a question about confession..

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Organist1995

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This weekend (hopefully) i am going to confession. There is one thing that always worried me- do you think the priest can recognize our voice if he knows us? I have asked that to adults before but they always make a jokes like what could you have possibly done wrong, or what did you do thats so bad…i know they are only joking, but i really don’t find it funny. I have have committed awful sins, and i hope the priest does not recognize my voice. EVEN if he did, do you think they remember our confessions if they see us later on?
 
I am not Catholic and i have never been to a Catholic Church I am interested is all and Maby convert later in life but i think that a priest have heard the most horriable sins and the most discusting that it would just be a norm. Even if he did know who you were I think a man as holy as he would understand that we all fall short. Don’t take it from me though becasue I am not catholic and I am interested in what others have to say about this. 🙂
 
Hello!

Sorry to hear people laughed at you when you asked. This is a valid question. Concern about this keeps a lot of people away from the confessional, which is not a good thing for our souls.

To answer your question: It is possible that a Priest will know your voice, especially if he knows you well or if you speak to him often. It’s also possible that he won’t. It depends on how well the Priest recognizes voices, the acoustics of the confessional, etc. There’s no definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

This is nothing to be afraid of, however. They are bound by the Seal of the Confessional to never bring up your sins, so even if Father recognized your voice he could never bring up what you said – not even to you! – unless you asked him to. Also, any reputable Priest would never hold what you confessed against you in any way, no matter how awful that sin is. The Priest is not there to judge and condemn you, he’s there to share God’s incredible forgiveness with you!

Priests hear thousands of Confessions each year, and most forget who confessed what in a short period of time even if they do recognize the person confessing. As my Pastor said to my RCIA class a few years ago, “You aren’t that creative. You aren’t going to Confess anything I haven’t hear a hundred or a thousand times before.” For them, it all blurs together, which helps add to the anonymity.

Now, having said that, some people are uncomfortable confessing to a Priest they know. That’s natural. If that’s the case, you can Confess with any Catholic Priest. It doesn’t have to be a Priest at your home Parish.

I know (again, from discussions in RCIA) that some of the people in our Parish office prefer to Confess at a neighboring Parish, just because they feel strange Confessing with somebody they work with closely day-in and day-out. Some Parishioners feel the same way. While I really don’t think this is necessary, it’s perfectly okay! You should Confess wherever you feel most comfortable confessing. It’s better to confess at a different Catholic Church than to not Confess your sins at all, or to withhold sins when you Confess (which invalidates the whole confession!).

I hope this answers your question. God bless you!
 
Bottom line is, you have everything to lose by not going to confession and only your condemnation to lose by going.

In the confessional you are speaking to the priest, but more importantly, you are speaking to Jesus.

achmafooma already said it, but let me say it again.

He is not there to judge you, He is there to forgive you. Same for the priest.

Go. You will not have any regrets. I give you the Adv1sor guarantee.
 
If it helps, I said some truly awful things to a priest in a face to face confession, and in other cases when he knew it was me… and afterwards he did not treat me differently at all 🙂 they don’t judge and often they might not even remember what you said. They hear a lot of confessions and they’ve pretty much heard it all. Don’t be afraid 🙂 just be open with the priest and God will give you an abundance of His grace.

God bless 🙂
 
I used to attend Mass where there was a very old Domincan priest who occassionally said Mass and preached. One Sunday he was preaching about confession and how people should not be afraid to confess their sins. He said that he had heard every possible sin anyone could commit already, so don’t worry. He had a brand new car out in the parking lot. If anyone in the parish could confess a sin he had not heard before he would give them the car. There was a mother and son in the front pew. The boy was about 11. The offer of a new car sounded pretty tempting and the boy elbowed his mother as he said to her loudly, “Mom. mom, mom”, until he had her attention and she turned to him, He said, “Mom, go for it!”
 
Organist1995 said:
This weekend (hopefully) i am going to confession. There is one thing that always worried me- do you think the priest can recognize our voice if he knows us? **

that is what worrys me too…i think if its something embarrassing that you want to confess but you cant say it to your local priest then find out the confession times of another parish and go there just this once to confess to a priest that doesnt know you, then resume going to your regular church for confessions after that

. EVEN if he did, do you think they remember our confessions if they see us later on? well i remember things people have said to me years ago so if he knows you then id assume that he would remember what you have said…but he shouldnt mention it to you or to any one else**
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Many priests report that they receive a special grace to forget what people confess to them as soon as the confession is over.

Even if they don’t forget, they cannot treat you any differently as a result of what they’ve heard. The seal of confession is so serious, a priest cannot reveal what he’s heard from you or treat you any differently even if threatened with prosecution, persecution or death.

I had the occasion to embarrass myself pretty thoroughly in confession recently, and in spite of the intellectual knowledge that the priest could not hold my sins against me, I still had a little nagging worry in the back of my mind that things would not be the same. This worry was completely dispelled when he greeted me with obvious delight the next time we met outside of confession.

You can tell your priest anything and everything in complete safety. If you still don’t believe it, take yourself over to the neighboring parish and confess to a stranger. It’s fine to do that, too.
 
Organist1995 said:
This weekend (hopefully) i am going to confession. There is one thing that always worried me- do you think the priest can recognize our voice if he knows us? I have asked that to adults before but they always make a jokes like what could you have possibly done wrong, or what did you do thats so bad…i know they are only joking, but i really don’t find it funny. I have have committed awful sins, and i hope the priest does not recognize my voice. EVEN if he did, do you think they remember our confessions if they see us later on?
Click to expand...
He may know your voice, depending on how well you know him. But don’t worry about such things. Believe me, he’s heard it ALL! A priest in our parish always explains to our RCIA candidates that he has been endowed with the gift of “forgetfulness”. I guess they hear so many confessions, that they can’t remember who does what even if they try. I think we fret about that more than we need to. It would be like going to a doctor for a physical and worrying about what he thinks of our body shape.

Think of it this way - the worse your sin is, the happier he’ll be that you’ve confessed it!
 
When I returned to the church about 7 years ago, it took me over a year to get into a confessional. Not for lack of trying, I just always found an excuse not to once I got there (the line is too long, etc) or chickened out at the last minute. When I finally got in there it was most definitely through God’s grace. I got in my car and started to drive over, thinking, if the line is long I’m not going - knowing that the line at our church is ALWAYS long. 😉 So I got to the church and walked in. I turned the corner to walk toward the confessional and saw that not only was the line not long, IT WASN’T EVEN THERE! So that was God putting His hand right between my shoulder blades and giving me a push. His way of saying no more excuses, come home! I have no doubt about that. The priest even agreed with me.
Needless to say, my knees started shaking. I went in, knelt down and said (after blessing myself) “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned… It’s been about 35 years since my last confession.” And cringed, waiting for the yelling to start. And it started all right - with the priest saying, loudly, “Welcome home!” The tears started right then.
Every time after that has been easier. Now I try to go monthly, or more often if needed. Not only will you find forgiveness, but you’ll often also find great advice. Please, accept this gift from God. You’ll be so happy you did.
Blessings and peace to you!
 
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