Concerns About Confession

[nsper7]

Technically, I made my “first Confession” to a willing Catholic Priest while still a happy Episcopalian (this I think was last Summer). In this Confession, I tried to Confess everything from several months ago when I made a Confession to an Episcopal Priest (when I said this to the Catholic Priest, he made no mention to correct me that Anglicans do not have Apostolic Succession).

Then, I started going to Catholic Confession fairly regularly, doing the norm of Confessing that occurred between my last Confession and current Confession.

Later on, as I was becoming Catholic and approaching the time for official First Confession, it dawned on me that I needed to Confess sins since Baptism. On my own, since I wanted to go to Confession again before my approved “First Confession” time, I went to a Priest and confessed all sins since Baptism and that first Confession I made to a Catholic Priest, as well as sin sins committed since my last Confession. Obviously, since my major sins are repetitive, I probably hit most sins in intervening Confessions (between my unofficial first Confession while still Episcopalian and my “First Confession”…or technically, the Confession before my “First Confession”).

Anyway, I am now nervous that were all the intervening Confessions between my unofficial Confession and my official “First Confession” invalid since I never Confessed all sins since Baptism (guilty of sacrilege). Obviously, it was not my intention to hide my sins and the reasons I did an early First Confession (before the official time) was because I wanted to address the issue.

Obviously, if the intervening Confessions between that Confession as an Episcopalian to a Catholic Priest and my “First Confession” are invalid, I now worry that is every Confession since then Confession. During Communion today was when I got worried, but I decided to take Communion since:

A) This issue was not intentional (I was never trying to hide older sins from the Priest)
B) Because of Commandment 8 and 9 in the Redemptorist’s (published by Liguori Publications) of the Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous

Any opinions? Am I now guilty of also receiving Communion unworthily (and this would now include all the way back to my First Communion on the Easter Vigil 2009 since no Confessions were truly valid now)?

EDIT: Or am I just being too Scupulosu (AGAIN!)?

 

[LilyM]

Technically, I made my “first Confession” to a willing Catholic Priest while still a happy Episcopalian (this I think was last Summer). In this Confession, I tried to Confess everything from several months ago when I made a Confession to an Episcopal Priest (when I said this to the Catholic Priest, he made no mention to correct me that Anglicans do not have Apostolic Succession).

Then, I started going to Catholic Confession fairly regularly, doing the norm of Confessing that occurred between my last Confession and current Confession.

Later on, as I was becoming Catholic and approaching the time for official First Confession, it dawned on me that I needed to Confess sins since Baptism. On my own, since I wanted to go to Confession again before my approved “First Confession” time, I went to a Priest and confessed all sins since Baptism and that first Confession I made to a Catholic Priest, as well as sin sins committed since my last Confession. Obviously, since my major sins are repetitive, I probably hit most sins in intervening Confessions (between my unofficial first Confession while still Episcopalian and my “First Confession”…or technically, the Confession before my “First Confession”).

Anyway, I am now nervous that were all the intervening Confessions between my unofficial Confession and my official “First Confession” invalid since I never Confessed all sins since Baptism (guilty of sacrilege). Obviously, it was not my intention to hide my sins and the reasons I did an early First Confession (before the official time) was because I wanted to address the issue.

Obviously, if the intervening Confessions between that Confession as an Episcopalian to a Catholic Priest and my “First Confession” are invalid, I now worry that is every Confession since then Confession. During Communion today was when I got worried, but I decided to take Communion since:

A) This issue was not intentional (I was never trying to hide older sins from the Priest)
B) Because of Commandment 8 and 9 in the Redemptorist’s (published by Liguori Publications) of the Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous

Any opinions? Am I now guilty of also receiving Communion unworthily (and this would now include all the way back to my First Communion on the Easter Vigil 2009 since no Confessions were truly valid now)?

EDIT: Or am I just being too Scupulosu (AGAIN!)?

