Confession To A Bishop

  • Thread starter Thread starter dal11
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dal11

Guest
Our bishop will be doing confessions. When I go in what do I say? Bless me ? for I have sinned. Also there will be a greeting of the bishop afterword. How do I great him? Do I say, hello bishop how are you, hello your excellency etc…
 
Why not just say Bless me Father for I have sinned? I don’t think it’s in any way disrespectful since he is a Priest and he is doing a Priestly duty (as opposed to ordaining or confirming).
I think Bless me Excellency or Bless me Bishop doesn’t really fit for Confession.
 
BillyT92679 said:
Why not just say Bless me Father for I have sinned? I don’t think it’s in any way disrespectful since he is a Priest and he is doing a Priestly duty (as opposed to ordaining or confirming).
I think Bless me Excellency or Bless me Bishop doesn’t really fit for Confession.
Click to expand...
I don’t think Bless me Bishop is bad (since the presbyters derive their authority and their faculties from him), but there shouldn’t be any problem with simply saying Bless me Father. It shouldn’t be an issue. Any (arch)bishops here?
 
If I understand correctly, even the late Pope John Paul II used to hear confessions.

I don’t think the formalities are ever so important as the confession itself. Evey priest, bishop, cardinal, pope is there ‘in persona Christi’. It’s even odd that the common prayer was not “Bless me, My Lord, for I have sinned.”
 
Crumpy said:
If I understand correctly, even the late Pope John Paul II used to hear confessions.

I don’t think the formalities are ever so important as the confession itself. Evey priest, bishop, cardinal, pope is there ‘in persona Christi’. It’s even odd that the common prayer was not “Bless me, My Lord, for I have sinned.”
Click to expand...
He did indeed on occasion - there was a story that one of his penitents fainted when she realised who it was hearing her confession :rotfl:

Situations like this remind me of why we Australians tend to call everyone ‘mate’ though - never in the Confessional of course 😉

Nothing wrong with just saying ‘bless me, for I have sinned’.
 
“Bless me, Father…” would be fine. You could also call him Monsignor, if you wanted to distinguish him from a regular priest.

Regarding the greeting afterwards, although it’s not technically proper to call a bishop “Bishop” (any more than one would say to Pope Benedict, “How are you today, Pope?”), it is the customary American form of address (and probably what the bishop himself is most comfortable with, so it’s all good).
 
From 1875-1900 James Healy, the black son of a slave, was Bishop of Portland, Maine. He frequently heard confessions. One of my grandmother’s neighbors didn’t realize he was the confessor and confessed that she had said that the bishop was “black as the devil”. He responded, “Please madam, black as the ace of spades.” It took her a bit to recover. LOL
 
Go to confession to a Bishop the same as you would to any priest. I once confessed to our bishop, not even realizing it was him in the confessional.
 
Bishop Chavez, one of the two Auxiliary Bishop here in San Diego hears confessions every day prior to Mass at the cathedral, which he also presides over. Bless me Father for I have sinned has always worked for me with him.
 
I was at a Catholic Men’s Conference here in Detroit. Cardinal Maida had requested that all of his priests spend at least one hour at the conference listening to confessions.

Well I went to confession there, and it was Cardinal Maida in the confessional, performing the same duty he asked of his priests.

I did say “Forgive me, your Emminence, for I have sinned…”
 
Pax vobiscum!

Like other posters have said, calling him Father shouldn’t be a problem. I remember Archbishop John Vlazny once told me that calling him Father was perfectly ok because, as he said, he is a priest.

In Christ,
Rand
 
Well, I confessed to Bishop Quinn and I simply said "Bless me father, for I have sinned. I think that is really the only formula to use. However you should say, “Thank you your excellency” or “Thank you bishop” or “Thank you, your grace” at the end of the confession.
 
I, oddly enough, actually think “Father” would be the proper response here because I think it’s a liturgical formula. Much like when the deacon tells the priest “Jube, domne, benedicere” (Command, lord, a blessing). Lord isn’t a normal title of a priest (typically, if used at all, it would be for the episcopus dominus) but in that situation it is the prescribed address. Somewhat similarly, even though one would normally refer to a bishop as Your Excellency, in this liturgical setting (even though confession is private there is still a rite) it seems proper to use the same formula, “Forgive me, father,…”
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top