Denver, Colo., Dec 29, 2023 / 09:00 am
As you walk the halls of Bishop Machebeuf High School in Denver, you won’t find any lines for confession. Instead, students simply pick up a buzzer — like the ones you see at your neighborhood restaurant that tell you when your table is ready — and wait for it to light up.
Father CJ Mast is the chaplain at Bishop Machebeuf. He said, “At first, [the idea of using the buzzer] was kind of a joke; we were just laughing about it. But then I think it was our principal, Mr. Siegel. He said, ‘Well, let’s just go for it. If it’s a flop, it’s a flop. But it could be a great thing, and it could work out, so let’s just go for it.’”
Once the red light goes off, the students know it is their time to head to Mast’s office for confession. This idea came out of inspiration and prayer as Mast entered his first year at the school.
“When I was thinking through when I first got assigned to Machebeuf, and I was thinking through how do I structure my day, you know when is Mass going to be, when am I going to do Bible studies, when am I going to hang out with the students? One of the things that came up was when am I going to do confessions,” he recalled. “And for high schoolers, I think they’re one of the busiest people in today’s culture, and you know, it’s really hard for them to come [to confession] before school.”