Contrition/confession questions

[EvelynEVF]

Are you guys cradle or long-term Catholics?

I always ask for direction during confession, and have never been quicker than 15min except with a priest who was nearly deaf.

The scheduled time at the parish has never worked for me, so I’ve never used it. Except once, and I guess I was quick then, because there were others and it was just obvious that to see all of them in an hour we needed to be quick.

I guess since my experience is so limited, I’ve never seen the appeal of a really short confession. The one time I did it I felt almost like I was cheating, just telling him my two sins and whooshing back out the door with absolution.

 

[Mike_Searson]

Are you guys cradle or long-term Catholics?

I always ask for direction during confession, and have never been quicker than 15min except with a priest who was nearly deaf.

The scheduled time at the parish has never worked for me, so I’ve never used it. Except once, and I guess I was quick then, because there were others and it was just obvious that to see all of them in an hour we needed to be quick.

I guess since my experience is so limited, I’ve never seen the appeal of a really short confession. The one time I did it I felt almost like I was cheating, just telling him my two sins and whooshing back out the door with absolution.

I’m a cradle Catholic…baptized when I was 3 days old and I was very dedicated the first 19 years of my life, even went through Prep Seminary. I started getting lax while I was in the Military.

I fell away in my 20’s for 7 or 8 years, came back became a Lector and EMOHC, was put off by an overly liberal priest who was blessing gay marriages while speaking ill of Military Veterans…soon after I Trad-verted,went through a Dark Night of the Soul for 2 years and have been on the straight and narrow the past year.

I think I used the confessional for “Guidance” approximately once in my life and it was a significant turning point. The priest was a teacher of mine, and the Vice Principal of my school. I was close to the end of my time in High School and getting ready to go from the Seminary into the Marine Corps. I needed a totally honest assessment without the school pressuring me to go on to college seminary and this was the one time I knew I would get complete candor.

It was at an alloted time in school and I was the last one in. I don’t remember how long we talked, but it wasn’t more than 15 minutes. It’s still not something I would have done durring parish confession when time is limited. A priest can say a NO Mass in 18 minutes with no homily and no second reading (I witnessed this once as a server. I got a pass to leave school and got accused of ditching class when I returned by a nun because I came back from the 12 O’Clock Mass and the school clock said 12:20). I don’t see why a Confession has to border on that.

Spiritual Direction and Guidance are different, but again, people and priests need to consider their fellow parishoners.

I did ask for direction and guidance while going through that rough patch I mentioned and pretty much got neither from the priest. Makes me wonder if they’re talking about football scores or something else.

 

[jmcrae]

Are you guys cradle or long-term Catholics?

I have been Catholic for about eight years - I don’t know if that counts as “long term.”

I always ask for direction during confession, and have never been quicker than 15min except with a priest who was nearly deaf.

I get Spiritual Direction separately from Confession. I make an appointment with a Spiritual Director for that, and that usually takes about an hour, give or take. I haven’t been for Spiritual Direction in more than a year, and I’m probably due for it, but I go to Confession about once a month or so, unless I’m having a bad time, and then it’s more frequent.

My practice is to go as soon as I have any grave sin to confess, or if it’s been nearly a month since my last Confession, I go anyway, and then I confess my grave sin plus one or two venial sins, or else if I have no grave sin to confess, I’ll just confess my top three venial sins.

I don’t like to let things pile up.

 

[EvelynEVF]

Well, I guess I’m just greedy. I have direction with a deacon around once per month, but I also tend to hit the confessional about every two weeks, and I spend about twenty minutes, generally. Though if I need to go weekly, I stay even longer

The pastoral care at my parish is unsurpassed, and I’m totally taking advantage of it.

I’ve haven’t been Catholic for very long, so I wondered if maybe there was some cultural expectation by cradle Catholics that maybe I just overlooked.

 

[thevickinator16]

I am a cradle catholic, though I fell away for about 35+ years. I never went to confession often at first. I thought confession was only for confessing mortal sins, not so much the venial ones. I would do confession in about 3 minutes or less. Now it is more weekly and I look beyond the mortal sins. I go for anything that hurts my soul or hurts someone else’s soul. In our church there is 45 minutes weekly cofession, the line though is usually short. I do make an appointment if there is something that I need to discuss in particular. Sometimes a situation which reoccurs repeatedly needs more detailed talk. I do this separately. I do not have a real Spiritual Director available so I make use of whatever time Father has outside of confession.

God Bless!