Confession is required only once a year

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The following canons from the Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches follow. They show that serious (mortal) sins are to be confessesed as soon as possible, because we also have an obligation to assist at mass each Sunday and Holy Day.
  1. CIC (Latin Church)
Can. 916 Anyone who is conscious of grave sin may not celebrate Mass or receive the Body of the Lord without previously having been to sacramental confession, unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, which includes the resolve to go to confession as soon as possible.

Can. 987 In order that the faithful may receive the saving remedy of the sacrament of penance, they must be so disposed that, repudiating the sins they have committed and having the purpose of amending their lives, they turn back to God.

Can. 988 §1 The faithful are bound to confess, in kind and in number, all grave sins committed after baptism, of which after careful examination of conscience they are aware, which have not yet been directly pardoned by the keys of the Church, and which have not been confessed in an individual confession. §2 The faithful are recommended to confess also venial sins.

Can. 989 All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year.
  1. CCEO (Eastern Catholic Chuches)
Canon 711
A person who is conscious of serious sin is not to celebrate the Divine Liturgy nor receive the Divine Eucharist unless a serious reason is present and there is no opportunity of receiving the sacrament of penance; in this case the person should make an act of perfect condition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible.

Canon 718
In the sacrament of penance, the Christian faithful who committed sins after baptism, internally led by the Holy Spirit, turn back to God, moved by the pain of sin, intent on entering a new life through the ministry of the priest, having themselves made a confession and accepted an appropriate penance, obtain forgiveness from God and at the same time are reconciled with the Church which they injured by sinning; by this sacrament they are brought to a greater fostering of the Christian life and are thus disposed for receiving the Divine Eucharist.

Canon 719
Anyone who is aware of serious sin is to receive the sacrament of penance as soon as possible; it is strongly recommended to all the Christian faithful that they receive this sacrament frequently especially during the times of fasts and penance observed in their own Church sui iuris.
 
let me say this, confession should be made frequently. it keeps our souls clean before God. also note, one cannot receive holy communion with the stain of mortal sin on the soul. it would be a sacrilige. one must confess the mortal sin and then when the priest absolves you of the sin, and you do your penance, then you can receive holy communion. i can’t tell you how many catholics receive holy communion with mortal sin staining their soul. get right with God, get it confessed, don’t repeat the sin. then do your penance and by all means then go to holy communion.👍
 
" i can’t tell you how many catholics receive holy communion with mortal sin staining their soul."

That’s correct, you can’t, and no one can.

I also have to chuckle when someone says that no one goes to Mass anymore or no one goes to Confession anymore because when I visit my family in Mokena IL, St Mary’s is packed.

Here at home I have my choice of going to two different Catholic Churches even out here in the boonies and whatever one I choose to go to on any given Sunday—it is packed and a lot of times it is standing room only. One is smallish but the other is a hugh parish.

Confession starts at 4:30 on Wednesday and everyone starts getting in line at 4:00. There are two Priests. We can also make appointments to have our confession heard and they are also there on Saturday and the line forms early then too. On several occasions I have seen the Priests hearing confessions in the parking lot. They are always there and make themselves available to hear confessions.

Priests will hear confessions anytime, anywhere. I don’t know of any Priest that “ignores the importance of confession”. Let’s not get me started. 😉
 
georgewithfaith said:
Yes a priest can forgive any sins and I now realize I did not complete my intended thought clearly. Sorry for that. Let me clarify what I meant.

Priests of the wood stock generation seem to be forgive grave sins without caring to stop and question the person making confession a bit more about their attachment to certain grave sins. Thus a person may conclude that he can continue to incur the same grave sin over again and simply have the slate clean at another Confession without truly making an effort to change his ways and not continue with the grave sin again.
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The sin is forgiven if confessed with imperfect contrition (attrition):

“sorrow of soul, and a hatred of sin committed, with a firm purpose of not sinning in the future” because of a fear of punishment,

but temporal effects still remain. Catechesis on the sacrament of penance is needed to properly avail oneself the confession. This is supposed to be completed at the time of first communion. I think it is reasonable for the priest to assume that catechesis was completed.

I learned the 1949 act of contrition which contains the essentials:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, 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 sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.
 
George,
You are very good at throwing stones at priests you know nothing about. Perhaps you should think about that…
 
ASD said:
In our local parish there are 6 confession booths, all locked up because they aren’t needed any more. A single pair of chairs near sacristy suffices now.

