Confession during church closings

  • Thread starter Thread starter mphill85
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mphill85

Guest
I really hope I have the right category for this topic.

In my area, the churches have been closed for a while now (I think the closing’s started the week before Easter but I’m not sure since it was kind of a surprise with no notification) and they haven’t been doing confessions as usual. I’ve gone over to my church and have also called the office to see if I could schedule a confession but it appears that no one has been coming to the office.

I’ve been taught that confession is between God and me with the pastor administering the Sacrament of Reconciliation (please forgive me if I described that incorrectly). However, if I am not able to get a proper confession in because I can’t find a pastor to do the Sacrament of Reconciliation, what would be my next step or what should I do in the meantime until there is such a time I could talk to my pastor?
 
Last edited:
By “pastor,” I’m assuming that you are a Catholic refering to a “priest.” Anywho, here’s some info…

 
Last edited:
Okay so I’m getting a general idea of the concept of the Perfect Act of Contrition.

However…

It seems I’ve been doing it incorrectly (basically doing the Imperfect Act of Contrition) for as long as I can remember. Obviously this needs to be corrected. That being said how exactly does one turn an imperfect into a perfect? I have an extremely large amount of fear that goes back to my teenage years (I’m 34 just to give you an idea) and wasn’t exactly taught how to properly love God that is required for the Perfect Act of Contrition. Obedience was taught but not love.
 
mphill85 said:
Okay so I’m getting a general idea of the concept of the Perfect Act of Contrition.

However…

It seems I’ve been doing it incorrectly (basically doing the Imperfect Act of Contrition) for as long as I can remember. Obviously this needs to be corrected. That being said how exactly does one turn an imperfect into a perfect? I have an extremely large amount of fear that goes back to my teenage years (I’m 34 just to give you an idea) and wasn’t exactly taught how to properly love God that is required for the Perfect Act of Contrition. Obedience was taught but not love.
Click to expand...
First of all, it’s Act of Perfect Contrition not Perfect Act of Contrition (“perfect” modifying “contrition”, not “act”)

Since Perfect Contrition arises primarily, not necessarily solely out of love for God, and since true love is an act of the will rather than the emotions, if you can say the Act of Contrition while meaning, as sincerely as you can with your will, the words

“…but most of all, because they offend you, my God who art all good and deserving of all my love…”

you have made an Act of Perfect Contrition. This must be accompanied by the intention to go to Confession as soon as you have the opportunity.

Here is the traditional Act in its entirety. Pray it and mean it the best you can with your will. God will meet you where you are. And keep in mind that you must have the intention to confess when you have the opportunity.
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Okay, so it seems like I’ve been doing it correctly I guess. I actually did say the Act of Contrition earlier today. I’ve just never heard of it being perfect or imperfect before (which becomes one more thing I didn’t know about in regards to our faith).
 
mphill85 said:
Okay, so it seems like I’ve been doing it correctly I guess. I actually did say the Act of Contrition earlier today. I’ve just never heard of it being perfect or imperfect before (which becomes one more thing I didn’t know about in regards to our faith).
Click to expand...
I caution that it’s not just about saying a given act of contrition, but is based on the interior motivator for contrition.

For example, if one commits adultry and confesses because they have a vague idea that they did wrong and fear the loss of heaven, the sacraments, etc. but they aren’t really thinking about how that act is an offense against God then it is not perfect contrition.

On the other hand if they are contrite first and foremost because adultry offends God and they still fear the loss of heaven as a just punishment, that is a different thing.

The first is done out of love for self and the second is done out of love for God.

One way a professor of mine explained it was “would you still be sorry even if you knew you wouldn’t be forgiven? If not, then it is not done out of love of God.”
 
Last edited:
ThomasMT said:
By “pastor,” I’m assuming that you are a Catholic refering to a “priest.” Anywho, here’s some info…
Click to expand...
I’m not able to access the video (it’s labeled as “restricted” for some reason). Not being able to hear what he has to say, though, I can only go by what I can see – the title on the video. If he can’t get that right (he’s calling it a “perfect act of contrition”, and not an “act of perfect contrition”), I’m not so certain that I’m gonna be confident he gets it all correct.

(After all, when I hear “perfect act of contrition”, I envision someone with perfect diction and memory reciting the ‘act of contrition’, which is not what’s being said here. It’s not about perfectly reciting a formula – rather, it’s about being sorrowful for your sins because they offend God.)
 
