Confession not needed?

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anonymoususer:
I agree that confession should be with the same priest every time. However, at my parish, there are 3 priests, and you never know which one you get when you walk behind the curtain. Should it be like the barber shop, where I wait for the person I want?
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Yes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Canon Law require that penitents must be allowed to know the name of their confessor? In most churches the priests display their names on or above the door of the confessional using a portable name-shingle or similar, or even a slip of paper. If your parish priests aren’t willing to do this, there is nothing wrong with saying, when you realise it’s Fr Smith today, “Oh excuse me, I was looking for Fr Jones. When will he be here next?” and then walk out.
 
Confession not only absolves you of your sins veniel or otherwise but gives you the grace not to commit those sins again-or gives you the strenght to resist the temptation to commit those sins again. very true in my case. 🙂
 
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Petergee:
Yes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Canon Law require that penitents must be allowed to know the name of their confessor? In most churches the priests display their names on or above the door of the confessional using a portable name-shingle or similar, or even a slip of paper. If your parish priests aren’t willing to do this, there is nothing wrong with saying, when you realise it’s Fr Smith today, “Oh excuse me, I was looking for Fr Jones. When will he be here next?” and then walk out.
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I should add that if you have a mortal sin to confess, you should not delay your Reconciliation, but make it with whichever priest is there. For all you know you may never have another opportunity! You can mention the sin again later to your regular spiritual director in the context of discussion of your general spiritual growth.
 
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anonymoususer:
Ok, here is my scenario…

I typically go to confession every saturday morning. i went on the morning of feb 18. I did something stupid on that night which required a confession on monday morning. I went back to confession on saturday the 25th (today). I was pretty hard on myself on the monday confession, and the priest tried to tell me it wasn’t that big of a deal, stop moping.

I had the same priest today as last monday. the sins I confessed were…

father I have failed…

to love you with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind
to love my neighbor as myself
to honor the sabbath
to be generous to the poor

unfaithful to my spouse in thought
used foul language
i think that was it…

the priest seemed very rude; he asked me “do you have any real sins to confess?”

I said “none other than these.” he basically said that everyone fails to do these things, and that I was depressed. he absolved me, prescribed my penance, and I moved on.

was it not necessary to go to confession? was the priest rude, or am i over reacting?

one other question: if a person died of natural causes or accident immediately after confession, would they skip purgatory?
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My pastor just spoke on this kind of thing in our Monday Night Catechism class at Assumption Grotto. He opens his class to all parishioners wanting to grow in the faith, along with the converts and those making confirmation.

Someone posed almost the same exact scenario to him and his response was very clear:

Find a new priest!

He said that ultimately we are responsible for our own souls and if we know something to be a sin, per the catechism, and a confessor tries to tell us it is not, we need to find a new priest (if possible of course). Confession of even venial matters should not be discouraged in any way either. It is very hard for some people to come to confession and the last thing they need is someone downplaying what they say (provided they are not proven to be scrupulous).

Pray for this priest and if he didn’t give you absolution go again, elsewhere. By all means, talk to him outside of confession to see what he says - maybe it was a bad day.

But, there are cases of priests who contradict the CCC. Some priests will dismiss 100% of the cases of masturbation as not sinful. That is not what the CCC says. Guilt may be mitigated, but it is nonetheless disordered. How many people may learn to stop if a priest challenges them with love and charity and helps them through the difficulty, encouraging them to come back frequently (weekly or daily even). This is a compassionate approach, where as writing off any and all cases as “not sinful” is just taking the easy way out. Yet, we read many such cases on these forums, even from people who do not have an addiction per se, one factor which may mitigate guilt. Those who encounter such cases need to find a new confessor - one who will challenge them to sanctity, even if they do have mitigating circumstances. To do otherwise, allows the person to fall even deeper into the addiction, if there is one involved and in this manner, I believe the priest contributes to the person’s fall.

Then there is sacramental grace, which helps us to get through such things. There are priests who will say that this is nothing more than superstition. Once again, this contradicts what the CCC tells us about grace and is a pretty good reason to find a new confessor.
 
