Published 08-11-24

FR. DAN SHAUGHNESSY

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is wonderful to be back here at St. Patrick in Wentzville. It is such an incredible Eucharistic-centered community of faith, and I feel so privileged and humbled to be one of your shepherds, along with Fr. Skillman and Fr. Detwiler. That said, I have been here all of about 10 days and so, I humbly ask for your prayers. In the meantime though, I remember asking Msgr. Pat when I first arrived here back in 2012 if we could start offering confessions on Thursday nights. He happily agreed. And now that I am back, I’ve asked Fathers Skillman and Detwiler what they thought about adding weeknight confessions on Monday nights (as well as Thursdays), after hearing from them how many of you regularly seek God’s mercy in confession on Thursday nights. They both thought it was a great idea. The Holy Spirit encourages great things!  

To accompany that news, I’ve reached out to my brother priests in neighboring parishes to add their some of their confession times to our schedule, in order that we might offer confessions every night of the week throughout St. Charles County. You might ask, "Why is Fr. Shaughnessy doing this so quickly?” The answer is that I am a sinner just like all of you who needs confession every few weeks. And if we priests have the ability to make the sacrament more available, then I think we need to do just that. We are all sinners constantly in need of God’s grace and mercy. And so, the most up to date schedule I have is listed below:

Weekly confession times in St. Charles County:

Mondays: NEW TIME!

5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
St. Patrick, Wentzville
STARTING AUGUST 12

Tuesdays:

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
St. Joseph, Cottleville

7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
All Saints, St. Peters

Wednesdays:

7:15 am to 7:45 am
Holy Rosary, Warrenton

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
Immac Heart of Mary, New Melle

6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Immac Concpt, Dardenne Prairie

Thursdays:

5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
St. Patrick, Wentzville

6:00 pm to 6:45 pm
Holy Rosary, Warrenton

Saturdays:

8:30 am to 9:00 am
Holy Rosary, Warrenton

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
St. Patrick, Wentzville

Remember that we are all sinners in need of God’s grace and mercy. There is no condemnation; only love. In my own journey to grow in God’s love before I entered seminary in 2006, regular confession was essential to opening my heart to Jesus more fully. There should be no fear in the sacrament; rather, there should be a humble realization of the penitent’s great need for God’s grace.  And hopefully, a journey then begins where the penitent’s heart can grow in love of Almighty God along with a profound awareness of God's truth, goodness and beauty.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Dan Shaughnessy