Can a confession be interrupted?

[Cirdan_XII]

What happens if, for example, in the middle of a confession the fire alarm goes off or for some other reason the confession cannot be completed and the absolution given? Is the entire confession invalid or can it be resumed at the point it was interrupted later?

 

[LittleHannah]

If the Absolution was given the Confession would be vaild, but If you had mortal sins that you did’nt have a chance to confess you would have to confess them at your next opportunity.

 

[rhiannonh]

You just reconvene when appropriate

 

[Mumbles140]

Though I’m not certain on this issue, isn’t there an ‘assumed grace period’ if you fully intend to go to Confession, but for circumstances outside your control are unable to? At least until the next available time you are able to receive Confession? I don’t know if I’m doing the best job of describing it, but let me try with an example (and if I’m wrong, someone please correct me!):

You live on a farm, and only one church is within reasonable driving distance (say within an hour). Confession is offered on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons before the vigil. When you arrive on Wednesday, the priest on duty had been called to the hospital, so you are unable to receive Penance, even though you had every intention of doing so. My understanding is that, if something happened between Wednesday and Saturday and you died, your honest effort on Wednesday would provide absolution, because the time had not passed after that when you would next be available to receive the sacrament.

Again, I’m not really certain on this, and I don’t know of any firm (i.e. CCC) backing on this, but that is what I had always thought was the case.

 

[DexUK]

I would say that confession is confession, but comes first and that the sacrament of Reconciliation (with God) becomes effective at the point of Absolution. If the priest were to drop dead before he had a chance to say those words, you’d have to confess your sins again to another priest. So, if you’re interrupted before the Absolution, it’s not done yet. Come back at another time and simply do it again.

 

[DexUK]

As for the situation with a penitent not able to access the priest at the normally given time, one would assume that they had already formed a purpose of amendment and contrition for their sins, so if they were to pass away before having access to a priest, one would be entitled to hope in the infinite mercy of God, since God would have known of their intent to confess. I don’t think there’s too much to worry about there.