Communion before Confession?

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Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.
I think I made the right choice by doing as Catechism states.

I didn´t really know the priest so the advice wasn´t that personal @CilladeRoma. I have said what is to say, it was a 1 min conversation.
 
Is he a priest at your parish? Or was he just a random priest at a random parish you have never been to?
 
I was going for Mass at another parish and approached him before Mass to ask if he had time to hear my Confession. I´ve been there before, but only occasionally (as I don´t go to Confession in my parish anymore).
 
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You are right we don’t know all the details of the situation. So the priest could have been right in his advice but also incorrect. Just because he is a priest doesn’t mean he is infallible and that his advice should be obeyed though. Not all priests are faithful to all Church teachings and now a days most people are able to educate themselves and while they can listen to their priests advice it is also their duty to form and follow their conscience
 
I think it’s alright if you intend to go as soon as possible. A lot of the times, it’s not your fault that the confession line was too long before Mass.

Sometimes I went to confession to only find it was cancelled, and it was the only time I could go before Sunday Mass.
 
If you’re reasonably sure that you’re in a state of grace and weren’t planning to confess any grave matter sins, you can receive and confess afterwards.

If you have committed a serious grave matter sin and are not sure if you’re in a state of grace or not, then don’t receive Communion before you confess.
 
You only have to go to confession if you are in the state of mortal sin. Venial sins are forgiven at the Eucharist and that is also why the Confiteor is said.
 
If you are not in the state of grace you cannot and should not receive communion, if you do that is another mortal sin. Maybe the priest didn’t know whether she was in the state of grace. You don’t have to obey your priest, if what he said doesn’t sound right ask other people. Just because he is a priest does not mean he is perfect. Please keep this in mind.
 
Boy, do I feel sorry for a lot of you.

It must be awful to be surrounded by so many heterodox priests who go out of their way to teach error all the time that it makes you question everything they say to you.
 
Be in a state of grace before receiving the Holy Eucharist, as its always been taught. Respect the clergy, but know your faith. You did good.
 
Awesomecatholic is saying what I’ve always been taught though. I have been in the situation before of not getting to the front of the confession line before the priest had to leave for Mass, and sometimes he says he will come back after Mass and those of us still in line can go to confession then, but never has a priest said that we can all go to Communion because we’re going to confess after Mass anyway. Many of us do go to Communion because we were only planning to confess venial sins and believe ourselves to be in the state of grace.

In my case I go to confession usually twice a month because it’s required for private devotional practice, and almost never do I have a sin to confess that I’d consider possibly grave matter. The one time I did have such a sin and couldn’t confess till after Mass, I refrained from Communion.

There is nothing to feel sorry about in my case. I don’t go around questioning the priests all the time, but when I’ve been taught a particular thing and have tried to follow it for years then I’m not going to do something different based on a priest suddenly saying something out of the blue. Priests occasionally come up with real lulus, and the more so if the priest seems inexperienced or has a reputation for bending the rules. If I really felt I missed out by not receiving that Communion, I would simply attend another Mass later or the next day and receive at that one.
 
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CilladeRoma said:
We should always listen to our priests.
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Weeeeeell, I dunno about that. Arius was a priest, I believe Nestorius was as well, and so was Martin Luther. Heck, so is our modern day Fr. James Martin. Priests themselves are not infallible, and ought not be thought to be so! Most of the heresies in our Church’s history were introduced by clergy, no?
 
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Something similar happened to me 3 weeks ago. I went up in the Communion line anyway and crossed my arms to get a blessing. The priest kinda looked at me as if to say “what the heck,” but still gave me a blessing. We didn’t even bring it up during Confession. 😁
 
CilladeRoma said:
The grave reason was Father had no more time to hear confessions before Mass.
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That is not a grave reason.

If a priest is the regular confessor/spiritual director for this person, and if by knowing this person well, can judge the person is scrupulous and cannot judge what is grave matter and what isn’t, then I can forsee the general instruction that one is to place oneself under their c/sd and act out of obedience as a way to overcome scruples.

But as the op said this isn’t their usual parish - therefore how could the priest know what every persons’ sins were prior to them actually confessing them? I don’t think making a broad declaration is that “you can receive because he is hearing your confession after Mass” is the right counsel. In the case of venial sins it would be correct, but again, how would he know whether an individual has venial or mortal sins on their soul?

At the end of the day, we are culpable for the sins we commit. If we decided to receive knowing we are burdened with mortal sin and knowing the Church teaching not to receive Communion before being absolved in confession - we will be accounable for that. And just because “Father said so” does not excuse us. We are responsible for our own souls and to form our consciences according to the teaching of the Church.

ETA
awesomecatholic said:
You only have to go to confession if you are in the state of mortal sin. Venial sins are forgiven at the Eucharist and that is also why the Confiteor is said.
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Correct, emphasis on venial.
 
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Unfortunately, priests do not always get it right. They are human and can make mistakes, too. This is seen in the number of times we read about incorrect information or bad advice from priests on the blog: Canon Law Made Easy.

It must be understood that obedience does not mean blind obedience.
 
Some lay people are very well-informed. There is no reason a lay person may not know more on a subject than a priest. Sometimes priests can get it wrong. They are no more immune from mistakes than the rest of us.
 
The priest gave you bad advice. Not being able to hear your confession is not a grave reason. You did well to refrain from communion.
 
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