Confessions in another country

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Say if one is visiting a country where another language is spoken how can one Confess properly if there are no priests who speak your native language?

What if you are in mortal sin and need to Confess? what do you do in such a situation?
 
Well sometimes you can find an international church such as the one run by the Franciscans in Seoul. They have Mass in different languages including English and French. If not then you say an act of perfect contrition and go to confession as soon as you return home or to a country where you can find a priest that speaks your language.
 
a83192 said:
Say if one is visiting a country where another language is spoken how can one Confess properly if there are no priests who speak your native language?

What if you are in mortal sin and need to Confess? what do you do in such a situation?
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  1. dictionary.
  2. I think there are trnasnational books.
    ~3. I think the ipod has a confession feature. So I was told.
As for mortal sins (are you sure? how?), say MyLord, forvigive me please. I love you.
 
a83192 said:
Say if one is visiting a country where another language is spoken how can one Confess properly if there are no priests who speak your native language?

What if you are in mortal sin and need to Confess? what do you do in such a situation?
Click to expand...
you go to confession and confess your sins in your language, and the priest absolves you in his language. The spiritual counsel may be lacking but it will still be a valid sacrament.
 
Pfaffenhoffen said:
  1. dictionary.
  2. I think there are trnasnational books.
    ~3. I think the ipod has a confession feature. So I was told.
As for mortal sins (are you sure? how?), say MyLord, forvigive me please. I love you.
Click to expand...
I doubt using something like an Ipod for translation would be valid.

However, if you are in an international city, there may be a parish using your language.

ICXC NIKA
 
You are to confess your sins verbally and in person, and the priest is to absolve you verbally in person. Mutual comprehension I do not believe is an absolute requirement, unless excommunication is involved (in which case completing the petition to lift the excommunication would be impossible).

I found this online, which I think should satisfy your desire to know: ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage.asp?number=405010&Pg=&Pgnu=&recnu=. The priest here states that one is truly absolved, but ought to confess to a priest who is fluent in one’s native language for proper advice and counsel, and to lift an excommunication if it exists.
 
I was a sailor for many years. I found that in many cities that had a significant American business and/or tourist presence, many priests had a card with them in the confessional that had the Commandments and Precepts printed in English and the local language, side by sid3e. All you had to do was point to the Commandment or precept you had sinned against and indicate how many times and then indicate that you had finished telling your sins and the priest would indicate on the card that you say the Act of Contrition and then he would absolve you (In those days it was still said in Latin), I went to confession this way in places like Greece, in the Middle East and as far away as Japan. In some places like India, Hong Kong, Malaya and the Phillipines, English is the second language so there is no problem.
 
If you must commit mortal sins while you’re abroad, stick to ones you can describe in the local language.
 
a83192 said:
Say if one is visiting a country where another language is spoken how can one Confess properly if there are no priests who speak your native language?

What if you are in mortal sin and need to Confess? what do you do in such a situation?
Click to expand...
Try and find a priest offering confessions in your language. You could use an interpreter*. This is permitted although I can’t imagine it’s something easy to arrange. Conduct the proceedings in Latin. In the end it does not matter: you can confess in one language; the priest can absolve you in another language. In this latter option there would be little opportunity for counsel but the priest might be able to give you a penance. People can often make themselves understood if there is sufficient need.

*The interpreter is bound by the seal of confession in the same way as the confessor.
 
You could get a dictionary and learn the basics of pronunciation, both of which you’re probably going to do anyway. You can mention the fact that you’re a foreigner and don’t understand the language.

Interpreters can be used, by the way.
 
GEddie said:
I doubt using something like an Ipod for translation would be valid.

However, if you are in an international city, there may be a parish using your language.

ICXC NIKA
Click to expand...
I read it somewhere that Vatican did not oppose it…
 
I read in Blessings From The Battlefield that this Priest was serving in the Korean War, and he and his company found themselves in a village that turned out to be 100% Catholic. He then learned that none of them had been to confession or Mass in years, so he decided to do both. The problem was, though, that he didn’t speak a lick of Korean. However, he still heard their confessions, absolved them of their sins, and then had a Mass afterwards. He said none of them wanted to go as they hadn’t upheld the hour fast, but he told them that it was okay, and they went up to receive the Eucharist. They left afterwards, and a few days later they found out that the entire village was wiped out by the North Koreans. The Priest said he felt confident not just to pray for them, but to pray to them.

Having read this story, I would assume that all of their sins were absolved in the confessional, even though he couldn’t understand what they said. Especially since he had all of them receive the Eucharist.
 
I guess based on the above, the OP’s best bet might be to try and find the equivalent of “Forgive me Father for I have sinned”, “I don’t speak X” in the appropriate language online etc., then confess in the English then?
 
runningdude said:
You are to confess your sins verbally and in person, and the priest is to absolve you verbally in person.
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In small eastern European towns, there is often a single eastern catholic and a single orthodox priest, both married. This leaves an issue for their wives.

Depending upon how well the churches get along, two common solutions are,
  1. each wife confesses to the other’s husband, or
  2. wife confesses by phone to a priest in another village, and receives absolution from her husband.
Also, separation of confession & absolution is well known in the east–someone whose spiritual advisor is not his priest may confess to the advisor, and be absolved by the priest.

(also in the east, remission may commonly precede confession, both by the Eucharest and by the annual sacramental anointing during Holy Week. )

hawk
 
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