Confession Question Priest not wearing a Stole

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cknick

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If a Priest did not wear a stole, or said “walk with me and talk…I’m in a hurry,” would you state your confession? I didn’t…I just said “No thank you father, I’ll come back,” or I just didn’t go to him that day. Would you?
 
my confessor used to joke that if he didn’t wear the stole, the blessing would fall off.

I don’t honestly know how important the stole is to the sacrament…I’m sure there’s a reason for it. But if it came down to it, and I really desperately needed to make a confession, I’d go with whatever was being made available to me, even if it meant confession on the go. Obviously, it’s better for everyone involved if it’s the usual way, but when the need is great, you do what you have to do.
 
cknick said:
If a Priest did not wear a stole, or said “walk with me and talk…I’m in a hurry,” would you state your confession? I didn’t…I just said “No thank you father, I’ll come back,” or I just didn’t go to him that day.
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I did a confession with a stole-less priest in my parents’ backyard the night my father died.
Would you?
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So yeah, I would.
 
I wasn’t aware that the verse read, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, but only as long as you’re wearing a stole”

😉

As far as I know (and I may well be wrong), the stole serves as a symbol of the priestly office, and it is not essential for administering the sacraments. I can understand anyone who would rather have the priest fully vested for the sacraments, however.
 
Tim_Kirchoff said:
I wasn’t aware that the verse read, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, but only as long as you’re wearing a stole”

😉

As far as I know (and I may well be wrong), the stole serves as a symbol of the priestly office, and it is not essential for administering the sacraments. I can understand anyone who would rather have the priest fully vested for the sacraments, however.
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Just so. I think it’s important to remember that the power of the Keys subsists in priestly ordination, not in a piece of cloth. The Sacrament isn’t magic. At my Catholic college, priests would hear the confessions of the guys while walking around the athletic track.
 
cknick said:
If a Priest did not wear a stole, or said “walk with me and talk…I’m in a hurry,” would you state your confession? I didn’t…I just said “No thank you father, I’ll come back,” or I just didn’t go to him that day. Would you?
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The stole is not required for a priest to hear a valid valid confession or give valid absolution.

I once went to confession with Fr. Larry Richards face-to-face standing next to a tin building at the local fairgrounds. His machine-gun like confession wass really something. He wasn’t wearing a stole from what I recall.
 
My former Theology teacher (who, most unfortunately, does not teach senior theology, so I will not have him this fall…I will have a different priest) offers the sacrament of Confession pretty much any time we want while he is there at the school (usually in the afternoon). We just retreat into a back office that no one really uses and do it in there. I do not think that he uses a stole all the time…sometimes people have a confession that they were not planning, but decided on the spur-of-the-moment.

🙂
 
OhMalley said:
The stole is not required for a priest to hear a valid valid confession or give valid absolution.

I once went to confession with Fr. Larry Richards face-to-face standing next to a tin building at the local fairgrounds. His machine-gun like confession wass really something. He wasn’t wearing a stole from what I recall.
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He’s great to go to confession to. I wish I lived in his parish!
 
Yeah maybe that is what I’m afraid of…one of those back behind the shed…tin building, machine gun confession moments.
 
See Liturgical Vestments; newadvent.org/cathen/15388a.htm

Personally; I think if a priest is faithful to his sacramental ordination and what it signifies to him in between his service to God first in union with the Church especially in regard to sacramental clerical duties that happen within the walls of the Church; the priest should not be haphazard in the way he presents his vestment appearance in front of the congregation. Most priests when called out to confer the sacrament of the sick on the faithful in hospitals and homes bring a stole with holy oils and water to the bedside of the Infirmed. The Stole represents the specific mark of office, being the badge of the diaconal and priestly orders. Many priests from pre-Vatican II would kiss their stole as a significant reminder of their priestly ordination and service duty to God. When placing their Stole about their neck in the sacristy they would say a private prayer: ("Lord give me this last day the garment of immortality that was forfeited by our first sinful parents “Adam and Eve”. I see many priests today especially those coming out of modern seminaries who have this nonchalant attitude as to whether they should say Mass or do Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals and the sacrament of Penance with half vestments on or off.
Is this important ? Yes it certainly is. A priest is first and above all a man of God and should wear all his priestly vestments humbly and faithfully in Gods service.
A priest is not a people pleaser. Should a priest wear his stole when conferring the sacrament of confession ? Definitively Yes.
 
