Can Absolution be Granted Before the Actual Confession?

[S_V7]

A recently asked a preist if he could hear my confession before Mass and well he said the words of absolution and told me I could recieve communion, even though i hadn’t actually confessed yet. He said I could confess after Mass. Is this right?

 

[S_V7]

 

[stbruno]

double

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

A recently asked a preist if he could hear my confession before Mass and well he said the words of absolution and told me I could recieve communion, even though i hadn’t actually confessed yet. He said I could confess after Mass. Is this right?

My thought is that it is wrong.

How can he absolve what he doesn’t know? How does he know you’re sorry for your sins if you haven’t confessed them? A sacrament has to have matter; the matter for Reconciliation is sins; how can you celebrate the sacrament without the matter?

 

[LilyM]

My thought is that it is wrong.

How can he absolve what he doesn’t know? How does he know you’re sorry for your sins if you haven’t confessed them? A sacrament has to have matter; the matter for Reconciliation is sins; how can you celebrate the sacrament without the matter?

Well, the sins are implicit in the asking for confession - you don’t ask for confession without having sins to confess, surely. But I agree it’s either a really borderline or actually invalid method of doing things.

I wonder if he would ever celebrate a Mass where he put the prayers of consecration before the offertory (ie when he didn’t even have the bread and wine in front of him).

Is this a priest who knows you well, though? If you’ve never in your life confessed a mortal sin to him then he may surmise that you’ve done nothing mortal this time either, and perhaps don’t really even need confession if you have a tendency to scruples. But then he wouldn’t ask you to come back after Mass.

 

[PoliSciProf]

Sounds very odd to me. But perhaps he was make making a (mistaken) parallel to a situation in time of war when a priest could give general absolution to large groups when individual confession was not possible. Individual confession should be made as soon a possible even though sins were forgiven. My explanation sounds very lame to me as I type this but it is my best shot at trying to figure out his thinking.

 

[redrosetea]

I might be wrong ,but I think under certain circumstances it can be given this way…I think the rescue workers during 911 were given general absolution and before going into a battle in a war it can be done

 

[Digitonomy]

In principle I think this would be valid. A priest need not actually understand what your sins are to grant absolution - sometimes the penitent and the confessor will not speak the same language. In a case such as that given by the OP, the priest is probably familiar with the person, and satisfied with his contriteness, sincerity in seeking absolution, and that there is minimal chance that the person would have a sin for which absolution can’t be granted.

The caveat for this is that penance is a sacrament for which faculties must be given and may be specific as to when, where, and how the priest may grant absolution. If those faculties require that the standard form of the Rite of Penance be used, then presumably it would be invalid. But a bishop, who has the authority to grant such faculties or dispense from their requirements, would certainly be able to grant absolution in this way.

I should add that it certainly sounds illicit.

 

[ForwardProgress]

If it’s your regular confessor, maybe he thinks you are being scrupulous so he does this so you may receive communion.

 

[LilyM]

I might be wrong ,but I think under certain circumstances it can be given this way…I think the rescue workers during 911 were given general absolution and before going into a battle in a war it can be done

But those are life-or-death emergency situations, so the rules about general absolution which apply there don’t apply in the case of a normal penitent approaching a priest for confession.

 

[Aramis]

A recently asked a preist if he could hear my confession before Mass and well he said the words of absolution and told me I could recieve communion, even though i hadn’t actually confessed yet. He said I could confess after Mass. Is this right?

It is valid, but not licit.

So, no, it’s not “right” but, by the same token, while not right, you would not have received while in a state of mortal sin, provided you mentioned that you had grave sins to confess. You do need to confess them.

He misapplied the exception allowed for general absolution where time does not permit all to confess individually.

 

[S_V7]

He’s actually a new priest at my parish that I don’t know very well and I still haven’t actually “confessed” yet but I’m planning to go this saturday. I didn’t feel comfortable recieving so I didn’t.

 

[Jerome42]

But those are life-or-death emergency situations, so the rules about general absolution which apply there don’t apply in the case of a normal penitent approaching a priest for confession.

