests on duty at cathedral to cope with demand
Confessions at Paisley’s St Mirin’s Cathedral have been going like a supermarket checkout due to the high numbers of people attending.
More than 1,000 people turned up at an all- day confession on Monday, making this the biggest crowd the Incle Street church has seen in years.
The Rt Rev John Keenan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Paisley, told the Paisley Daily Express: “There were 1,000 people making their confession at St Mirin’s Cathedral from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, and we even had to run over slightly.
“We had three or four priests on at a time.
“It was in and out in and out like a checkout.
“I took confession between three and five, and it was like a Sunday Mass. I was taken aback by the number of people there. There was a queue outside the confessionals. “There was a lovely atmosphere.” The high numbers attending the cathedral this week can partly be put down to the fact that it is Holy Week.
The Roman Catholic faithful are obliged to attend confession once a year and during the Easter season.
But the 52- year- old bishop added that priests have taken a cue from Pope Francis, who has been seen publicly attending confession as means of encouraging people to do likewise.
“Priests are putting more emphasis on this again and are trying to find new ways of doing it. One of the ways is all- day confessions,” he added.
Confession is an opportunity for people to unburden themselves of habitual sins, shortcoming and things that are troubling them.
“The priest will offer them words of encouragement then give absolution,” the bishop said. “Forgiveness comes from Jesus.” The large turn- out at St Mirin’s Cathedral came as it was announced that there are now 1.28 billion Roman Catholics in the world.
The number of baptised Catholics grew one per cent in a year to reach the figure as of December 31, 2015, according to the Vatican.
The countries with the most Roman Catholics are, in order, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the United States, Italy, France, Colombia, Spain, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Argentina.