The only time my confessor wears a stole is if we are celebrating in the confessional. If it is in my office or his he usually doesn’t wear it. I’ve gone to confession outside walking, I see no problem with it. What I do have a problem with is “hurry up” confessions. I would say that I would come back later if I felt the priest was not really focused and had to get somewhere else…but then again if I had committeed a mortal sin I wouldn’t care and would go for a quick confession where ever it happened to be.
 
I agree with this. However, in the instances the other posters stated, it seems that the confesee approached the priest at the last minute. If the priest felt that the person had a mortal sin on their conscience, then I would much rather him agree to hear my confession than say “come back when I have a stole”. So perhaps the lesson is for us, to be more aware of father’s time and not come to him with a not-urgent (venial) request on the spur of the moment.
centurionguard said:
See Liturgical Vestments; newadvent.org/cathen/15388a.htm

Personally; I think if a priest is faithful to his sacramental ordination and what it signifies to him in between his service to God first in union with the Church especially in regard to sacramental clerical duties that happen within the walls of the Church; the priest should not be haphazard in the way he presents his vestment appearance in front of the congregation. Most priests when called out to confer the sacrament of the sick on the faithful in hospitals and homes bring a stole with holy oils and water to the bedside of the Infirmed. The Stole represents the specific mark of office, being the badge of the diaconal and priestly orders. Many priests from pre-Vatican II would kiss their stole as a significant reminder of their priestly ordination and service duty to God. When placing their Stole about their neck in the sacristy they would say a private prayer: ("Lord give me this last day the garment of immortality that was forfeited by our first sinful parents “Adam and Eve”. I see many priests today especially those coming out of modern seminaries who have this nonchalant attitude as to whether they should say Mass or do Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals and the sacrament of Penance with half vestments on or off.
Is this important ? Yes it certainly is. A priest is first and above all a man of God and should wear all his priestly vestments humbly and faithfully in Gods service.
A priest is not a people pleaser. Should a priest wear his stole when conferring the sacrament of confession ? Definitively Yes.
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I did go to him in the confessional, but happened to be the last pennitent.
 
centurionguard said:
See Liturgical Vestments; newadvent.org/cathen/15388a.htm

Personally; I think if a priest is faithful to his sacramental ordination and what it signifies to him in between his service to God first in union with the Church especially in regard to sacramental clerical duties that happen within the walls of the Church; the priest should not be haphazard in the way he presents his vestment appearance in front of the congregation. Most priests when called out to confer the sacrament of the sick on the faithful in hospitals and homes bring a stole with holy oils and water to the bedside of the Infirmed. The Stole represents the specific mark of office, being the badge of the diaconal and priestly orders. Many priests from pre-Vatican II would kiss their stole as a significant reminder of their priestly ordination and service duty to God. When placing their Stole about their neck in the sacristy they would say a private prayer: ("Lord give me this last day the garment of immortality that was forfeited by our first sinful parents “Adam and Eve”. I see many priests today especially those coming out of modern seminaries who have this nonchalant attitude as to whether they should say Mass or do Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals and the sacrament of Penance with half vestments on or off.
Is this important ? Yes it certainly is. A priest is first and above all a man of God and should wear all his priestly vestments humbly and faithfully in Gods service.
A priest is not a people pleaser. Should a priest wear his stole when conferring the sacrament of confession ? Definitively Yes.
Click to expand...
I agree. Maybe because I associate forgiveness and kindness, with the alb, stole and plenty of time to listen and care.
 
cknick said:
Yeah maybe that is what I’m afraid of…one of those back behind the shed…tin building, machine gun confession moments.
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Nothing to be afraid of. Fr. Larry simply streams through an amazinging litany of sins. If it’s a sin it’s in his litany. If one comes up you have committed you simply say “yes.” The litany is long and it made me confess sins I would never have thought of.

On the other hand I’ve went to confession with a priest I know at a BBQ and he whipped-out a rolled-up purple stole that looked like a cloth measuring tape that he kissed and put around his neck…
 
That is great…I can picture that…

I think because I’ve faced extremes in confession-both on the loving and forgiving side, and then the mean, unforgiving, giving difficult pennances side (like “go to the Bishop for absolution” for a fairly minor infraction), it makes going to confession a bit frightening, even for an adult…I never know what I’m going to get.

I just think they need all the help they can get with the prayers, stole, alb, etc.
 
They ordained the man, not the clothes. Its still a valid absolution.
 
even if the priest wore a pink dress…his absolution would be valid 😃

for a valid confession you need apart from your own contriteness:

a validy ordained priest with the faculty (or the ability to hear confessions) received from the bishop.

the correct formula of absolution (I absolve you…in the Name of the Father…(in the Latin Church)

the intention to absolve from sins
 
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