‘12 Hours of Grace’:
New Albany parish offers unique reconciliation program
This statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help greets people near the entrance to that parish church in New Albany. Father Eric Augenstein, the pastor, spent 12 hours hearing confessions on March 18 at the church dedicated to Mary. Six New Albany Deanery priests assisted Father Augenstein by hearing confessions for several hours throughout the day and evening. (File photo by Mary Ann Wyand)
By Mary Ann Wyand
NEW ALBANY—It was advertised as “12 Hours of Grace.”
A Lenten reconciliation program that lasted all day on March 18 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in New Albany gave Catholics in southern Indiana and as far away as Louisville plenty of time to open their hearts to God and cleanse their souls by confessing their sins before Easter.
Father Eric Augenstein, the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, said the day of reconciliation went very well with a steady steam of penitents thanks to much appreciated help from the Holy Spirit, six New Albany Deanery priests and parishioners who assisted as ministers of hospitality.
“We had reconciliation available constantly for 12 hours,” Father Augenstein said. “I was there for all 12 hours, and six other priests from the deanery took turns in two-hour shifts so there were always two priests at all times. … The one thing we learned most from this experience is that an evening reconciliation service does not work for everyone.”
He ministered to penitents in the church throughout the day and evening with only a few 15-minute breaks to rest or to eat a quick meal provided for the priests in the church basement.
Father Wilfred “Sonny” Day, Father John Geis, Father Paul Richart, Father William Ernst, Father Michael Hilderbrand and Carmelite Father Mathew Choorapanthiyil heard people’s confessions in the church reconciliation room.
“Our communal penance services over the years were not as well attended as we had hoped,” Father Augenstein said, “so we wanted to offer reconciliation in a new and creative way that better meets people’s needs.”
The Archdiocese of Washington serves Catholics in the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland during Lent by offering reconciliation every Wednesday night at every parish, he said, and a Chicago parish has offered 24 hours of continuous time for reconciliation during Lent for several years.
These opportunities to receive the sacrament of reconciliation provide a more relaxed environment for people, Father Augenstein said, that is more conducive to a prayerful time in which to confess their sins.
“I talked with our parish liturgy committee, pastoral council and parish staff,” he said. “We came up with the idea to offer reconciliation for half a day and to call it ‘12 Hours of Grace.’ It gave people plenty of time to open themselves up to God. We created a welcoming atmosphere with low lighting and music, and we had hospitality ministers there at all times to greet people.”
The sacrament of reconciliation involves recognizing and accepting penitents “where they are in their personal faith journey,” Father Augenstein said, “and—more than anything else—to be the minister of God’s love and forgiveness.”
To prepare for “12 Hours of Grace,” Father Augenstein preached about the sacrament of reconciliation during Masses and parish staff members offered a faith formation session on penance.
“We wanted to help people understand what reconciliation is all about,” he said, “and to learn about the forgiveness and love that is offered in that sacrament.”
To help Catholics who might be uncomfortable about participating in confession, pairs of parishioners volunteered as hospitality ministers in one-hour shifts, he said, and gave each penitent a brochure explaining how to go to reconciliation and the Church’s process for examination of conscience.
The focus of the day was on providing a soothing time of prayer and reflection, he said, so penitents can approach Easter with sin-free hearts.
“The people who came said they appreciated the flexibility of the reconciliation times,” Father Augenstein said. “[Confessions] were steady for myself and for the other priests all day.”
Ministering to people as an attentive, compassionate and insightful confessor for 12 hours was physically tiring, he said, but amazingly not as spiritually tiring or emotionally taxing as he had expected it would be for such a long period of time.
“I think part of that was the grace of the Holy Spirit getting me through the day,” Father Augenstein said. “It was worth the tiredness to be able to offer reconciliation to so many people.”
Spending so much time in the church was a spiritual gift during this Year for Priests, he said, which reminded him of the inspirational example set by St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, during the 19th century, who spent up to 18 hours a day in church hearing confessions and absolving people’s sins at his parish in France.
“It really is remarkable to me—after experiencing that for only one day—how he could do that constantly,” Father Augenstein said. “He saw reconciliation and the Eucharist as the keys to revitalizing the parish in the town that he was assigned to serve, and the most important way to bring people closer to God.
“Making reconciliation available to people [in New Albany] for a longer period of time was a tribute to St. John Vianney as well,” he said. “Taking the opportunity to almost live in the church for a long period of time was like making God’s house my house.”
Hospitality ministers also gave the penitents information on the parish’s Holy Week schedule, the deanery’s Catholics Returning Home program offered for six weeks after Easter and Christmas every year, and the Church’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process.
“The ‘12 Hours of Grace’ was relaxed and not rushed,” Father Augenstein said. “People felt comfortable taking their time with the sacrament and appreciated this opportunity. My experience was that this [day of reconciliation] was a time of true conversion for people, and a time of personal conversations with the priest and with God.”
Since his ordination to the priesthood six years ago, Father Augenstein said his parish ministry has been “a time of joy to be able to walk with people in their most intimate moments of their lives—during their joys and their sorrows, even when it is difficult—because I recognize that it is Christ who is walking with the people.
“It’s not about who I am or what I do,” he said. “The vocation of the priest is to lead the people in his care to Christ and ultimately to lead them to heaven, which is joyful. It’s an awesome responsibility to do that, and a very humbling experience.” †
