Confession - new procedure?

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I went to Confession 2 days ago and outside the Confessional was a table with leaflets on it which we were required to take and read before Confession and then take with us into Confession.
Up till then when I went to Confession it has been the case of Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been… since I confessed, and then I state my sins. The priest would then give advice, penance, absolution and I leave.
However, now we have to make certain responses throughout the Confession and while I have no issues with this at all I just wondered if this is a new parish thing or universal.
Also, the priest did not give me a penance but told me to choose a penance appropriate to the gravity of my sins.

Hopefully, most of the 2 page leaflet I’ve attached is readable.
 
There is an actual Rite for individual confession. Some things in the rite are optional, such as the reading from the Word, and there are a number of choices for the prayers and such.

ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDWFORMA.HTM

It seems perhaps your current pastor would like to standardize and has selected a particular form of the rite to use in his parish, and has given everyone a handy paper to use as an aid.

Regarding the penance, it seems inappropriate to tell the penitent to pick their own penance. The priest is to give the penance.
 
1ke said:
Regarding the penance, it seems inappropriate to tell the penitent to pick their own penance. The priest is to give the penance.
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True, but it doesn’t seem like this is what the sheet is getting at. It seems to be suggesting that, if the priest gives prayer as penance, then the penitent should pray it immediately after confession. It doesn’t explicitly say, “but if he doesn’t give prayer, then…”, but that’s what it seems to be suggesting – if the penance isn’t prayer, then the penitent can pick an appropriate penitential prayer to pray at that time (and then do whatever non-prayer penance that was assigned to him at the appropriate time).

Anyway, that’s the way I’d interpret the sheet (given that I’m assuming that its intent isn’t to create a novel alternate liturgical form)… 🤷
 
That looks to me like the current rite of Penance. I’m guessing that at this time of year leaflets are needed because there are people who seldom go to confession and don’t know the procedure.

Personally, I have never had a priest do the scripture reading part of the rite unless I was at a communal reconciliation service.
 
Gorgias said:
True, but it doesn’t seem like this is what the sheet is getting at. It seems to be suggesting that, if the priest gives prayer as penance, then the penitent should pray it immediately after confession. It doesn’t explicitly say, “but if he doesn’t give prayer, then…”, but that’s what it seems to be suggesting – if the penance isn’t prayer, then the penitent can pick an appropriate penitential prayer to pray at that time (and then do whatever non-prayer penance that was assigned to him at the appropriate time).

Anyway, that’s the way I’d interpret the sheet (given that I’m assuming that its intent isn’t to create a novel alternate liturgical form)… 🤷
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I wasn’t referring to the sheet when addressing the penance.

The OP said: Also, **the priest did not give me a penance but told me to choose **a penance appropriate to the gravity of my sins.

That is not appropriate. The priest is to give the penance.
 
1ke said:
I wasn’t referring to the sheet when addressing the penance.

The OP said: Also, **the priest did not give me a penance but told me to choose **a penance appropriate to the gravity of my sins.

That is not appropriate. The priest is to give the penance.
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That is correct although I may have misinterpreted all he said.

He told me to choose a penance appropriate to the gravity of my sins which I must perform.

He also told me (but without specifically saying it was a penance) to go to Confession once a month and to be in prayerful Communion with Christ daily. Perhaps these are penances from the priest without me realising them as that.
 
1ke said:
I wasn’t referring to the sheet when addressing the penance.

The OP said: Also, **the priest did not give me a penance but told me to choose **a penance appropriate to the gravity of my sins.

That is not appropriate. The priest is to give the penance.
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In the priest’s defense, the sheet gives a minimum penance of “kneeling before the altar and thanking God for this confession” 🙂
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
That looks to me like the current rite of Penance. I’m guessing that at this time of year leaflets are needed because there are people who seldom go to confession and don’t know the procedure.

Personally, I have never had a priest do the scripture reading part of the rite unless I was at a communal reconciliation service./QUOTE]

Yeah, leaflets are very helpful for those who don’t go. Likewise, I don’t think I’ve ever had a priest do a reading, either.

In fact, most of the time, we don’t even have time to do the Act of Contrition in the confessional. We do it after confession, on our own.

Another thing one church I went to in the States did which I found VERY helpful was to give us the “Examination of Conscience”. I don’t think I had even seen one before that!
I thought, “My goodness! I’ve been doing confession wrong all these years!” I had missed a whole bunch of things, didn’t know that I also had to put the number of times I had sinned. I don’t remember anyone ever telling me that.
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Pax Christi!