Sad.
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Our parish now only has one reconciliation room…although that is probably because we have only one priests…so unless he is cloning himself, we don’t need more.

I do find that our 2 confessional times a week are full…almost all the time.
 
georgewithfaith said:
The august sacrament of Confession has quietly disappeared in importance from our Church. Why is this?

**Yes, the Church requires a single Confession annually **but if one commits a mortal sin that requirement changes to: Go to Confession ASAP!

How about all the venial sins that pile up in a year and then become a mortal sin? Could that happen?

At many parishes Confession is almost an afterthought. The priests may schedule a half an hour and if one is lucky maybe a full hour once a week for Confession. After Vatican II of course the name changed to Reconciliation and people were given an option of sitting in front of the priest and confessing sins. Anonymity was stripped away.

Also, the many priests of the wood stock generation will forgive just about anything. They want us to know they care about our feelings and are not trying to judge us too harshly. However, Jesus is the judge and not the priest. The priest must follow the truth that Jesus set down for us.

I thought a priest is held accountable by God for the souls of his flock. Does anyone see the problem with little to no priestly concern about Confession?

Is there not a great risk that many souls in the Church today run around misinformed and
ignorant about the value of Confession? Are many not in grave mortal sin yet continue to receive the Eucharist because they have a misguided belief that Jesus believes only in peace and justice and will forgive them anyway because he is not a meanie?

Are these priests not putting their salvation in grave danger by for all intense and purposes ignoring the importance of Confession.

St. Padre Pio would be outraged by today’s thinking on Confession. The only good news I know of is that FSSP priests take Confession very seriously. These priests will sit and listen for as long as it takes. They care about the soul and they are prepared with the truth and with helpful prayers and ways for one to amend his ways. The priests who take Confession seriously are a small group but they are young and I can only hope that as they become leaders in the Church that Confession begins again to take on the great importance it warrants from all of us in the Catholic faith.
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That is not correct. The Church binds us to confess once a year any mortal sins. If a person has not committed a mortal sin during that year, (however unlikely) they are not required to confess.
 
When my regular confessor was transferred to another parish, roughly 3.5 hours by train away, I tried to find a new regular confessor and sort of “shopped around” a bit. Now I don’t know about any Woodstock generation priests, but I had four different priests tell me that the deadly sin I was confessing (and just a look into my kathechism tells me that it is indeed grave matter) was nothing but a venial sin. I just don’t understand those priests. If I can read the cathechism so can they! And anyway, a person should be able to relie on the truthfulness of what a priest says during confession. Now if they tell these things to anyone who doesn’t know better they actually lead a soul astray and yes, they will be held accountable for that!
I gave up on the search for a new confessor and just make the journey every six weeks to see my old confessor.
 
georgewithfaith said:
St. Padre Pio would be outraged by today’s thinking on Confession.
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I’m reading Padre Pio, The Stigmatist right now. Chapter V covers Confession. It’s facinating, and I highly recommend this book… But I’d like to quote a paragraph that is of utmost importance with regard to Padre Pio, and perhaps any other priest you may compare him to… the bold is MINE

“… Frequently he closes the slide in the face of the penitent before beginning the questioning. That has happened even to persons who communicated frequently elsewhere. Why? Because the grace is granted to him to see in a flash that which was obscure to other confessors.
Padre Pio, questioned about his severity, answered that when the Lord forces him to treat a soul with severity he suffers the pains of agony, but is obliged to act in this manner so that the one who confesses will have a correct conscience, in order to comprehend the importance of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist, and not to be casual and perfunctory without preparation for the washing of his soul, and to receive Jesus with so much indifference, as is too often done; that Jesus, whom Father Pio knows as the penitent does not know, that he loves as the multitude does not know how to love…”
Lutheranteach said:
… my guess is this probably 50% or more of American Catholics. Probably 80% or more of American Catholic women.
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When you are guessing, you probably shouldn’t assign arbitrary numbers as absolutes. Wow… 80% of women? You comment sounds hostile. I’ll give you some time to clarify what you could possibly mean. And how you justify your count of a group you apparently don’t take part of.
georgewithfaith said:
Priests of the wood stock generation seem to be forgive grave sins without caring to stop and question the person making confession a bit more about their attachment to certain grave sins. Thus a person may conclude that he can continue to incur the same grave sin over again and simply have the slate clean at another Confession without truly making an effort to change his ways and not continue with the grave sin again.
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To make a conclusion, you must have fact. So, one is concerned that to conclude as much as you have, based on your words, that you are privy somehow to the confessions of others. And FURTHER, you are aware that the confessor is NOT sorry. Basically going through the motions. And the priest, in your understanding of this supposedly PRIVATE situation, is not as clear as you on the person’s intentions. I’m a little worried about the priests you might know. There seems to be a violation taking place here. OR…OR…OR

