Ask a Priest Anything...about Confession!

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Can a priest (generally speaking that is), ever just be a Confessor? Like specialise in only confessions rather than celebrate mass or all the other duties, and just confess people?
 
I hear @CatholicMO. I had the same problem. Finally I just decided to pick the venial sin I tended to commit most often and focus on that. If I tried to repeat all my different ones the poor priest would have dreaded hearing my voice. I received much good advice that way. But I just had to get that grace!
 
DarkLight said:
How important is the question of how many times you committed a sin?
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It helps the priest to know whether something is a one-off, an occasional thing, or something you’re truly struggling with (or if you’ve been away from the confessional for some time). It’s difficult for most people to remember what they had for breakfast yesterday never mind exactly how many times something happened (especially when it comes to habitual sin)! The priest doesn’t need to know precisely how many times, just a near enough estimate is good enough.
 
Does anyone have a good guide for confession and how to undertake a good examination of sins to confess
 
I understand that Thomas Aquinas went everyday. I knew a priest who told me he went everyday in the seminary
 
Do priests prefer when the type of sins committed or a description/story of your sins with full detail.
 
As I’ve said in many posts in the past, detail isn’t necessary unless it changes the nature of the act, e.g. stealing bread from a bakery versus stealing bread from a starving homeless man on the street. Keeping it simple is the best thing. I prefer for people to confess well, and so not being too detailed is best. Giving a lot of detail misses the point of confession, which is to have one’s sins absolved, and can be a temptation toward justifying and making excuses. Our humility is best served by simply saying what we’ve done and that we’re sorry for it.
 
And that’s great for them. For the average person, I would not advise them to go daily. And for the scrupulous, I would not advise them to go more than every two weeks. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, as it were. The one who confesses every single day more out of compulsion than devotion doesn’t have a healthy spiritual life.
 
Awe thanks Father.

You have really helped. I am discerning Priesthod and just want to make sure my actions are inline with what the church teaches.I hope you had a wonderful Christmas day. God bless you and your Priesthod
 
I have an important question but I keep seeing conflicting answers on here.

I have been studying Catholicism for a few months now. I have been to one RCIA class, with the rest picking up after the start of the new year. He gave me an idiots guide to Catholicism and I showed a backpack full of books I had read or was reading on Catholicism. I am the only person in RCIA. I was baptized Southern Baptist when I was 5. I did an examination of conscience until I had to stop because I had a panic attack. I really want to go to confession, but I am not sure if it is allowed yet? I don’t mind waiting until they ask me to go. However, I don’t want to be hit by a bus without having confessed. What should I do? It’s worrying me terribly.
 
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InThePew said:
Papal concern for the environment isn’t a new thing - JPII talked about it, so did Benedict; all Francis is doing to building on what his predecessors have done with a appropriately elevated level of concern. We need to be aware of not just our own actions when it comes to the environment but also those of others and seek to influence them where we can.
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WRT influence, Pope Francis and “ecological sin”

the big question I am trying to wrap my mind around is about the general case,… said another way specifically wondering what are the connections of faith, science, influence and sin
phaster said:
seems a root cause of climate change denial is due to fear, doubt and ignorance of basic science,… along w/ faith??? because there exists the sin of PRIDE (i.e. excessive belief in one’s own abilities)

IOW it has been well documented people do not understand the basic “science”

www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12187
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What do you think of climate change?
AGW isn’t disputed by anyone who knows a lick about the science
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so WRT “faith” and the idea of the scientific method
Pride is the excessive love of one’s own excellence. It is ordinarily accounted one of the seven capital sins.

www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/pride
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simply put

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now looking at the catholic capital sin of GLUTTONY (i.e. an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires)

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in a consumer society which is powered by fossil-fuel we see

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basically from what I learned long ago in one of my catholic high school religion classes, appears GLUTTONY should be considered a sin associated w/ climate change denial because too often there appears to be an excessive desire for food, etc. which causes items to be withheld from the needy along w/ harming creation
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I just want to say to the person that commented on the best use of your time, that this exactly what Catholic charity looks like, and I for one am very grateful that you are giving your time to help us make a better confession.
My first question is that our regular confessor is also a close friend of our family. We go out to breakfast and have him over for lunch and dinner often. We engaged in other leisure activities as well. What is ask is, do you think that he would mind also being our confessor, or would this cause him discomfort? Sadly he happens to be one of the only priests that offers daily confession opportunities in the area as well.

