Confession and attempted restitution

[Dan1603]

Hello all,

Hoping someone can help. Before my conversion to the faith I stole from a few stores and left some restaurants without paying. After going to Confession, I went either back to these places or called them in an attempt to repay them. None of the places wanted the money and simply accepted the apology. My question is whether or not*** I am obliged ***to send that money to charity or if my attempted restitution is sufficient. I can’t seem to find any doctrine that specifies this.

Thanks!

 

[Spirithound]

I would not put it to the level of an obligation, but it would certainly be a meritorious act.

 

[wild_thing]

I agree with Spirithound. It would be meritorious to give that money then to a charity if the restaurants simply accepted your apology. Then it would be like almsgiving, which helps ‘pay’ for the temporal side of your sins.

 

[Dan1603]

Thank you!

I was planning on giving a portion of it to a Catholic charity. But I wasn’t sure if I was under any obligation to donate the full amount.

thanks again

 

[Hokomai]

I recall the local police praising a poor refugee who handed in a wallet containing a lot of money. He rejected all praise, saying what he did was only what any Muslim would do. For some reason I thik actions involvingmoney stay in people’s mind. So if I were in your place, I’d definitely top up donations as cash flow allowed. But I would not worry a lot about it, as you have done a really good thing. I once returned to a supermarket to tell them they had undercharged me. They called the manager, as they had no idea how to deal with that problem! He told me I was the first to return in seven years.

 

[Love_Divine]

I recall the local police praising a poor refugee who handed in a wallet containing a lot of money. He rejected all praise, saying what he did was only what any Muslim would do. For some reason I thik actions involvingmoney stay in people’s mind. So if I were in your place, I’d definitely top up donations as cash flow allowed. But I would not worry a lot about it, as you have done a really good thing. I once returned to a supermarket to tell them they had undercharged me. They called the manager, as they had no idea how to deal with that problem! He told me I was the first to return in seven years.

I had a similar thing occur when I got over-paid at work once. I immediately reported it to the owner who happened to be at the store at the time. He was confused and I didn’t understand why I would report getting over-paid.