"Act of Contrition" in confession, necessary?

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alexsabux

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I have had experience with many of the priests in my church who give the penance and absolution without asking for the act of contrition.
There is one priest who gives penance and ask me to say the Act of Contrition and then gives me the absolution.
The rest, just give penance and absolution and ends with “Go in peace”.
But I say the Act of Contrition in all cases.

So I just need advice on if I should say it if the priest doesn’t ask me to.
 
It is necessary to have contrition, not to say any particular Act of Contrition.
 
I’ve come across this as well.
What I do is when I have finished confessing I say something like “for these and any sins I have forgotten I am truly sorry.” The priest told me when I asked that was acceptable instead of an act of contrition.
 
alexsabux said:
I have had experience with many of the priests in my church who give the penance and absolution without asking for the act of contrition.
There is one priest who gives penance and ask me to say the Act of Contrition and then gives me the absolution.
The rest, just give penance and absolution and ends with “Go in peace”.
But I say the Act of Contrition in all cases.

So I just need advice on if I should say it if the priest doesn’t ask me to.
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Make a sincere Act of Contrition before going into the Confessional.We should all express our true sorrow after we examine our conscience before confessing. God Bless, Memaw
 
my pastor always asks if i’m truly sorry for my sins, or to make an act of contrition. pretty much any reasonable answer is acceptable. i do think they should ask, but i would have to look up the rubrics. maybe those who don’t ask figure, why else are you there?
 
I had an interesting experience a few months ago.After confessing,the priest then said ,make an act of contrition.So,I began to say the traditional prayer I learned when I was a child.He stopped me and said," No,not that one,say the prayer you see before you,on the kneeler"
I found that strange ,that he would interrupt me like that.:confused:
 
alexsabux said:
So the prayer in the confessional is unnecessary. We only have to say our sins with contrition?
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No, not quite. Your confessor has to know that you are contrite and have the intention to amend your life.

So, if he can reach this conclusion somehow by what you say, then it’s all good. On the other hand, praying an act of contrition makes it explicit that you are, in fact, contrite and trying to avoid these sins in the future.

It’s not magic or rigidly formulaic, so to speak; rather, it’s a simple way to demonstrate your state of mind. Don’t be surprised or offended, though, if you think that your confession demonstrated your contrition and the confessor nevertheless asks you to pray an act of contrition… 😉
 
Jeanne_S said:
I had an interesting experience a few months ago.After confessing,the priest then said ,make an act of contrition.So,I began to say the traditional prayer I learned when I was a child.He stopped me and said," No,not that one,say the prayer you see before you,on the kneeler"
I found that strange ,that he would interrupt me like that.:confused:
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That does seem unusual. Maybe the priest thought there was something especially pertinent for you in the wording of that particular Act of Contrition.

May he hears people rattle off the prayer by rote (not you necessarily), and he wants his penitents to be even more aware of just what they are saying.

But I’m just speculating. You could ask him why he did that :).

I have also had the priest skip asking me to say an Act of Contrition, but it is usually after I say, “And I am sorry for these sins and all the sins of my past life” which I usually say after stating my sins. I have also had priests tell me to say the Act of Contrition with my penance when I leave the confessional, especially if there is long line of folks waiting to confess.
 
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