The Sacrament of Reconciliation is offered at Our Lady of Sorrows each Saturday afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 PM in the church.
Click here for information about making a good examination of concience.
And click here for information on the updated Order of Penance.
The celebration for First Reconciliation must be completed before a childre receives First Holy Communion. Children must be baptized Catholics and in second grade or older. Children prepare for their First Reconciliation by
I am glad to be among you as your pastor and I am blessed to be your confessor, to walk with you so that together we may lead each other to Christ. Many of you will be wondering who this priest is and how will he react or treat me when he hears my confession. Will he be tough, a judge, conservative, liberal or indifferent? Will he understand me? Will I feel comfortable with him? Well, these questions and any other you may be pondering about are normal especially when you meet a new person who happens to be your confessor. I also had the same feeling when I chose my confessor and spiritual director. In response to your wonders, I would like to let you know that I am a sinner just like any other person and I also need constantly to walk back to God through prayer and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I thank God for my confessor, who is always welcoming to me and available as a good listener to me. Every time I go to confession, I usually feel welcomed and when I walk out of the confession, I usually feel my heart light and at peace, listened to and loved.
My beloved friends, such is the kind of confessor I would like to be for you. I am not a judge; I am here as your servant to pray with you and to guide you to experience the merciful face of Christ. Just as John the Baptist invited all to repent and follow Christ, it was not about him but Christ, and so when you come to confess, it is not about me but Christ that you encounter. Christ is the one who forgives and welcomes you when you come; I am only his unworthy servant. I’m a sinner too just like Peter who after denying Christ his master three times, Christ still loved him and prayed for him that he may lead and confirm his brothers and sisters to be reconciled with God and to find life in God (Luke 22:32; Math. 16:19; 18:18; John 21:15-17; 21:30). In my life, alongside the Holy Eucharist, I find this sacrament life giving and a source of my spiritual renewal. I believe you also do!
I would like therefore to ask you to pray for me that I may be a good servant of this Sacrament and that while you come for confession, you may experience through my life and words, that reconciliation, mercy, love and forgiveness that Christ grants to all of us without conditions attached.
May God bless you and be not afraid to come back to Christ for he is merciful and loving! Finally, thank you for welcoming me in this family of Our Lady of Sorrows, I look forward to meeting you and knowing you. May God bless our journey together as we proclaim the good news of our Lord Jesus in the local Church of the Archdiocese of Portland. Pax!
Thank you
In Christ,
Fr. Chrispine Otieno