Bad confession experience

[Revert2Christ]

Hi,

today I went to confession as I do on every Saturday. Recently, a new priest came to our parish who is from Nigeria. I live in Germany and this new priest could hardly speak german, so I’m not sure if he understood what I told him in confeession.
What it makes worse is that I addressed some very serious issues, for example I asked about the validity of confessions I made in the past.

My questions are: Could the confession I made today be invalid because the priest did not understand me? Should I refrain from Communion until my next confession?

 

[CountrySteve]

Hi,

today I went to confession as I do on every Saturday. Recently, a new priest came to our parish who is from Nigeria. I live in Germany and this new priest could hardly speak german, so I’m not sure if he understood what I told him in confeession.
What it makes worse is that I addressed some very serious issues, for example I asked about the validity of confessions I made in the past.

My questions are: Could the confession I made today be invalid because the priest did not understand me? Should I refrain from Communion until my next confession?

i would think not cause the confession is about God right and if so if your willing to confess every sint hen there forgiven

 

[smichhertz]

My questions are: Could the confession I made today be invalid because the priest did not understand me? Should I refrain from Communion until my next confession?

Hi Revert2Christ!

If he gave you absolution, than he understood it well enough for it to be valid. I’d say you are fine to receive Communion, but it may be a good idea to confess again for your own peace of mind.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

I’ve seen this same type of question asked and answered in a different venue (I’m avoiding claims of authority for the answer that you or CAF couldn’t verify, so I’ll leave it at that), and the answer given was that as long as you confessed everything you needed to confess, had some degree of contrition and had a firm purpose of amendment, and the priest gave you absolution, then the absolution was valid. If he gave you absolution without sufficiently understanding what had been confessed, any wrongdoing was on his part, not on yours, so don’t worry about it. It’s also possible he understood more than you think. Some people understand a language much better than they are able to speak it themselves.

On the subject of prior confessions though, if this priest didn’t understand your question it is conceivable he may have given you the wrong answer. I would check again, with a priest you are confident understands the question.

 

[DavidFilmer]

I once attended Confession at a Polish Rite Catholic Church in my area (there are many Poles in Portland). When I initially identified myself as an English-speaker, the priest responded in (somewhat disjointed) English. I made my Confession, and the priest gave me my penance and pronounced absolution.

I am not certain that he fully understood my Confession, and I am not certain that I fully understood the penance he perscribed. He heard my Confession to the best of his ability, and I did my penance to the best of my ability.

This, of course, assumes some basis for understanding. If he spoke only Polish, and I speak only English, this confession could not be valid - he could not understand me, and I could not understand him. But he had some skills in English, so I feel that I may presume that the confession was valid, even if he probably did not understand every word I said, and I did not understand every word he said. God can work out the details.

 

[Jim_Roberts]

Sometimes we assume to much of the priest

Remember this, he is trained for experiences like this If he did not understand you, you could have asked him to repeat himself,or, if you did not know what the penance was, it was your responsibility in asking him.

When you go to confession, God the Holy Spirit is waiting for you and will help you.

Good luck.

–Jim Roberts

 

[Me123]

If he spoke only Polish, and I speak only English, this confession could not be valid - he could not understand me, and I could not understand him.

I don’t think so: The validity of the absolution does not depend on the lingual abilities of one or two involved parties.

 

[DavidFilmer]

I don’t think so: The validity of the absolution does not depend on the lingual abilities of one or two involved parties.

Can you cite that? There is a REASON why we do articular (in the ear) Confession. If the ear cannot understand ANY of our words, then it would be irrelevant. And the penitent would be absolutely incapable of fulfilling his penance, which is part of the Sacrament. In my case, I THINK I understood what my Polish confessor told me in broken English, and I did this to the best of my ability, but if he had advised me only in Polish, I would walk out of the booth without ANY IDEA WHATSOEVER what my penance actually was. Do I make up my own penance? Do I do no penance at all, because I could not understand it? Or do confess these same sins to an English-speaking priest so that I can perform my penance?

I think the question of understanding the penance is more relevant than the question of understanding the sins by the priest. I agree that the priest may grant absolution, but this generally requires the fulfillment of a penance, but the terms of which cannot be known in any fashion if the penitent cannot understand a single word that the priest says.

 

[paperwight66]

I I think the question of understanding the penance is more relevant than the question of understanding the sins by the priest. I agree that the priest may grant absolution, but this generally requires the fulfillment of a penance, but the terms of which cannot be known in any fashion if the penitent cannot understand a single word that the priest says.

No, absolution is not dependent on fulfilment of a penance. We have discussed this before, and several posters quoted examples of penances that would be impossible to fulfil within a short time.

 

[Batfink]

As a linguist, I agree with the previous poster (Aldred) about linguistic abilities. Most people acquire receptive (reading and listening) skills much quicker, more deeply and more proficiently than productive (speaking and writing). So just because he didn’t speak German very well is no indication that he didn’t understand it a lot better.