Secondly, the penance given is so powerful in what we receive, and I take it very seriously. What is the best course when a priest give a vague penance like the one I was given: “I want you to give yourself completely to Christ”

[EDIT] I also want to add that I have heard from other priests(online) about the importance of making a a perfect contrition. This is very important and I thank you for re-affirming this concept.

Thank you in advance
 
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Thank you for this insight. I was baffled by this concept of ecological sin and admittedly annoyed by it being brought up by our Pope. I say this because even as a political discussion I have found considerable hypocracy in the issue. Case in point, regular trash and recycling got mixed up during a party. I put the bag in the trash dumpster, not re-sorting first. I was in the middle of hosting a large group of family and one particularly unhelpful relative criticized me over this, claiming I don’t care about the earth.

I drive a very fuel efficient car, buy as little as possible…used when I can …haven’t flown in years, live in efficient, dense condo housing. Comparatively, the relative drives a huge gas guzzler, lives in an ostentaciously oversized home, shops constantly for items I would consider “stupid, wasteful crap”, has a pool she keeps heated…so who is the sinner here? At what point does prudence yield to scrupulosity? Is it a sin to be an imperfect recycler? To buy a favorite cosmetic if it comes in excessive packaging? To buy what we like when it is more than we need? To fly for vacation when we could stay home for a less satisfying break? To work for someone with a bad environmental track record because we don’t presently have a good alternative?

It quickly gets put of hand to even discern. My feeling was that we should simply work on being prudent and this requires consideration of what is reasonable in balance of all factors.
 
Lenny said:
My first question is that our regular confessor is also a close friend of our family. We go out to breakfast and have him over for lunch and dinner often. We engaged in other leisure activities as well. What is ask is, do you think that he would mind also being our confessor, or would this cause him discomfort?
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I very much doubt that this would cause him discomfort - personally, I’d take it as a mark of appreciation. One of the realities for priests is that we often can’t help but see those that we confess to on a regular basis. Human nature being what it is there can be a bit of awkwardness but still, the sacramental seal means that what’s confessed is effectively walled off from everything else.
Lenny said:
What is the best course when a priest give a vague penance like the one I was given: “I want you to give yourself completely to Christ”
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I get what you’re saying about vagueness and, to be fair to you, it’s not ideal, but realistically just take it as it comes. After all, we all need to give ourselves to Christ each day! 😁
 
Lenny said:
Secondly, the penance given is so powerful in what we receive, and I take it very seriously. What is the best course when a priest give a vague penance like the one I was given: “I want you to give yourself completely to Christ”
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If you think it’s vague why don’t you ask the priest to be more specific.
 
How do you know you are making adequate confessions, or how do you know your confessions are sincere?

This has always troubled me since becoming Catholic. Of course, I have obvious sins I know need confessing, but then I can go through several examinations and many things on there I’m unsure of and it’s just hard to recall. It doesn’t seem to provide any clarity the more examinations I go through or time I spend preparing. I still feel stuck and it keeps me away fairly often.

I worry too about my sincerity and that maybe I am not taking it seriously enough. I certainly don’t feel anything after going and I’m unsure how else to gauge this. Nearly all my penances in the past have been some form of say these prayers with the intention that God will show in some way how greatly He loves you, but I can’t say I’ve noticed anything as a result and that again makes me think I’m obviously lacking somewhere.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound silly. It has bothered me greatly over the last few years.
 
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Marie16 said:
maybe I am not taking it seriously enough.
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It sounds like the opposite might be true, given this and your posting history, which indicates some degree of scrupulosity.

It’s a simple interface. If you confessed your sins to the best of your recollection, and you got absolved, that’s more than adequate. You were forgiven. Don’t dwell on it. Leave the past in the confessional.

As for penances, if you said your prayers, you’re fine. As with any prayers, if some kind of sign or message or whatever came out of it, great. If not, that’s okay. What matters is that we pray, that we complete the penance. Faith is an act of the will. We don’t do it because of what we feel like we get out of it in this life, we do it because it’s what gives us eternal life. Choose to say yes to God, be consistent at that, and don’t worry about the rest.

-Fr ACEGC
 
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