The emphasis in the Catholic Church at least in my diocese is NOT on private confession (unfortunately) and NOT even on sin. I have heard several parish priests refer to individual private confession as “Not enough priests to hear them, and no time for them” -----believe it or not! If you people have not encountered that then I am living in a strange “off the beaten path” diocese. There are only a few parishes in my neck of the woods that even schedule a regular time to hear confessions. When you talk about “the forgotten sacrament” this diocese has surely “forgotten” it. Sounds like most of you are lucky enough to be in a place where they encourage it! Yes, there is a real shortage of priests in my area, that is a given, but doesn’t seem like the Cardinal is focusing on the sacrament. (Of course I guess I have to take into consideration that at this point he has his hands full with the sexual abuse scandal, at least in my diocese)

Just my 2 cents

Teelynn
 
This is so sad to see. Priests’ primary responsibility is the celebration of sacraments, particularly Mass and confession. There are many other necessary things that priests must do, but none as important as these. Bureaucracy has taken its toll, and I must fault the bishops on this one.

In our parish, confessions are heard every day, seven days a week, before all Masses, as well as on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. We are truly blessed, because our two priests have clearly demonstrated how important the sacrament of confession is, to the point of where we must slow down our lives and not neglect it, simply because we feel that we have no time. They also emphasize increasing our sanctity through frequent confession :clapping: :blessyou:
 
I have run into the same kind of attitude. I usually confess the “big” sins first and then go on to the small stuff. I had one priest make the comment “there’s more?” when I went on to confess the small stuff after a discussion of the “big” stuff. I was embarrassed and a little confused as it had been a couple months since I had been to confession. This same priest had a homily a couple weeks later about how we need to go to confession. Not sure what to make of this. Now I am really confused.
 
What follows is my personal approach, based on some sources that made sense to me. I think it is in accord with Church teaching, but am open to correction.

One should not use the grocery list in confession; that is not confess all venial sins. True repentance is necessary for a good confession. One must be truly sorry for them and have the intent to avoid them in the future. This is not possible for a multi-page list of sins.

All mortal sins must be confessed. These must be eliminated from ones life before one can make further progress. If one has mortal sins it might be best to focus repenting them and forming a resolution not to repeat them. Don’t clutter up your resolution with a bunch of little stuff. If you have cancer get it treated; you can worry about that head cold later.

If one has no mortal sins then confess venial sins, but not all of them. Instead of reciting a long list, pick three or four that are most common in your life, and be really sorry for them. Work on eliminating these from your life. Then move on to three or four more.
 
I disagree with this Joe. It is not neccessary to confess venial sins in the confessional in order to be restored to a state of Grace, but the Catechism is very explicit in its advice to confess ALL sins (mortal AND venial) in the confessional. As far as the “grocery list”, while it is not advised to be overly scrupulous, it may be neccessary for some individuals who may not realize the gravity of a certain aspect of their behavior. I plan on going to confession at 4 today, and I have already made my “grocery list” (on paper even) and plan on taking it with me so I can give a full confession of all of my shortcomings, both mortal and venial. In my case, its just prudence because I always seem to forget something (sometimes mortal) while I am in the confessional, and the Catechism clearly states that if something is forgotten, albeit unintentional, we should return and confess it upon recalling it.

As far as criticizing the confessor, I also disagree with you puzzleannie. While I respect and agree with most of what you said, it seems to me that you neglect to recognize that there is a problem of “bad spiritual advice” within the confessional sometimes. I know of many who have been told, either within the confessional or from the pulpit, that things such as masturbation or skipping out on your Sunday obligation are not sinful. If I were to EVER have a confessor tell me that intentionally not going to Mass on a Sunday was not Mortally sinful, then I WOULD find another confessor, as I seek spiritual guidance within the confessional, and I have the right under Canon Law to sound advice that upholds the Truth of Catholic Doctrine. I can not agree that false teaching is somehow “protected” if it occurs within the context of the confessional. So, to the OP, my opinion is to continue to seek the graces neccessary to shed all attachment to sin within the context of the confessional, just be conscious of the fact that most of what you are confessing is NOT considered grave matter or putting your soul in mortal danger.
 
Seems as though it truly is a blessing to be in a diocese that encourages regular confession.

It also seems to me that because of this “priest shortage” and many other problems, it is hard to find a priest to take any time with you.
And the attitude of the typical parish priest leaves ALOT to be desired.
It truly is sad and I am sure that Our Dear Lord and the Blessed Mother are crying over this!
Teelynn
 
I think people’s confessions probably do sound like a grocery list. Everyone is weak in one manner or another and we have a tendency to do the same bad things over and over again. I can’t tell you how many times I have dreaded going to Confession because it contained the same old bad things. Even though they are venial in nature they are still sins and because we do them over and over again we need to confess them. I just wish we could get all Priests on the same page when it comes to how and what to do when we go to Confession.
 
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