New stuff to me!

I’m definitely following this thread.

God bless.
 
thistle said:
That is correct although I may have misinterpreted all he said.

He told me to choose a penance appropriate to the gravity of my sins which I must perform.

He also told me (but without specifically saying it was a penance) to go to Confession once a month and to be in prayerful Communion with Christ daily. Perhaps these are penances from the priest without me realising them as that.
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No, a penance cannot bind forever into the future like that. That was simply advice.

If it happens again, tell the priest you want him to give you a specific penance and that you are not comfortable trying to assign yourself a penance.

I cannot think of a worse things for a pastor to do in confession. What if the penitent is a scrupulosity sufferer? They might assign themselves a severe penance given their propensity to have a skewed view of themselves and sin.

Confession is not a do-it-yourself enterprise. The priest is supposed to give an appropriate penance.
 
1ke said:
No, a penance cannot bind forever into the future like that. That was simply advice.

If it happens again, tell the priest you want him to give you a specific penance and that you are not comfortable trying to assign yourself a penance.

I cannot think of a worse things for a pastor to do in confession. What if the penitent is a scrupulosity sufferer? They might assign themselves a severe penance given their propensity to have a skewed view of themselves and sin.

Confession is not a do-it-yourself enterprise. The priest is supposed to give an appropriate penance.
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I see from canon law that a penance is to be given by the priest. Next time I will ask him.

This might sound odd but could it be that the penance he gave me was to choose my own penance commensurate with the gravity of my sins?

I am not scrupulous so coming up with my own penance was not a problem. I chose to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Maybe priests are good at discerning who is or isn’t scrupulous.
 
Traditionally you say, “Bless me Father…” and the priest blesses you before you confess your sins. This can be seen in pre-Vatican II books that have the text of the Sacrament. Everything on the page (except the first blessing and the Gospel reading) is done at EWTN’s daily Confessions. 🙂
 
Thistle, the attachments to your original post show how it is supposed to be done. That is the actual Rite of Reconciliation of Individual Penitents.







It looks like the priest is trying to get people to do it the right way.

-Tim-
 
I like how what you posted has…

***For these and all the sins of my past life, especially the sins against blah-blah, I ask absolution and penance from you, Father. ***

…right after the sins are confessed. I always forget those words and say something like, “I have examined myself and these are the sins I am conscious of, and I ask my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for forgiveness and healing from these and any other sins I may have omitted.”

-Tim-
 
I agree. Normally I would say “for these sins I have confessed and any forgotten sins I am truly sorry” but I was unaware that we should specifically ask for penance and absolution.
 
TimothyH said:
I like how what you posted has…

***For these and all the sins of my past life, especially the sins against blah-blah, I ask absolution and penance from you, Father. ***

…right after the sins are confessed. I always forget those words and say something like, “I have examined myself and these are the sins I am conscious of, and I ask my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for forgiveness and healing from these and any other sins I may have omitted.”

-Tim-
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I like that, Tim. I just say “for these and for all my sins I am truly sorry.” I may change my practice after reading what you’ve shared here. Thanks.
 
I went for confession today, to a Church I had never been to. The priest was awesome.

He didn’t do it by the book but I went face to face and after I told him my sins he gave me some wonderful advice. Then he stood up, put his hands on my head and prayed over me. This was extra prayer apart from, and before absolution. I’m not sure if he does this all the time but I had goosebumps and started shaking as he stood above me with his hands on my head praying. I’ve never had a priest do that.

There is something about priests from India… 👍

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
Then he stood up, put his hands on my head and prayed over me. This was extra prayer apart from, and before absolution. I’m not sure if he does this all the time but I had goosebumps and started shaking as he stood above me with his hands on my head praying. I’ve never had a priest do that.

There is something about priests from India… 👍

-Tim-
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I wonder if he is a Syro-Malabar priest? I don’t know if it is done in the Syro-Malabar rite, but in the Byzantine rite, the priest puts his stole on the penitent’s head for absolution.
 
Mary_Ellen said:
I like that, Tim. I just say “for these and for all my sins I am truly sorry.” I may change my practice after reading what you’ve shared here. Thanks.
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I am not questioning this practice, (everyone experiences Confession in the way they have been taught), however I have never been taught to say something like this. To me it seems rather redundant to say this and then say the Act of Contrition, which basically says the same thing. I was taught to just go straight to the Act of Contrition after confessing my sins.
 
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