This Lent, a new study finds that two-thirds of Catholics who have not attended confession in the last year say they are open to going.
According to “The Catholic Pulse Report: The Confession Study,” which surveyed 1,500 Catholics in the U.S. who attend Mass “at least occasionally,” 67% of respondents who have not been to confession in the past year said they are open to returning, and half of those said they would like to go more often.
The study, conducted by the Vinea Research Group, a Catholic nonprofit, found that only 20% of Catholics go to confession regularly (defined as four or more times in the past year), while 12% have gone one to three times in the past year.
Of those who go to confession regularly, 83% say they go to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. Of those who have not gone in the past year, 75% say mercy is the primary reason they would go back.
“As central as confession is to Catholic life, in-depth national research on this sacrament has been surprisingly limited. This study illuminates not just how often Catholics go, but why they go, why they don’t, and what they experience when they do,” Hans Plate, founder of the Vinea Research Group, said in a press release.
The belief that confession is not necessary to receive forgiveness from God is the most common reason people reported for not going. Of all of those surveyed, 63% held this belief, while 73% of those who have not attended in the past year said the same, according to the report.
Plate, who consulted a theologian in the formulation of the survey questions, told EWTN News a lack of catechesis seems to explain this view: “They’ve lost sight of what confession gives them.”
They miss out on the “knowledge that they are forgiven. That is the No. 1 fruit of those who do go,” he said. “It’s not a feeling. It’s the knowledge first, not the feeling first.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession.”
Of respondents who have not been to confession in more than a year, half reported embarrassment over talking out loud about their sins, and just over half (53%) said they find participating in the sacrament uncomfortable.
About 40% of Catholics who attend confession infrequently say they would like more of an emphasis on God’s mercy over his judgment, and about the same number say they might attend more if they knew that struggling over and over with the same sins is normal.
Of those who go to confession regularly, about two-thirds report “a clear sense of forgiveness, reassurance of God’s mercy, and interior peace,” according to the report.
Plate told EWTN News that he hopes people learn from the study that “confession is more than you think it is.”
“Beyond receiving absolution and forgiveness,” Plate said, the study found that confession also brings “the fruits of interior healing and a sense of renewed vigor in the faith.”
Positive co-relation of Mass attendance, confession to well-being
The study also found that ”Catholics who attend Mass at least monthly score above national benchmarks on human flourishing, with those who go to confession regularly reporting the highest levels — particularly in meaning, peace, and overall well-being.”
Plate called the findings deeply encouraging. “Many Catholics still believe in the sacrament, many have experienced it personally, and many remain open to returning,” he said. “This presents a real opportunity for renewal — not just by inviting Catholics back, but by helping them more fully understand the meaning and power of the sacrament.”
Plate told EWTN News that he hopes the group’s inaugural study will help parishes and apostolates do their jobs more effectively.
‘The Light Is On For You’
An initiative called The Light Is On For You originated in 2007 in the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, where every parish in the D.C. metro area opens for extended confession hours (typically Wednesday evenings during Lent).
Because of the campaign’s success, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in partnership with the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, has made the campaign’s liturgical resources available to dioceses across the country.
Many dioceses run parallel or related efforts during Lent, with extended confession schedules or special penance services.
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