Like a lot of places, Boston is trying to lure people back to the confessional this Lent:

In an effort to get the reluctant faithful back to confession, the Archdiocese of Boston is launching an unprecedented campaign – called “The Light Is On For You” – using radio spots and a website to promote special confessional hours in nearly 300 parishes during Lent.

But the church faces an uphill battle: Three-quarters of American Catholics either don’t participate in confession at all, or go less than once a year. In the Boston area, more than 80 percent of Catholics don’t even attend church regularly.

To lure Catholics back to confession will “take some time,” says archdiocesan spokesman Terrence Donilon. “We don’t view this as a quick fix.”

Confession in the Boston Archdiocese is normally offered before or after Saturday afternoon Mass. Also called the sacrament of reconciliation, confession is a time when penitents reveal their sins to a priest, express contrition, and do an act of penance, such as saying a certain number of “Our Fathers” or “Hail Marys.”

The priest may offer words of advice and then absolves the sinner. According to canon law, one should confess at least annually, and the first confession is made at age 7.

Though the archdiocese doesn’t keep track of how many people confess, it does know that only 16 to 18 percent of Catholics in the Boston area attend church regularly .

The days of long lines at confessionals are gone for a variety of reasons. Saturday afternoon hours are inconvenient for many families. Many parishioners and priests take a more liberal view of sin and forgiveness these days. Some parishioners feel they can pray directly to God for absolution. Others feel they don’t need a priest as they unload to therapists, co-workers, and Facebook friends. Some also believe that the priest sex abuse crisis has had an effect.

The new initiative, which started last month on Ash Wednesday, follows a similar program in Washington, D.C., and other cities, and will be repeated each Advent and Easter at all churches in the Boston Archdiocese.

Priests are available every Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m., with the last night for the Lenten season on March 31. Though the traditional confessional boxes remain, where the priest sits behind a screen and the confession is anonymous, parishioners may also make an appointment with a priest to confess face to face in the rectory or a “reconciliation room,” designed for such encounters.

“I think this is definitely planting the seed,” says the Rev. Wayne Belschner, pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston. “Ever since the Second Vatican Council in the ’60s, people have had so many misunderstandings, so we had a whole generation of people who really deprived themselves of the sacrament.”

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Related:
 “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry…”

“For advice on confessions, press one…”

On the NET:

Why go to confession?, Part 1

Why go to confession?, Part 2