What must I do to start doing it correctly? I feel like I am kind of spinning myself in circles. How do I make myself think of God and how an offense has offended him? I know at the basic level for every offense it’s because I was disobedient to him. Is that what you meant or am I still missing the big picture?
 
mphill85 said:
I really hope I have the right category for this topic.

In my area, the churches have been closed for a while now (I think the closing’s started the week before Easter but I’m not sure since it was kind of a surprise with no notification) and they haven’t been doing confessions as usual. I’ve gone over to my church and have also called the office to see if I could schedule a confession but it appears that no one has been coming to the office.
Click to expand...
Have you looked at other churches in the area? While none of the churches in my diocese are offering masses, some (though not all) are still offering confessions. Of the five churches closest to me, four are offering confession times.
 
For some reason my brain rearranged the words after hearing it once. It’s happens with prayers and such as well. I don’t know why it happens.
 
mphill85 said:
For some reason my brain rearranged the words after hearing it once. It’s happens with prayers and such as well. I don’t know why it happens.
Click to expand...
LOL! 👍

Common mistake. But, it’s one that makes it sound like we Catholics just care about being formulaic…
 
Gorgias said:
It’s not about perfectly reciting a formula – rather, it’s about being sorrowful for your sins because they offend God.)
Click to expand...
Yes, and not mearly because one is fearful of hell, but because one loves God and wounded Him. In short, the Sacramental grace of confession demands very minimal contrition. A perfect act of contrition on the other hand, well… that’s MUCH harder. Sorry about the IT issues, I’m not sure what’s going on there.
 
Last edited:
TheLittleLady said:
The Diocese of El Paso has said confessions may be made available by appointment.
Click to expand...
The problem with that is, it’s a “May” - discretionary language. Not a “Must”.

It’s highly likely that some churches and some priests are going to be more responsive to making an appointment than others. The OP mentioned in their first post trying to call the parish office to schedule a confession, but it appears no one is going to the office (and they may not even be checking the phone). I’m guessing the priest there likely has prioritized stuff other than whether someone is calling up wanting to confess.

OP, I would recommend that if Church 1 is not responsive to you, then try another church in the area. Hopefully you have multiple options. I am in an Archdiocese where we have been permitted to have confession with proper setup from the beginning of the lockdown, and some churches have been very responsive and have two priests on every Saturday hearing the confessions in two time slots like clockwork, and other churches where it’s not that easy.
 
Last edited:
Great link! I missed that one.

My parish is offering drive-up Confessions. But I know other parishes in the area that have simply stopped offering them. Check with your local parish.

I would suggest going to the parish’s website and also checking to see if they have any social media accounts to follow (such as Facebook). That is primarily how my parish is getting information out to people. With most parish staff working from home, there is no guarantee a phone message will get returned any time soon.
 
mphill85 said:
Okay, so it seems like I’ve been doing it correctly I guess. I actually did say the Act of Contrition earlier today. I’ve just never heard of it being perfect or imperfect before (which becomes one more thing I didn’t know about in regards to our faith).
Click to expand...
The traditional Act of Contrition covers the full scope of contrition: perfect (“because they offend you who are all good and deserving of all my love”), imperfect (“because I dread the loss of heaven and fear the pains of hell”), and the intention to go to confession (“to confess my sins”). As you can see, the traditional prayer accounts for the very likely possibility that perfect and imperfect contrition will coexist.

If you can pray that prayer and mean it, then you have made an act of perfect contrition and your sins are forgiven. Love of God is an act of the will, not of the feelings, so don’t worry about whether you “feel” sorry or not.
 
Last edited:
I’ve done that over the phone before. When I first came to Japan to study Japanese, I could hardly communicate with the local priests, because very few Japanese priests understand English and my Japanese skill was bad. So I decided to give the priest in England a phone call, the same priest who baptized and confirmed me into the Catholic Church when I was in graduate school. So I did my confession with him and we also chit-chatted a little bit. The interesting thing though, it was the first time that someone actually called him over the phone for a confession.
 
The Church has never allowed for Confession at a distance (via phone, video call, email, etc.).
 
Oh, maybe that’s why nobody every did that with him before, and I was newly received into the church too. I’ll have to dig into that. Maybe we were indeed doing it wrong. By the way, as far as you know, is the rule against confession at a distance universal throughout the Church, or is it just the decision of the US bishops? Because I was received into the church in England, not in the US. As matter the fact, when I returned to the US briefly, I was shocked to find out that American Catholics don’t say Hail Mary after the bidding prayers. I later found out the reason why English Catholics say Hail Mary after the bidding prayers is because the pope gave them a special permission to do so due to Our Lady of Walsingham.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top