Is it possible? That what you’re actually upset about: That some people think, they can just say sorry, even if they don’t mean it?That you’re upset that not all priests are blessed with the grace of (would it be disernment?) at the level of Padre Pio? And that because there is a degree of trust that a priest must have in a person’s apology, he must offer forgiveness? And then further, the person who is not true in their heart THINKS they can just go on and do whatever?

Well, don’t we all know that if we lie in the confessional, that we will be held accountable eventually? God knows.

It will be sad and I assume devistating for the soul that thinks he or she can fool God at the moment of judgement. But please don’t blame all the wonderful priests out there for not being mind readers. It’s really not what they are supposed to be doing. They are our spiritual guides to God. I would imagine… and this is a guess, that the priest that hears the SAME confession over and over again from the SAME confessor will adjust his approach with the individual as time goes on: That the education in the confessional might get a bit more involved. And then really, ONLY God knows how long it will take a person to learn this lesson. And at LEAST, the person is making some sort of effort. They are at least presenting themselves for an education… for some, it’s all about baby steps…
 
I think that the op might be trying to say not that the priests will forgive anything but that a lot of priests today will tell you that this or that mortal sin is not that bad and not to worry because God loves you. I have gone to many priest who have said these kinds of things. And I have many friends who have encountered the same in confession.

I make a 40 minute trip on the freeway every month to confess because I know the priest will not discount my sins. Also when I had a moral question regarding marital relations and I wanted a second opinion, he said we could abstain for the duration while my parish priest had said, we could do this (mortal sin) for the good of the marriage.:eek: This makes me so angry that I need to confess after such a confession! These priest all have been older ones, in their 60’s, which is the woodstock generation. Born in the late 40’s and in their 20’s in the late 60’s.

I pray for more holy priests!
 
onmyknees said:
I think that the op might be trying to say not that the priests will forgive anything but that a lot of priests today will tell you that this or that mortal sin is not that bad and not to worry because God loves you. I have gone to many priest who have said these kinds of things. And I have many friends who have encountered the same in confession.

I make a 40 minute trip on the freeway every month to confess because I know the priest will not discount my sins. Also when I had a moral question regarding marital relations and I wanted a second opinion, he said we could abstain for the duration while my parish priest had said, we could do this (mortal sin) for the good of the marriage.:eek: This makes me so angry that I need to confess after such a confession! These priest all have been older ones, in their 60’s, which is the woodstock generation. Born in the late 40’s and in their 20’s in the late 60’s.

I pray for more holy priests!
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So you had a priest encourage you to commit a mortal sin?

No words… just Wow!
 
Yesterday, I was the only sinner in my parish. 😃 No one else had gone to confession. And mine was venial but I really think that confessing venial sins is a good idea. At least for me.

I just feel so clean after confession.
 
Timothysis said:
Be careful with your exasperation; we have no idea what the poster is talking about.
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The priest did say that we could do this during marital relations for the time that I was unable to have intercourse. I think you can imagine what the motal sin was. He knew my dh is not religious so he said it would be for the good of the marriage. I did not take his advice. Like I wrote above I got a second opinion. By the way I live in the most unchurched state.
 
onmyknees said:
The priest did say that we could do this during marital relations for the time that I was unable to have intercourse. I think you can imagine what the motal sin was.
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Actually, I honestly don’t know what you are talking about. We would need to know all the details and circumstances to know exactly what the priest was allowing, not that I’m asking. I have seen too many knee-jerk reactions around here to simply take a posters single sentence summation of things as evidence against a priest that none of us here know.
 
There is no way venial sins could “pile up” to become mortal sin. As pointed out venial sins are not grave matter.

Also, I have not see this pointed out in the thread though I may have missed it, venial sins are forgiven at the penitential rite of the Mass.

