Missions, Reconciliation and Jury Duty

I went to the Lenten mission at our church last night and tonight to hear Father Freeborn Kibombwe speak about the importance of becoming a visionary in today's broken world, as well as a missionary. I very much enjoyed hearing him speak. His vision was to be able to evangelize in his native South Africa, which led to the establishment of a Catholic radio station there.

Tomorrow night there is a "parish reconciliation service" at our church. I'm curious to see whether they will have individual confession, or whether it will be general absolution for groups of people who say they are sorry for their sins. In my opinion, that is not the same as confessing your sins. There will be five visiting priests, so I'm hoping for individual reconciliation.

For anyone wondering what's wrong with a communal reconcilation service with general confession and general absolution, here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

1483 In case of grave necessity recourse may be had to a communal celebration of reconciliation with general confession and general absolution. Grave necessity of this sort can arise when there is imminent danger of death without sufficient time for the priest or priests to hear each penitent's confession. Grave necessity can also exist when, given the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors to hear individual confessions properly in a reasonable time, so that the penitents through no fault of their own would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time. In this case, for the absolution to be valid the faithful must have the intention of individually confessing their grave sins in the time required. The diocesan bishop is the judge of whether or not the conditions required for general absolution exist. A large gathering of the faithful on the occasion of major feasts or pilgrimages does not constitute a case of grave necessity.
(Red parts highlighted by me).

Unless you're going into battle, on a sinking ship, or going into a raging fire, you most likely should not receive general absolution but should get your hiney into the confessional.

I have jury duty tomorrow. Not looking forward to it. I have to be downtown at 8 AM, which means leaving here a bit after 7. I am not a morning person. :o(