Sign Urging Short Confessions Due to Apparent Priest Shortage Prompts Jokes

A post has gone viral online after Twitter user @karatekidj4 posted a resurfaced image of a sign that appears to have been hung at a church encouraging abridged confessions.

The viral photo resurfaced from a Reddit post that circulated back in 2016, as reported by The Irish Post. According to the outlet, the image was posted by Redditor BlackPharaohX and appeared to have been written by an Irish priest.

Though the image, which the Twitter user originally saw on Reddit, is from an unverified location and church, that did not stop commenters from reacting.

"Confession today (Saturday) will be until exactly 5:30PM," the sign reads. "There is only one priest available for confession today. Make your confession direct to the point and confess only your sins and offenses. No need to explain why you did it. Thank you very much."

The Twitter user accompanied the image with the caption, "Labor shortage hitting every sector."

According to Georgetown's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, the U.S. Catholic clergy has shrunk from over 59,000 total priests in 1970 to less than 36,000 in 2020. The decrease is apparent worldwide, but not nearly as severe as in the U.S. In total, priests have dipped from 419,728 in 1970 to 414,065 in 2020.

"This owes partly to the difficult demands of the job; few want to take on grueling hours in a profession with an enduring labor shortage and a requirement of celibacy," Boston University's alumni magazine Bostonia reported.

The sexual-abuse scandals over the last couple decades have also played a key role in the declining number of priests. In addition to tarnishing the Catholic Church's reputation, investigations prevent parishes from adding permanent replacements for ousted church leaders. "The ensuing investigations can take months, and dioceses are often unable to assign a new full-time priest," northjersey.com reported.

Student enrollment in Catholic elementary schools has also dwindled, according to Georgetown, with more than 3 million enrolled in 1970 to just over 1 million in 2020.

A labor shortage, as the Twitter user referred to, or what has been dubbed the "great resignation" has been visible across all sectors in the U.S. Though the number of Americans who have quit their jobs went down in January, the 4.25 million figure was still 23 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, Newsweek reported.

Commenters on the viral post poked fun at the notion of an abbreviated confession.

"Gonna be replaced with a system where you scan a QR code next to the best description of your sins, and your penance pops up on your phone," one commenter wrote.

"[T]hey said I'm your priest not your therapist lmao," wrote another.

"Express Lane: 15 sins or less," another Twitter user quipped.

Others envisioned what such an abbreviated confession might look like:

"'These are my sins but can I make a future appointment to vent more? Friday works great. Praise Jesus, father. Amen,'" said another.

Another Twitter user wrote: "'Adultery.' 'Forgiven! Next!'"