Around the time of your reception into the Church, you will go to confession for the first time. You will make what is called a “general confession,” which as the name suggests, is where you confess your whole life in very general terms. Obviously, you’re not going to be able to remember every single sin you ever committed, but you can be general about it, e.g. “I struggled with x sin frequently for a number of years,” or something like that. In subsequent confessions, of course, you will be a little more specific when it comes to grave sin, e.g. “I have committed x sin this many times.” But when doing a general confession, talk about things generally–and also not in a lot of detail. You can just use plain wordings for what you’re saying, and you don’t have to describe it. Father will know what you mean.
You will probably receive some guidance as the time gets closer; I know that I’ve helped prepare RCIA candidates for their first confession before by explaining the procedure for confession. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.
-Fr ACEGC
