An answer from St. Alphonsus Liguori - (the patron of confessors and the Doctor of Morals)
After imploring confessors to take time to instruct and encourage the penitent he states, "But some will say, 'If we treat sinners in this manner a great deal of our time will be taken up, and others who are waiting cannot be heard.' But in answer I say, that it is better to hear one confession well than to hear a great number imperfectly. But the most appropriate answer is, that the confessor has not to give an account to God of the persons who are waiting, but only of the person whose confession he has begun to hear." (from Selva,or The Dignity and Duties of the Priest)
St. Alphonsus sees spiritual direction as integral to the work of the confessor (see, especially the final chapter of his Pratica del Confessore). Still, we simply must admit that confession is not spiritual direction proper and there is the realistic fact of time constraints. What will be necessary, then, is to discuss the …More