Confession without confessing sins

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I said that we aren’t supposed to receive the Eucharist more than twice in one day, so apparently you misread.

I was told what I said about confession by a priest, so forgive me for thinking he was trustworthy. Is there a source for this information? Because I was informed that venial sins are forgiven at every Mass and do not result in separation from God, anyway, so confessing venial sins is unnecessary and scrupulous. And that makes sense to me.

Can any of you provide a source for this information

Also, just for the record, you could have used a much more charitable tone. This isn’t an argument; if I am indeed wrong, then simply provide a source that proves it and share it with me. I was only trying to help. You guys are acting as though I had malicious intentions.
 
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rdj88 said:
Because I was informed that venial sins are forgiven at every Mass and do not result in separation from God,
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This is true.
rdj88 said:
so confessing venial sins is unnecessary and scrupulous.
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This is a little too far, I would say. Confessing venial sins is unnecessary and scrupulous if the person is scrupulous and it wouldn’t help him to do so, i.e. it would only further his compulsions. Confessing venial sins for most people, however, is a good devotional practice, and we benefit from receiving the grace of the sacrament frequently.

Let me ask you: at the parish where the priest who told you this is assigned, how much confession do they offer?
 
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I am a priest, first off. And what I’m saying is common sense.

It is harsh to say that in all cases of someone confessing venial sins that they are doing so unnecessarily or out of scrupulosity. Was St. John Paul II confessing unnecessarily and scrupulously when he went every single day? I find it hard to believe that a saint was committing mortal sins daily and then confessing them daily.

It is misusing the sacrament to go constantly to get reassurance for your scruples. But this is not an all-or-nothing proposition. For some people it would be unnecessary and scrupulous to confess venial sins or to even go to confession frequently at all. For most people this is not the case, and to paint with a broad brush like that is not really a helpful way of engaging in pastoral practice.
 
Which is probably why this priest is saying that. I can’t guess as to his motives, of course, but I wouldn’t expect a statement like that from a priest in a parish where there was confession every day, for a variety of pastoral and spiritual and even psychological reasons.
 
rdj88 said:
I said that we aren’t supposed to receive the Eucharist more than twice in one day, so apparently you misread.
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OK, let’s say I misread. Father has pointed out in his post following mine that it is acceptable for a dying person to receive more than twice in one day, so what you said is still incorrect in certain cases.
 
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In this case no sin was confessed for any absolution to take place. If he was in mortal sin he still is.

@edward_george1
Father, I had understood that the stipulation for receiving a second time was that one attend mass from the offeratory, not necessarily the entire mass beginning at the prayers before the altar. Is that correct?
 
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The law as it currently stands is “attend Mass” means “attend Mass.” There isn’t a point in the Mass after which you are not said to have attended Mass. The way I handle that one, especially vis-à-vis confessing that one was late for Mass is to look at in terms of why the person was late. If they made the effort to be there but were thwarted somehow, then they aren’t culpable. If they were late through either negligence or willfully choosing not to come on time, that’s different. Hence we have the confessional to work these things out.

As far as I’m aware, in the old rite, the offertory was the “last chance” point in terms of meeting obligations or whatever. But this isn’t the case now. Going to Mass means going to Mass.
 
rdj88 said:
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edward_george1:
I am a priest, first off. And what I’m saying is common sense.
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You’re a stranger on the internet, and I had no way of knowing that you’re a priest (and I still don’t know it, technically - you never know how honest people are online).

And no, what you’re saying is very obviously not a simple matter of “common sense” or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s also not very charitable to imply that I lack common sense.

I’m new to the Church. I was told something about the Church by a priest, and I was passing along that information to try to help someone. You’re claiming that I’m wrong. That’s fine, I’m always happy to be corrected in my understanding, but appealing to “common sense” is not a valid argument.
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In addition, here’s what the Church teaches on Confession. From the Catechism (CCC):
  1. Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful.
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“Strongly recommended by the Church” is a far cry from “scrupulous and selfish.”
 
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MiserereMeiDei said:
In this case no sin was confessed for any absolution to take place. If he was in mortal sin he still is.
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It there was sufficient sorrow present and no intentional omission or mortal sin, then absolution should apply to any forgotten mortal sins that were not already absolved.
 
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porthos11 said:
And before making pronouncements, learn what the Church REALLY teaches.
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. . . . I’m really surprised and disheartened by these responses.

I’ve made it perfectly clear that I was told this information by an authority, and so I had good reason to believe it. Because I believed it was true, I shared it with someone in an attempt to help them; to share what I had learned with another.

Attacking and berating me for being misguided and mistaken when my intentions were good is not helpful or charitable, and in fact some of you have been quite rude.

Are we not supposed to be a family? Is this how you’d treat your family members in real life? Deriding them for being mislead when you know they’re very “young” and still learning? If your child told you something that their teacher had said that turned out to be wrong, would you scold your child for it?

Honestly, I know we’re all human and flawed, but I expected better from Catholics.
 
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porthos11 said:
  1. Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful.
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To build on porthos’ good, Catechism-based answer, here is some additional commentary by a named priest in an “Ask A Priest” column:

rcspirituality.org

"Ask a Priest: Do I Need to Confess a Laundry List of Venial Sins?" - RC Spirituality

Q: I have a question about making a good confession without always going and rolling out my usual “laundry list”...
rcspirituality.org rcspirituality.org

The idea of confessing one or two of the biggest faults rather than a laundry list of every time I got annoyed at an aggressive driver or felt envious for a couple hours seeing my friend’s vacation photos is one that I generally use. The idea is to get at the root cause of what’s creating these little venial sins of anger or envy or whatever, and develop a better, more Christ-centered approach. I have done this with many priests and none of them complained that I was wasting their time because I didn’t happen to have a grave matter sin to confess in the 3 to 5 minutes I spend in the confessional.
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Thank you, this is all very helpful.

I had no idea our venial sins were forgiven with Holy Water, does that mean you can use Holy Water daily to cleanse your venial sins? I was only aware that they’re forgiven at Mass. And is it just attending Mass that forgives them, or is it specifically the receiving of the Eucharist? What other ways are venial sins forgiven?
 
Tis_Bearself said:
The idea of confessing one or two of the biggest faults rather than a laundry list of every time I got annoyed at an aggressive driver or felt envious for a couple hours seeing my friend’s vacation photos is one that I generally use. The idea is to get at the root cause of what’s creating these little venial sins of anger or envy or whatever, and develop a better, more Christ-centered approach.
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This is good advice; thank you.
 
rdj88 said:
You’re a stranger on the internet, and I had no way of knowing that you’re a priest (and I still don’t know it, technically - you never know how honest people are online).
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As sure as I am typing this response, he IS a priest (and a very good one). So, you can let that line of argument drop…
 
But you are also a stranger on the internet, so your testimony doesn’t mean anything more than his does.

I also wasn’t making an argument, I was merely stating a fact.
 
I totally trust your judgment on this Father, you definitely no more about it than I would and I am sure you are correct 🙂 However, this raises a question for me. I know this is rare but when a priest, does absolution for a group of people, I forgot what it is called, but out of necessity, like going to war, plane crashing etc. Would these sins be forgiven!
 
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