Confession only in own parish?

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RichardG

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I have a question, is one obligated to confess only in their own parish, or can one just freely pick another one? In my own parish there is the possibility to confess once a month, but I would be prefer to confess as soon as possible after the sin. Therefore I would want to pick another parish in this case.
 
We can confess at any Catholic church anywhere in the world. We can go to Mass at any Catholic church in the world. We are Catholic. We are one.
 
If your parish only offers confession once a month, it is worth making a complaint about that to your Parish Priest. However if it is part of a local deanery or cluster where there are multiple parishes in close proximity that co-ordinate their services then it may be the intention that you go to confession in a neighbouring parish if you wish to confess weekly… Do check with your priest.
 
OK thank you for the answers, I will ask my priest what he thinks is best.
 
Sometimes I enjoy going to confession at other parishes when possible. Given human differences, priests can have a variety of insights as you speak together and it is nice to have these opportunities.
 
As a separate issue:
There are some people who make a comittment to ordinarily confess to the same priest each time. they build up a confessional relationship with that priest and that priest can then better guide them in their struggle to repent in particular areas as part of the penitential and repentant nature of the sacrament. Examples would include those in formal discernment of vocations to the Ordained or Religious Life. They also have a seperate Spiritual Director, and other people in the team guiding the mutual discernment. The Confessor in such cases is otherwise separate from the rest of the team so any knowledge obtained inside the confessional cannot be used to the persons detriment in the committees that make decisions about that persons vocation.
Similarly members of some associations like the Opus Dei encourage their members to do the same, and whenever possible to regularly confess to a priest who is a member of that organisation. Again there are reasons for this and a different (and more challenging) approach is taken in assessing the penitents state of contrition, and more questions are asked… but this is a voluntary] undertaking by the members of organisations of this type. A confession to any other priest would remain completely Valid and Licit. (unless it was to deliberately mask a sin or avoid facing up to it, when they know their regular confessor would challenge them)
 
RichardG said:
I have a question, is one obligated to confess only in their own parish, or can one just freely pick another one? In my own parish there is the possibility to confess once a month, but I would be prefer to confess as soon as possible after the sin. Therefore I would want to pick another parish in this case.
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You can confess in any Catholic church, actually. I live in the town I work in, though my home parish is in a larger city, about 100 miles away. I go wherever I can, depending on time and necessity. 🙂
 
We are the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. That is one of the great things about being Catholic. If you are in need of Sacraments, you can go to any parish worldwide and receive them!
 
RichardG said:
OK thank you for the answers, I will ask my priest what he thinks is best.
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You don’t have to check with your priest, you can go to confession at any Catholic parish. However if you are scrupulous and have a regular confessor then follow his advice on this matter.
 
By all means, go to confession at any Catholic church. It has been said (wisely) that a parish should offer as many hours for confession each week as there are hours of Sunday Mass. If, for example, there is one Saturday vigil Mass and three Sunday Masses, there ought to be four hours of confession offered that week. One parish does this on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and there are always lines waiting to get in. Of course, the pastor preaches almost weekly about the importance of going regularly to receive Christ’s forgiveness and the graces which come with it.
 
I guess in my own parish it is possible to confess more than once a moth, but in that case you have to ask the priest just before or after the mass. I would like to confess this weekend, however i’m not in my hometown from saturday evening until sunday around noon. Maybe it will be best to pick the nearest catholic church in the city where I will be.

However I find it strange to just ‘pick’ a priest there, I have never seen before in my life. That’s why I want to ask my own priest what is best.
 
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