Churches adapt to pandemic with drive-thru confessions By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2020

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This article was published 13/04/2020 (1716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As faith communities continue to grapple with how to serve their members in the age of COVID-19, at least two local Roman Catholic churches are ripping a page from the fast-food restaurant playbook.

St. Theresa’s Parish in West St. Paul and Holy Ghost Parish on Selkirk Avenue have joined a growing number of churches throughout Canada and the U.S. to offer drive-thru confessional services.

“We aren’t able to go to mass, but to be able to drive up and give a confession or even to just have a chat with our priest, it’s just a nice way to stay connected to your spiritual life,” said St. Theresa’s Parish council leader Laura Kwiatkowski.

The church, located at 3597 Main St., began offering the service about a month ago, and has since provided spiritual support for about 50 people, Kwiatkowski said.

“Our church was in a unique position,” she said. “We had a nice big parking lot, with the space to set up this sort of thing (and) brought in a temporary trailer that is parked right beside the church, where our priest (Father David Kowalski) sits inside.

“People just drive in and pull up near the window where the priest is sitting and then they have their chat,” she said.

Cars are limited to one person, with drivers directed to leave ample spacing between vehicles to ensure privacy, Kwiatkowski said.

“It’s very confidential, no one can hear what is being discussed,” she said. “Everything is as it would be inside.”

The service is available to non-church members and “walk-ups,” no appointment necessary.

“We aren’t able to go to mass, but to be able to drive up and give a confession or even to just have a chat with our priest, it’s just a nice way to stay connected to your spiritual life.”
– St. Theresa’s Parish council leader Laura Kwiatkowski

“I know the day that I went, the person ahead of me drove in from Gimli, because this was the closest place they could come to have this done, so it’s been very well-received,” Kwiatkowski said.

And while confession might be what draws people in, the church recognizes folks sometimes just need someone to talk to, Kwiatkowski said.

“Everyone knows that families being together all the time can be challenging at best, and perhaps there are more reasons for people to chat,” she said. “This is a nice little break from what is happening at the house. You can stay connected to what is happening with your spiritual life and… just have some time with the parish priest.”

The confessional is open one hour a day, Wednesday to Friday, and two hours on Saturday. A detailed schedule can be found on the church’s website at sttheresas.ca

“He’s there for an hour, but it’s not like he’s pulling the shingle down if there are still people in line,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s not like a drive-thru at McDonald’s. You can chat as much as you need.”

It was in the run-up to Easter that Father Paul Patrick and his colleagues at Holy Ghost Parish started thinking about alternative ways they could provide confessional services to their parishioners.

“People were asking us to come to confession and we were trying to think about ways to do it safely, keeping in mind social distancing and all that,” Patrick said, noting Easter is typically the busiest period at the church for hearing confessions.

After considering some options, including scheduling confessions by telephone, Holy Ghost decided to follow St. Theresa’s lead and offer a drive-thru service.

“We went really simple, a real minimalist approach,” Patrick said. “We didn’t have intense big crowds of people, so we literally just set up one of our own cars, with pylons on either side” and directed parishioners to drive alongside the church car, roll down their window, and start talking.

“It’s like ordering a coffee from Tim Horton’s, except you are doing confessions,” he said.

The church offered the service two hours a day and over the course of two weeks heard between 100 and 150 confessions, Patrick estimated.

“It’s like ordering a coffee from Tim Horton’s, except you are doing confessions.”
– Father Paul Patrick at Holy Ghost Parish

“It was pretty steady,” he said. “We didn’t have huge lineups of cars, but there were a couple days where we had two or three cars waiting in line like any drive-thru.”

The church didn’t promote the service offering on social media or its website, concerned parishioners might not take to the mode of delivery, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive, Patrick said.

“You don’t want to go too far and make a joke out of it, but at the same time, you want to respond to a need,” he said. “People were really happy to have the opportunity and to do it in a safe manner.”

The drive-thru confessional is suspended for now, but may resume in the near future on a reduced schedule, Patrick said.

“Right now we are having a little break… but we will look at it for the coming weeks,” he said.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

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Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.

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