Book Excerpt for Penance

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SanRafael1102

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I was wondering if a priest could give a book except as penance? It could be as simple as “Read chapter four of…” or “read 15 minutes of Fulton Sheen”. I’ve been given chapters of the Bible as penance before, but was wondering if it were permissible for the priest to give a penitent who used contraception a book about the Church’s teaching in the subject? Any thoughts?
 
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You could maybe set that for yourself as good practice. You’ve given me an idea 🙂
 
SanRafael1102 said:
a penitent who used contraception a book about the Church’s teaching in the subject?
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I would think yes, as it corresponds to the sins confessed, the knowledge from learning what the Church teaches opens up the eyes and helps the understanding of same, which hopefully would deepen not only understanding and acceptance, sorrow, but also the individuals firm purpose of amendment (even after confession, sorrow for past sins is good as it strengthens the firm purpose of amendment).

CCC #1460 " The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent’s personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, “provided we suffer with him.”" (Bold and Italics are mine)
 
He could, but from a practical standpoint he probably wouldn’t, because the person might not have ready access to a copy of the book. The priest is probably not going to expect someone to find a Catholic bookstore, go buy the book, etc. just to do the penance. Many people aren’t going to get around to that level of effort, or they will forget the book title on the way out of the confessional.

So unless the parish has a library with 10 copies of the book so the priest can say, “Get it from the parish library, we have 10 copies” or alternatively the confession is happening at a retreat where everybody there got a copy of the book to use during the retreat, the priest is more likely to assign a prayer, a good work, or some Scripture, which the person can much more readily access given that the Bible is everywhere including online.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
He could, but from a practical standpoint he probably wouldn’t, because the person might not have ready access to a copy of the book.
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Right. I don’t see a lot of priests doing that for this reason.

The exception might be for booklets or pamphlets that the priest gives out at Confession. I know a priest who hands out Catholic Answers booklets on certain moral issues if it pertains to what the person is confessing. I’m not sure whether or not he assigns reading the booklet as the penance.

I had a priest I used to go to Confession to frequently who had a sheet with reflections and quotes that he would hand out. He sometimes assigned my penance from that sheet.
 
Yes, the penitent would have to agree. I believe we should have more difficult penance! There is extra grace gained for anything done as a penance. I have ask the priest for a particular difficult penance. They happily obliged!
 
I recently had a priest hand me a paper (it was almost academic in nature) about the very topic I mentioned in confession. It made me wonder if he had a traveling file box on his side of the screen to pull out whatever subject came up - it was just so unusual and the topic (in my thinking) uncommon. Nonetheless, I really appreciated it.
 
You can always pray for, with your own words, a couple of the persons you sin against and say one Our Father for each of them. It might not change them but it will change you.
 
Did you choose the penance or did he? How did you ask? How often is appropriate to ask? I’ve often thought of doing this, but I never have because I didn’t know if it would be appropriate. I feel like I need more penance, but I don’t want to do it myself because I always hear you’re supposed to have a spiritual director for extra/difficult penance
 
I think most priests try to give a penance which can be done right away. But if they ask whether the penance can be carried out, I don’t see why they couldn’t assign whatever.
 
I suggested a penance. Something life giving up TV for a week in the evenings. He was happy to oblige. If I wanted to beat myself with a whip, he probable would refuse. I see no harm in asking!
 
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