Confessions
were held almost anywhere but inside confessionals March 18. In order to
maintain social distancing as a prevention against the spread of the
coronavirus, priests around the diocese found ways to absolve sins from afar.
Holy
Trinity Church in Gainesville had drive-thru confession in their parking lot. St.
Philip Church in Falls Church released a video on Facebook explaining how the
confession line would snake through the church to two rooms outfitted with
distantly spaced chairs and a lit candle. Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in
Winchester set up tents and umbrellas outside so penitents could confess in the
light drizzle. Priests at St. Leo the Great Church in Fairfax waited in folding
chairs next to blooming flowerbeds to offer God’s forgiveness.
Father
Joseph T. Brennan, pastor of St. John Neumann Church in Reston, and Father
Donald J. Heet, parochial vicar, were stationed on opposite sides of the church
during “The Light is ON for You” initiave, one of the few parish events that
was not suspended.
Grand
Knight Kevin Kramp waited outside the sanctuary. The Knights of Columbus had
been enlisted for traffic control and to keep people a safe distance apart as
they stood in line. But there were no crowds and no lines, perhaps because
parishioners didn’t realize that confession was still on when everything else
was suspended. So Kramp called his family. “I told them there was germ-free,
no-wait confession. All five of us are now sin-free,” he said. “That should
last until breakfast tomorrow.”
