Bad confession and bad parish experience. came out worse than before. Are our confessions valid?

[Maria1993]

To not gossip and make a huge story. My sister and I had to go to a new parish for confession because ours did not have any today and tomorrow is divine mercy Sunday.

Terrible experience. Irreverence. And the priest could not care less. Its all weird and modern and the confessionals were to. My sister didn’t know what was going on so she peeked because the priest wasn’t responding or greeting. He was very rude to her and also saying " are you finished yet". The people in the confession line wouldn’t stop talking and were talking about an inappropriate image from a wedding. We came out with headaches and she came out crying.

We came with good intentions and now we don’t know if our confessions are valid. It felt so hollow and i didn’t even “feel” repentance as I was talking. Please help.

 

[hope19]

To not gossip and make a huge story. My sister and I had to go to a new parish for confession because ours did not have any today and tomorrow is divine mercy Sunday.

Terrible experience. Irreverence. And the priest could not care less. Its all weird and modern and the confessionals were to. My sister didn’t know what was going on so she peeked because the priest wasn’t responding or greeting. He was very rude to her and also saying " are you finished yet". The people in the confession line wouldn’t stop talking and were talking about an inappropriate image from a wedding. We came out with headaches and she came out crying.

We came with good intentions and now we don’t know if our confessions are valid. It felt so hollow and i didn’t even “feel” repentance as I was talking. Please help.

Hello,

In my opinion, you had the intention to go confess, so it counts for God.

If you want to be sure, you can go to another parish confess.

hope19

 

[twf]

I am sorry you and your sister had such a frustrating experience. That being said, the saxraments are not dependent upon feelings. The confession was valid as long as the following took place:
You confessed your grave sins in kind and number
You had resolved not to commit those sins again
The priest gave you absolution (“I absolve you…”)

If you are still in doubt, can you pull your priest aside before or after mass at your parish?

 

[Celtic_Maiden]

Personally I would write to the Priest suggesting that he gives a homily to the faithful of having respect for people who are trying to pray before going to Confession, by staying quiet, respecting others who want to pray and they should be praying themselves.
Where is there respect for the Blessed Sacrament in the Church, they should be concentrating on what they are going to say in Confession instead of tittering.

If that is the carry on I would take to the Church door like a scalded cat, and seek another Church where people thought more about Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

 

[tabycat]

:hug3::console::hug1:

 

[Casilda]

I’m so sorry for that awful experience you both had. I had prepared myself once for a confession after being away from the church for many years and the priest refused to hear my confession. It was like a cold slap in the face. It just led me to where I am now, a safer place spiritually. I almost gave up trying to come back to the church.

I pray that you have better experiences at your home parish. Have a blessed day tomorrow.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

If you didn’t withhold any mortal sins, and the priest used the correct form of absolution, unless he didn’t have faculties to absolve sin, your confession should be valid.

I’m so sorry for that awful experience you both had. I had prepared myself once for a confession after being away from the church for many years and the priest refused to hear my confession. It was like a cold slap in the face. It just led me to where I am now, a safer place spiritually.

Same thing happened to me.

 

[Mary_Ellen]

Maria,

As long as you confessed all your mortal sins (if there were any), you had contrition for your sins, you had a firm purpose of amendment, and - particularly - the priest said the correct words of absolution (“I absolve you…”) your confession was valid. Fortunately, feelings do not play a part in the validity of the sacrament.

I am so sorry you had that bad experience. It sounds like a lot of unfortunate things came together at the same time to make it just horrible for you. I’ve had at least one horrible experience in the confessional, too, but it didn’t stop me from frequenting the sacrament. I just learned from the experiences and prepared accordingly in the future.

To all other readers, confession for the indulgences attached to Divine Mercy Sunday can be made within 20 days of the Feast, that’s 20 days before OR after.