Are mistakenly unforgiven sins still retained?

[Sir_Knight]

If I confess something which I believe to be a mortal sin (and something which other priests have told me is a mortal sin) and the priest hearing my confession is of the opinion that it is not a sin and refuses to offer absolution because he feels that there is nothing to absolve, what is the state of my soul after the confession?

Do I still have a mortal sin upon my soul because it wasn’t absolved or is the fact that the priest did not feel that it wasn’t a sin, make it not a sin in that particular case since he declared it not to be a sin?

Bottle line, can I receive communion tomorrow?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Just to clarify…you confessed something that other priests consider to be a mortal sin and this priest didn’t think it was even a venial sin? Wow.

You have to confess a sin – venial or mortal – in order to have something to absolve. If the priest didn’t offer absolution for anything you confessed then the sins are still there.

If it were me, a) I wouldn’t receive communion (since in my mind I committed what I knew to be a mortal sin); b) I would go to confession as soon as possible; c) I would go to a different priest; and d) I would choose a priest as a regular confessor so that I would know this wouldn’t happen again.

On the other hand, is it possible that you’re being scrupulous and you really didn’t commit a sin?

 

[Joan_M]

Sir Knight, as I understand it, if someone believes that a specific action (or omission of action) is a mortal sin and still commits it, that person has, indeed, committed a mortal sin.

Therefore, I am of the opinion (not being a Moral Theologian, or otherwise qualified to make a definitive statement), that you should refrain from receiving Communion and find another priest to whom to confess.

If this happens again (a priest refusing absolution because he does not think you committed a mortal sin), if I were you I would ask the priest " Father, if that sin is not a mortal sin, is it a venial one?" If, then, he says yes it is a venial sin, then I would ask for absolution, as is his duty if he feels that I have contrition. We are, after all, encouraged to confess venial sins to obtain an increase in Sanctifying Grace and to help us on our journey to perfection.

I would also make sure I never went to that priest again for confession!

 

[Sir_Knight]

On the other hand, is it possible that you’re being scrupulous and you really didn’t commit a sin?

I am making reference to my failure to keep the Friday penance per Cannon 1249-1251 yesterday. While the US Bishops have removed the specific obligation of Abstinence from meat, the duty to perform a penance is still binding.

Being a holiday in the US, I completely forgot about it until after I ordered my meal. At that point, I could either keep the fast and waste food or break the fast and not wste food. Both actions, in my opinion, would have been sinful. So I decided to not waste food and perform some other penance but never got around to it – thus committing a sin of omission … in my opinion.

 

[Sir_Knight]

I would also make sure I never went to that priest again for confession!

The sign on the door said “Visiting Priest” and the other confessional was empty.

 

[LilyM]

But surely you would’ve received an absolution anyway, for other sins you confessed? I can’t imagine that was the only sin you confessed.

As long as you received absolution, it was for ‘your sins’, which I believe would cover ALL your sins, even those that the priest may not have thought were sins, since it was in the name of God who DOES know what you confessed and whether it was mortal or not!

So the rule is always mention at least a few venial sins so that there’s always some matter for an absolution

 

[EasterJoy]

If I confess something which I believe to be a mortal sin (and something which other priests have told me is a mortal sin) and the priest hearing my confession is of the opinion that it is not a sin and refuses to offer absolution because he feels that there is nothing to absolve, what is the state of my soul after the confession?

Do I still have a mortal sin upon my soul because it wasn’t absolved or is the fact that the priest did not feel that it wasn’t a sin, make it not a sin in that particular case since he declared it not to be a sin?

Bottle line, can I receive communion tomorrow?

You spared no effort in trying to confess the sin, and in fact did confess it. You weren’t denied absolution on the grounds that your contrition was insufficient, but because the priest thought you had committed no sin. You cannot tell what other priests would have said to you in the confessional in that particular case, because they didn’t hear your confession.

“What is bound on earth is bound in heaven; what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.” It was your intention and effort to confess, and in the opinion of the priest you are not bound, so yes, you can receive tomorrow.

