Confession and No Priest

[JessicaCeleste]

I went to confession today, it’s taken me months to get the motivation and guts. The priest who was supposed to hear them was a no call/no show.

I did attend Mass afterword, and did receive the Eucharist. My reasoning being I did mad prep work on myself, the intention was there, and Father not being there was out of my control and not known before hand.

I intend on going to Confession at my next available moment, but I’m wondering…did I make the wrong decision?

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

Probably, yeah. Unless there was some special reason, you really could’ve waited another week. I don’t know your specific situation of course, but the general rule is you need absolution, not just the intention to go.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you tried, and the prep work wasn’t wasted. But I would refrain from receiving until you can get to confession.

 

[Arkansan]

If you have committed a mortal sin then you are not supposed to receive communion until you’ve confessed.

 

[Seagull]

Sounds like you got “ stood up “
You had to be feeling somewhat miffed -
Mass had to feel good though - as God smiled at your true intention !

 

[Dlee]

Did you mention this to the Priest after Mass? I wonder if in this particular situation he would have heard your confession.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s great that you were motivated to go to Confession, and great that you attended the Mass. However, as others have said, if you committed a mortal sin, then you don’t get to skip the requirement to confess it before receiving Communion just because the priest didn’t happen to show up.

When you go to confession next, which hopefully will be very soon, you should mention the Communion as well as that may be an additional sin if you weren’t in a state of grace when you received.

 

[crenfro]

This has happened to me as well. When I asked the priest why no one was there, he told me no one ever showed up for confession, so he quit showing up. That’s not a solution.

Is there another parish near where you can go to confession? Can you call & make an appointment with another priest?

Also, I’d consider asking the priest why no one was there, and if you don’t get a satisfactory answer, write the bishop a letter.

Jesus died for us because of sin. The priest needs to make hearing confessions a priority.

Please don’t give up on getting to confession. When I found a good parish and a good priest it literally changed my life.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Also, I’d consider asking the priest why no one was there, and if you don’t get a satisfactory answer, write the bishop a letter.

I frankly would wonder about this too.
Most of the parishes I attend have a fairly long line for confession every week, that gets even longer on First Saturdays. Granted, they are pretty big parishes, so it may just be the number of people in the parish driving the numbers of pentitents up.

Some of the parishes I attend have a shorter line, but they generally have a handful of people.

I have very rarely shown up to confession and been the only one there. There is one church in an urban area that does confessions before weekday afternoon Mass and given that they only get about 10 people at the Mass, they don’t have people beating down the confessional door, but even when I went there, a second person also went in to confess after I was done.

Even if it’s just the same few people confessing every couple weeks, it’s still not a case of “no one shows up.” It would make me wonder too if a priest said nobody ever came.

More often I have seen cases of people showing up to confess and the priest not being there because he was late/ called away/ a wedding was happening in the church etc.

 

[po18guy]

Simply relate to Father what you related to us.