That's a shame.

Shows poor formation and a lukewarmness in the lay about their interior life.

I've often asked the question..mainly to myself (and occasionally here - and I get hammered for it):   To what extent does my own (and the lay's own) lukewarmness about their interior life "rub off" on the priests in my parish?

My hypothesis is that if we never go to confession...that poor priest who is trying to make Jesus as available as possible...is sitting quietly in that confessional..waiting..and waiting..and then thinking and then getting discouraged...or even personally weakened in their own interior life.  Why bother...

Or even if we go to confession..if we go infrequently or go superficially...without putting a mere 5 minutes into a mental examination of conscience....the priests KNOW this...they can sense it....and so the discouragement can continue.

A priest can tell whether someone is striving toward God..and I don't think I've ever met a priest who doesn't want to help.