It is also important to note that the Church Teaching that one must go to Confession once a year is the minimum layed out by the Church, just as the Church Teaches that one must receive the Eucharist once a year at Easter.

The Church encourages frequent use of both of these Sacraments.
 
onmyknees said:
I think that the op might be trying to say not that the priests will forgive anything but that a lot of priests today will tell you that this or that mortal sin is not that bad and not to worry because God loves you. I have gone to many priest who have said these kinds of things. And I have many friends who have encountered the same in confession.

I make a 40 minute trip on the freeway every month to confess because I know the priest will not discount my sins. Also when I had a moral question regarding marital relations and I wanted a second opinion, he said we could abstain for the duration while my parish priest had said, we could do this (mortal sin) for the good of the marriage.:eek: This makes me so angry that I need to confess after such a confession! These priest all have been older ones, in their 60’s, which is the woodstock generation. Born in the late 40’s and in their 20’s in the late 60’s.

I pray for more holy priests!
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In my opinion, what you are relating here is one of the glaring problems of an open forum like CAF.

It is my observation that there is a preponderance of conservative Catholics who post on this board, in every Forum, and who follow every minuscule rule of the Catechism and every directive ever uttered by every Pope – and who expect everyone else on earth to follow the same rules and conventions “or it’s a mortal sin and you’re going to HELL!”

The letter of the law, all billion lines of them, remain as the pinnacle of their relationship with God. This obviously extends to their desire to see every rubric, every convention, every tiny detail of every Mass followed by every priest, every time, also. Yay for them… it’s obviously how they perceive the nature of God and His Church as learned, or passed down, from the time of the Church of the counter-reformation. (I was part of that church culture, too.)

On the other hand, there are a very few of us on CAF who underwent a real renewal at Vat II and in the years since, following priests whose theological formation was done just before and after Vat II – who believe that the letter of the law is secondary to the love with which we live our lives – loving God, loving and serving one another, as Jesus commanded.

These priests apply this principal as they hear confessions, realizing that it is the relationship one has with God and with people as the baseline for behavior. While not overtly denigrating the “rules,” they consider grave sin to be more along the lines of breaking those relationships and/or continuing in habits which damage the relationships. They give loving counsel to people not along the lines of black checkmarks against a hard and fast list, but mercifully, recognizing that human behavior is never perfect. They also realize that adults are ADULTS – able to act from their own informed consciences in many matters and not requiring Rome’s okay for every breath they breathe.

How grateful I am that these loving, intelligent, compassionate, empathetic priests are they who are available for the sacrament of Reconciliation – and not the people on this board who are blind to everything but following rules like little robots.
 
challam2010,

I couldn’t agree more.

The practicing of the Catholic faith is much more than just observing the “legalism” of statutes, encyclicals and “every minuscule rule of the Catechism and every directive ever uttered by every Pope.” It is my experience that there is a definite us vs. them mentality that permeates the far-right conservatism of some Catholics who think that priests in the confessional should fuss, scold and punish those who approach the sacrament to be reconciled to Christ’s Church. It is the duty of a priest to tend to the spiritual welfare of his parish, not ostracize and cut loose.

I was once berated on this site because I said that Christ’s Mercy, which is what saves us from the fires of hell, trumped Justice. Of course, I was branded a “novus ordo” Catholic, since a “traditional” Catholic would never utter such a thing. Go figure. I can’t understand those who prefer to envision Jesus as a dark, Byzantine figure with knotted brow who can barely wait to condemn poor souls to hell, instead of the figure of Mercy who forgave sinners, had such a tender love for those who were His friends and whose Sacred Heart burns for us all.
 
I don’t think that the sacrament of Confession has “quietly disappeared in importance” at my parish.

Confessions are scheduled 30 minutes before every daily Mass, and an hour on Saturdays. That means confession is available 6 days a week.

And even though the schedule is 30 minutes before daily Mass, it’s a good idea to arrive 45 minutes before, to make sure you don’t end up at the end of the line and out of time. Often however, if the line is too long to be finished before Mass, a second priest will come out and hear confessions at the altar rail.

The only drawback to long lines is that there’s not enough time for a lot of spiritual counseling. Often the priest will ask you to say your act of contrition back in the pew. But mostly, people just want their sins forgiven.
 
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