A poser for you...

[neotoma]

if a character's evil twin/counterpart from a dystopian mirror universe traps the pastor of said character's childhood church in a confessional booth before blowing the church up, is that evidence that said character was raised Catholic? It's not like Episcopalians *have* confessional booths, is it?

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think that even a newly built *Catholic* church might not have confessionals because of Vatican II changes in the approach to the Sacrament of Penance--I think now penitents are supposed to meet with the priest face to face.

In Susan Howatch's historical novels about the Anglican Church, it's considered a *very* dire sign if anybody engages in Auricular Confession, which in any case would be a face-to-face talk.

Did you know that "Spike" used to be English slang for "very, very High Church," so a bells-n-smells Anglican church would be "a Spike shop"?

[twistedchick]

Um. The Roman Catholic church I grew up in (just post Vat. II) modified one of its confessional booths to a face-to-face room, but left the other one as it was because some parishioners preferred it that way. So both are possible.

I've never seen confessional booths of the RC sort in an Episcopal church -- but that doesn't mean there aren't some someplaces. Or something that could be similar. For instance, at National Cathedral there are some small prayer areas (which in a Catholic church might be side altars) with entrances narrow enough that they could be closed off like that. These are on the main floor, generally on the right side as you face the altar.