Anonymous confession

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preacher_of_christ

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I’m a baptized lutheran, so I suppose that I will have to confess before I convert. But what if I want to be truly anonymous the first time? Can I somehow confess so that my voice is not recognisable or go to another church where the priest doesn’t know me?
 
preacher_of_christ said:
But what if I want to be truly anonymous the first time? Can I somehow confess so that my voice is not recognisable or go to another church where the priest doesn’t know me?
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Yes, you can do reconciliation anonymously, including with a different priest.

Disguising your voice seems an unlikely choice.

Don’t be too concerned. Remember, this is the priest’s vocation. You can trust him.
 
Yes, you can. I often go to reconciliation at a different church and I always confess behind a screen.
 
preacher_of_christ said:
what if I want to be truly anonymous the first time?
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You can confess behind a screen, or at a different parish.

In any case, please bear in mind that few things are more sacred in the Church than the confessional secret.

And there’s absolutely nothing to fear when confessing to God’s humble instrument of grace.
 
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According to Canon Law the priest is never ever allowed to say that he heard your Confession or what you said during it. The church penalty for that is excommunication.

I had to ask my parish priest about what he had said to me in confession three days earlier and he couldn’t remember anything but that he had talked with me in the confessional room in the past three weeks as it was face to face.

There are several links in this one that you might like to study.

 
Well this is a part of conversion so maybe its different.
 
Ok, so the confession is more of a demand for confession than the confession being included into the ritual, thus demanding to be in the same church?
 
My RCIA group was told we could go to confession at any Catholic Church before we were received into the Catholic Church. The deacon said that we could make an appointment or go during the regular times. No one was going to ask us if we had been or not. It was our own responsibility that we went. Most phoned a priest that they had gotten to know.

I phoned the priest I had been talking to for two years as I had talked about a lot of things with him already that were bothering my conscience. It was face to face in his office where we usually met a week before the Easter vigil. After about a year I knew which priests that I prefer to hear my confession. Face to face or behind the screen doesn’t matter as I alternate and it also depends upon if only the screen is available in the churches in the local area.

There are lots of post on Confession on this forum. Especially from those entering into the Catholic Church or those who have been away for a shorter or longer time. You might like to do a search?
 
Necessity is a better description than demand, and it’s not about ritual - it’s for the good of your soul, but yes. It can be any priest, any where, the same as any other time in your Catholic life. Just tell them up front it’s your first due to RCIA.

Edit to add: we never approach any sacrament (Jesus himself/his vehicle of grace) except baptism or confession themselves with the burden of mortal sin on our soul.
 
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preacher_of_christ said:
go to another church where the priest doesn’t know me?
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Certainly. Practically, it would be helpful (for the priest as well as for you) to mention up front that you are going to be received into the Church and this is your first confession.

Dan
 
Oops…LOL… I meant to “reply” to a particular post. Not just reply generally.
 
Trust me you get used to it. It is scary at first but over time you realize that it isn’t that bad
 
I’ve never done confession behind the screen whether I knew the priest or not. It’s my choice, but to me, I feel a true confession should be face to face. No regrets.
 
Let not your heart be troubled! Nearly everyone that is honest has confessed sexual sins, lust, pornography, you name it. But one of the most acceptable and most serious sins is gossip.

Do not conceal anything. The God Who judges you knows it all already. It is supposed to be embarrassing - that’s how we learn to avoid such sins in the future.
 
preacher_of_christ said:
I’m a baptized lutheran, so I suppose that I will have to confess before I convert. But what if I want to be truly anonymous the first time? Can I somehow confess so that my voice is not recognisable or go to another church where the priest doesn’t know me?
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ahhh… You COULD go to another Church, but typically, priests prefer (not require) you to attend your first Confession at your parish.

However, in my experience priests really don’t recognize voices in confession.
 
Just go to a different parish to what will be your home parish and look for one that either has a screen or is set up as the old confessional boxes were - priest in the centre and a door on either side for the penitent to enter. (Some places only have one side for the penitent in use.) And also in my experiences some places have inside their reconciliation rooms a kneeler with a screen.

No need to disguise your voice, as being a different parish the priest is not likely at all to connect your voice to you if you should met at some later point in time outside the confessional.

With embarrassing sins, the advice I once heard given was to just “spit it out!” and be done with it. Confess the serious sins first.
 
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