You did get it right - no intent to conceal sins, therefore no invalidity. Yes you are just being too scrupulous, but you knew that already, right?

God bless.

 

[nsper7]

You got it right on this one - there was no intent to conceal sins, therefore your confessions were valid. Do mention sins from the previous invalid confessions next time you go though (but you don’t have to go especially to confess them or anything).

God bless.

So then do I need to make another “First Confession”? Which Confessions were invalid?

 

[LilyM]

So then do I need to make another “First Confession”? Which Confessions were invalid?

It was a typo - I don’t think any of the confessions were invalid. I just meant sins that you might not have previously confessed is all.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

So then do I need to make another “First Confession”? Which Confessions were invalid?

The confessions that were valid were any confessions made to a Catholic priest after being received into the Catholic Church (or immediately before your reception into the Catholic Church) where you honestly and sincerely confessed all the mortal sins you were aware of.

I think your distinction between your “official” first confession and your “unofficial” first confession is an artificial one. As long as you were in the process of RCIA and were ready to make your “first” confession, your “unofficial” one was probably “official.”

Anyway, Jesus knows your good intentions, He loves you more than you can imagine, and He wants you to trust in His mercy and to be at peace.

 

[nsper7]

The confessions that were valid were any confessions made to a Catholic priest after being received into the Catholic Church (or immediately before your reception into the Catholic Church) where you honestly and sincerely confessed all the mortal sins you were aware of.

I think your distinction between your “official” first confession and your “unofficial” first confession is an artificial one. As long as you were in the process of RCIA and were ready to make your “first” confession, your “unofficial” one was probably “official.”

Anyway, Jesus knows your good intentions, He loves you more than you can imagine, and He wants you to trust in His mercy and to be at peace.

Well, probably my first few Confessions, I was still an Episcopalian w/ no interest in becoming Catholic (I merely wanted to go to Confession since, although Anglicans offer it, it is rare and I told the Priests I confessed to this).

What about Confessions that were Pre-Rite of Welcoming (the first Rite in RCIA)? Unintentionally, since my mortal sins are repetitive (i.e. the masturbation addiction), I probably hit those issues in my “First Confession”. Obviously, while I was still a “happy Episcopalian”, I would not have had the Catholic view on Confession, although I still wanted Absolution (although it kind of hard to actually remember what my views were in this sliver of time…after all, I think was between the Summer and Fall Semesters of 2008 and my Rite of Welcoming was Fall 2008).

Should I be worried about this now?

EDIT: Obviously, it was at some point before the Rite of Welcoming/“officially” entering RCIA that I came to believe Catholicism was true. It was kind of a one-two punch (i.e. that Priest allowed me to receive Confession and, twice, Communion [questionable and I confessed that at one point and concerns that I may have received Confession wrongly…this occurred sometime in my RCIA process and I may have even touched on it in my "First Confession], and then I started meeting with another Priest and this eventually led to me wanting to become Catholic). For more on the Communion issue, see HERE.

 

[nsper7]

I am thinking that until I get a definitive answer from a Priest, I should probably assume my Confessions were valid enough to cancel out any mortal sins and receive Communion (I’m thinking that the only sins I probably might have had in one of these “unofficial” or “questionable” Confessions that I would not have repeated in my “First Confession”–albeit, I would not have thought at the time that these earlier Confessions were questionable–were venial). Does this make sense?

Also, does my logic work here? (Basically, the definitive mortal sins I can think of that would have occurred in this “gray period” I probably hit in my “First Confession”, although I may have thought I only was confessing sins, i.e. masturbation, from before this time, but which had still occurred and I said it was a sin committed many times).

EDIT: Should I also now trust that, since I am wearing my Brown Scapular and praying the Rosary daily (as part of the Brown Scapular promises, etc.), that Our Mother will intercede on my behalf with Her Son if there are any problems or something or is this abusing the graces and promises of the Brown Scapular? Obviously, I do not want to receive Communion unworthily or presume on God’s grace (both grave matter).