I believe that years ago during the Three Mile Island nuclear incident, the Bishops had authorized the priests/pastors to grant general absolution to the congregations because of the severity of the situation.

 

[Galnextdoor]

When I was about 8 years old, I tried to go to confession on Christmas Eve. The lines were backed up out into the vestibule of the church. It came time for the mass to start and the line was still backed up to the vestibule doors. The priest came out of the confessional and gave everyone a general absolution so they could go to communion, but stated that they must go to confession at the next available opportunity. I went to the pew and asked my
Dad about it. He told me that on special occasions the church has given priests authority to do that. He mentioned the shipping out to war and natural catastrophe’s etc. He also said that in cases where a priest might have to travel a long distance to hear confessions and would not be able to hear confessions again for awhile, that this method was also practice. Was the mass some type of special occasion?

If so you would have been okay to receive the Eucharist as long as you were truly sorry and had intentions of going to confession at the next available opportunity.

I have also heard of abuses of this privilege. A man told me that his brother goes to church at a parish that has no fulltime priest. He said that the priest comes rushing in and gives everyone a general absolution before mass. There are other parishes with priests that are thirty or so miles away. The man stated that his brother made it a point to attend this church so he wouldn’t have to go to confession. This is obviously a questionable practice. Especially, since there are other parishes where the parishioners can go to confess.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

The Vatican has said when general absolution is permitted and when it is not. From JPII’s apostolic letter on the sacrament of Penance:

The use of General absolution is clearly defined as appropriate only when “the danger of death is imminent and there is not time for individual confession or in cases of grave necessity. Grave necessity exists only when (1) there is a lack of confessors to hear confessions in an appropriate way and time and (2) penitents would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time (never to be interpreted as a period of less than a month).”

As an example of when General Absolution would be appropriate the Holy Father cites “mission territories or in isolated communities of the faithful, where the priest can visit only once or very few times a year, or when war or weather conditions or similar factors permit.”

General Absolution cannot be justified, however, simply because of the lack of a sufficient number of confessors at a great feast or pilgrimage, the desire to include a longer pastoral dialogue with the penitent, or due to the penitents’ preference for general absolution.

Judgement as to whether there exist the conditions required by Can. 961 §§1, 2 is not a matter for the confessor but for the diocesan Bishop who can determine cases of such necessity in the light of criteria agreed upon with other members of the Episcopal Conference. Indeed, the Holy Father directs that it would be appropriate for individual Bishops to inform the Episcopal Conference whether or not they are using General Absolution in their dioceses. [source"]source]("[usccb.org/liturgy/innews/062002.shtml)]

 

[Jerome42]

The Vatican has said when general absolution is permitted and when it is not. From JPII’s apostolic letter on the sacrament of Penance:

The use of General absolution is clearly defined as appropriate only when “the danger of death is imminent and there is not time for individual confession or in cases of grave necessity. Grave necessity exists only when (1) there is a lack of confessors to hear confessions in an appropriate way and time and (2) penitents would be deprived of sacramental grace or Holy Communion for a long time (never to be interpreted as a period of less than a month).”

As an example of when General Absolution would be appropriate the Holy Father cites “mission territories or in isolated communities of the faithful, where the priest can visit only once or very few times a year, or when war or weather conditions or similar factors permit.”

General Absolution cannot be justified, however, simply because of the lack of a sufficient number of confessors at a great feast or pilgrimage, the desire to include a longer pastoral dialogue with the penitent, or due to the penitents’ preference for general absolution.

Judgement as to whether there exist the conditions required by Can. 961 §§1, 2 is not a matter for the confessor but for the diocesan Bishop who can determine cases of such necessity in the light of criteria agreed upon with other members of the Episcopal Conference. Indeed, the Holy Father directs that it would be appropriate for individual Bishops to inform the Episcopal Conference whether or not they are using General Absolution in their dioceses. [source"]source]("[usccb.org/liturgy/innews/062002.shtml)]

In other words, if you die after the General Absolution, it is valid, even if you receive Holy Communion afterwards. Otherwise you you need to fullfill the requiremens of going to Confession at an oppertune time.