 

[Sir_Knight]

But surely you would’ve received an absolution anyway, for other sins you confessed? I can’t imagine that was the only sin you confessed.

As long as you received absolution, it was for ‘your sins’, which I believe would cover ALL your sins, even those that the priest may not have thought were sins, since it was in the name of God who DOES know what you confessed and whether it was mortal or not!

So the rule is always mention at least a few venial sins so that there’s always some matter for an absolution

The way the priest phrased it was that he couldn’t “forgive the failure to perform the Friday Penance because there was no sin to forgive.”

 

[Sir_Knight]

You spared no effort in trying to confess the sin, and in fact did confess it. You weren’t denied absolution on the grounds that your contrition was insufficient, but because the priest thought you had committed no sin. You cannot tell what other priests would have said to you in the confessional in that particular case, because they didn’t hear your confession.

Well, I have confessed this same sin in the past (failure to keep the Friday Penance) and inquired if it was mortal in nature and was told that it was.

“What is bound on earth is bound in heaven; what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.” It was your intention and effort to confess, and in the opinion of the priest you are not bound, so yes, you can receive tomorrow.

That’s sort of what I was asking/driving toward with the second part of my question.

 

[EasterJoy]

Well, I have confessed this same sin in the past (failure to keep the Friday Penance) and inquired if it was mortal in nature and was told that it was…

That’s sort of what I was asking/driving toward with the second part of my question.

It impossible to imagine that you are bound for a sin, not because you refused to confess it, but because your confessor won’t recognize as a sin…and this was not a confessor you sought out for his leniency, either!

It will make you feel better if you talk it over with a priest, I’ll wager, though. If you have a chance, catch the priest before Mass. I will also wager he will tell you not to refrain from Holy Communion for a sin that you confessed in fear that it was mortal, but that your confessor refused to even recognize as a sin at all.

If Murphy’s Law applies on Sundays, though, the priest who filled in as your confessor will also be filling in at all the Sunday Masses.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Being a holiday in the US, I completely forgot about it until after I ordered my meal. At that point, I could either keep the fast and waste food or break the fast and not wste food. Both actions, in my opinion, would have been sinful. So I decided to not waste food and perform some other penance but never got around to it – thus committing a sin of omission … in my opinion.

You FORGOT. Your priest was right. It’s not only not a mortal sin, it’s not a sin at all.

Do you know the requirements to commit a mortal sin?

Grave matter, full knowledge, and consent. Did you consent? No. Hence, no mortal sin.

Further, the Catechism says this about mortal sin:

1855
Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.

Does it sound like that’s the situation you’re in? It sure doesn’t to me.

Receive communion tomorrow with a clear conscience.

 

[Reepicheep]

I am making reference to my failure to keep the Friday penance per Cannon 1249-1251 yesterday. While the US Bishops have removed the specific obligation of Abstinence from meat, the duty to perform a penance is still binding.

Being a holiday in the US, I completely forgot about it until after I ordered my meal. At that point, I could either keep the fast and waste food or break the fast and not wste food. Both actions, in my opinion, would have been sinful. So I decided to not waste food and perform some other penance but never got around to it – thus committing a sin of omission … in my opinion.

Sir Knight, you said “Both actions, in my opinion, would have been sinful”.
As I understand it, if you truly had only two choices, then one of them would have to have been not a sin for you under those circumstances.
Not that one of the choices must be desirable: but you can’t be truly forced to sin. There are, in that context, no truly no-win situations. At worst you might have to choose the lesser of two evils.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Sir Knight, you said “Both actions, in my opinion, would have been sinful”.
As I understand it, if you truly had only two choices, then one of them would have to have been not a sin for you under those circumstances.
Not that one of the choices must be desirable: but you can’t be truly forced to sin. There are, in that context, no truly no-win situations. At worst you might have to choose the lesser of two evils.

You FORGOT. Your priest was right. It’s not only not a mortal sin, it’s not a sin at all.

Do you know the requirements to commit a mortal sin?

Grave matter, full knowledge, and consent. Did you consent? No. Hence, no mortal sin.

