Reconciliation
St. Luke’s Sacrament of Reconciliation is offered in the Confessionals by the statues located in the right and left transepts as you face the Altar. For an appointment, please call the office at
919-848-1533.
Confession Times
Friday: 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Saturday: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Preparation for the Sacrament
Children preparing for their First Reconciliation should be enrolled in First Holy Communion Preparation. In the Diocese of Raleigh, sacramental preparation is a two year process. Usually First Reconciliation is received in 2nd grade, so a child must be enrolled in First Holy Communion Preparation in 1st grade to receive their sacraments in 2nd grade. For sacramental preparation for children, we use the Word of Life series, the joint fruit of Augustine Institute and Ignatius Press. Children will typically receive their First Reconciliation during the Advent Season.
Adults who desire to receive their First Reconciliation will need to enter into Full Communion with the Catholic Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). The RCIA is a process of spiritual growth and learning about the Catholic faith. Through the RCIA, you are invited to enter into a relationship with God and the Church. Those who go through the RCIA and wish to become Christians are baptized. If you are already baptized and want to become Catholic, you will prepare for your Confirmation and First Communion. You will receive your First Reconciliation during this preparation. Contact our Director of Faith Formation or our RCIA Coordinator to join RCIA.
About Confession
The forgiveness of sins is intrinsically linked to the mission of Jesus Christ and his Church. Jesus forgave sins often as part of his earthly ministry (see for example Mark 2:1-12). He also gave the power to forgive sins to his apostles (Matthew 18:15-20). This power was passed on from the apostles to their disciples, which in turn was passed on to their disciples, all the way to our bishop, who passes it on to his priests. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and we are all in need of forgiveness. We remember that sin is never in a vacuum. In other words, our sins not only affects us and our relationship to God, but it also affects our relationship to others in our community. We are called to confess our sins to one another in the scriptures (James 5:16) and we should confess our sins to the ones who have the power, through the Holy Spirit, to forgive those sins.
Therefore, as Catholics we seek forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. In this sacrament, the priest, who has been given the power to forgive sins by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, absolves us and reconciles us to God and to the community.
Call it a sin. Call it wrongdoing. Call it failings, or transgressions, or brokenness, or “the human condition”. It goes by many names. It’s the desolate knowledge that things are not right because we have acted wrongly. Sin divides and shatters. It separates us from God, from those we love, and from ourselves.
Sin wounds our relationship with God and others as well as our human dignity.
Faith reveals to us the destructive force of sin in our lives and the world.
-United States, Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCB), p.245
This knowledge burdens us. We can’t undo what we’ve done, but we long for relief—a new start, an end to guilt, freedom to act rightly, a path out of the wilderness. We want forgiveness. We want to be restored.
That’s what God offers us in confession. The salvation that Jesus accomplished for the human race is something we can experience personally. Forgiveness is ours through confession. It’s the road back to God. It’s a channel of grace to live with new joy and freedom.
A few decades ago, the Catholic Church began referring to confession as the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. It did this to emphasize reconciliation. That’s the short answer to the question, “Why go back to confession?” We do it to be reconciled. Reconciliation literally means “to meet again.” We’ve lost our way. Confession is the way back home.