Confession legitimacy questions

[Mr.Blank1.5]

Hi
At the church I go to for confession, the priest who heard my confessions never asked me to say an act of contrition and granted me absolution. I realize that I’ve usually never said “for all these sins I have committed I am sorry”. I usually went in, told the priest the last time I went to reconciliation, my sins and their numbers to the best of my ability. Do these ommissions invalidate my confessions?

 

[LilyM]

An Act of Contrition is not a necessary part of the Sacrament of Confession - although if you don’t make an Act of Contrition in the confessional you should say one afterwards.

Neither is the phrase ‘for these and all my sins …’ required either.

So the short answer is that your confessions are perfectly valid.

 

[acadian]

You’re fine. Don’t worry.

The last few times, I’ve looked at my priest and said “that’s all I’ve got for now” or “that’s it for me”. I imagine it basically serves the same purpose “I am sorry for these and all my sins.” It lets him know that you are finished and that it’s his “turn” to talk.

 

[LilyM]

You’re fine. Don’t worry.

The last few times, I’ve looked at my priest and said “that’s all I’ve got for now” or “that’s it for me”. I imagine it basically serves the same purpose “I am sorry for these and all my sins.” It lets him know that you are finished and that it’s his “turn” to talk.

I hope it means a bit more than that for you!

It certainly does for me - it makes me aware that there are always forgotten occasions on which I have offended God. And also expresses that I don’t even want to offend God unknowingly, let alone forget or fail to confess any of my sins!

 

[acadian]

I hope it means a bit more than that for you!

It certainly does for me - it makes me aware that there are always forgotten occasions on which I have offended God. And also expresses that I don’t even want to offend God unknowingly, let alone forget or fail to confess any of my sins!

No intention of being disrespectful or flippant at all, but at times that has seemed to flow with the conversation more easily. I didn’t go in “planning” to end like that, it just did. Almost a surrender. Sometimes I confess my sins and then end with a question. After a question it just seems stilted to say, “I am sorry for these and all my sins.”

For expressing sorrow, I think that is done sometimes by the confession itself and the Act of Contrition (which in my case) is always soon to follow.

Thanks for pointing that out, anyway. When I went last week, I found myself with the ‘traditional’ “I am sorry for these and all my sins…”

 

[phoenix3212]

I didn’t know an Act of Contrition wasn’t necessary. I went to confession today, and the priest was going through it without asking me to recite an Act of Contrition. I actually interrupted and asked him if I could say one, because I was terrified it wouldn’t be valid if I didn’t.

Well, now I know

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Contrition (sorrow for sin and the desire to amend your life) is required for validity. A formal act of contrition is not.

 

[ComputerGeek25]

Hi
At the church I go to for confession, the priest who heard my confessions never asked me to say an act of contrition and granted me absolution. I realize that I’ve usually never said “for all these sins I have committed I am sorry”. I usually went in, told the priest the last time I went to reconciliation, my sins and their numbers to the best of my ability. Do these ommissions invalidate my confessions?

You do not need to formally state an act of contrition in order for the sacrament to be valid. I think all that is minimally required is for you to state your sins by kind and number to the best of your ability and the priest saying “I absolve you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit.”