Further, the Catechism says this about mortal sin:

1855
Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.

Does it sound like that’s the situation you’re in? It sure doesn’t to me.

Receive communion tomorrow with a clear conscience.

But I could have picked ANOTHER penance to perform and that was my original intent but I did not make it a top priority and the day ended before I had the opportunity to do so. Therein, lies the sin … the sin of omission.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

But I could have picked ANOTHER penance to perform and that was my original intent but I did not make it a top priority and the day ended before I had the opportunity to do so. Therein, lies the sin … the sin of omission.

It still wasn’t intentional. You cannot accidentally commit a mortal sin.

It is at most a venial sin and you don’t have to confess venial sins before receiving communion. Say an Act of Contrition and receive communion tomorrow.

 

[LilyM]

But I could have picked ANOTHER penance to perform and that was my original intent but I did not make it a top priority and the day ended before I had the opportunity to do so. Therein, lies the sin … the sin of omission.

If, as you say, you had NO OPPORTUNITY to do another penance before the end of the day, in spite of your resolve to do so, that isn’t a sin of omission. It would only have been a sin if you’d both HAD the opportunity and consciously said to yourself ‘I won’t do any penance TODAY’.

 

[Sir_Knight]

It still wasn’t intentional. You cannot accidentally commit a mortal sin.

It is at most a venial sin and you don’t have to confess venial sins before receiving communion. Say an Act of Contrition and receive communion tomorrow.

If, as you say, you had NO OPPORTUNITY to do another penance before the end of the day, in spite of your resolve to do so, that isn’t a sin of omission. It would only have been a sin if you’d both HAD the opportunity and consciously said to yourself ‘I won’t do any penance TODAY’.

The way that I understand it, disobedience to Canon law is a mortal sin. Thus, failure to perform the Friday Penance can be equated to failing to attend Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation.

Now let’s compare the two. If I forget to set the alarm clock and oversleep and miss Sunday Mass, then there is no sin because I did not do it intentionally. But if I then wake up and there is a later mass that I can go to but I don’t do so because I want to go to a fireworks display or go on a picnic or something like that, then I have commited a mortal sin by intentionally not attending mass.

Now, let’s compare that to my situation with the Friday Penance. I forgot about it. No sin. But then when I remembered, I should have made the time available to perform another penance in it’s place – skipped the fireworks display and spent the time in reading the bible or saying a rosary or left a family gathering early or arrive late or whatever.

Just as I am expected to take what ever reasonable means are available to me to attend Mass on Sunday and not pick a fireworks display over mass, I am also expected to make what ever reasonable means are available to me to perform the Friday Penance.

I did not give it the importance that was due and failed to perform the Penance – thus a mortal sin of omission which I attempted to confess.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I did not give it the importance that was due and failed to perform the Penance – thus a mortal sin of omission which I attempted to confess.

I think you’re wrong – as did your confessor – but it’s your conscience.

All I can suggest is that the next time you go to confession you confess at least two sins. That way if the priest says one of them wasn’t a sin he can still give you absolution for the other one, and the absolution covers all your sins.

 

[Sir_Knight]

I did confess multiple sins but the way the priest phrased it was that he couldn’t *“forgive the failure to perform the Friday Penance because there was no sin to forgive.”

*Where does that leave me with regards to the absolution given?

 

[wanner47]

I did confess multiple sins but the way the priest phrased it was that he couldn’t *“forgive the failure to perform the Friday Penance because there was no sin to forgive.”

*Where does that leave me with regards to the absolution given?

Isn’t the absolution formula, “…I absolve you of all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”? That doesn’t seem to leave any room for Father to not absolve ALL your sins whether he recognizes them as such or not.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I did confess multiple sins but the way the priest phrased it was that he couldn’t *“forgive the failure to perform the Friday Penance because there was no sin to forgive.”

*Where does that leave me with regards to the absolution given?

Absolution covers ALL your sins, even ones you forgot to confess. It’s over…done…forgiven…thank God for his mercy and move on.