Detail when confessing pornography

[thistle]

I am providing the information here for educational purposes.

The first item on the ninth commandment is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which many also may not have read. There is equivalent on the sixth commandment in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Catechism of the Catholic Church - Ninth: IN BRIEF
2528 “Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (*Mt *5:28).
2529 The ninth commandment warns against lust or carnal concupiscence.
2530 The struggle against carnal lust involves purifying the heart and practicing temperance.
vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a9.htm

Catechism of the Catholic Church - Sixth:2354 *Pornography *consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.

IN BRIEF
2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.
2400 Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union are grave offenses against the dignity of marriage.
vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm

I understand but that’s making it too complicated for a penitent. Many people have a hard enough time getting to Confession at all never mind trying to figure out how to break down sins in species. Its not necessary for them. They just need to say they have viewed pornography, or had impure thoughts or whatever and the number of times (if they remember). The priest can ask for more information if he wants but he won’t. The penitent simply has to be genuinely contrite and remember as best as possible what mortal sins they have committed and how often and the priest simply has to be sure the penitent’s confession is genuine and he is contrite.
We don’t want people to feel like they need a PhD in sin species before they can confess.

 

[Vico]

I understand but that’s making it too complicated for a penitent. Many people have a hard enough time getting to Confession at all never mind trying to figure out how to break down sins in species. Its not necessary for them. They just need to say they have viewed pornography, or had impure thoughts or whatever and the number of times (if they remember). The priest can ask for more information if he wants but he won’t. The penitent simply has to be genuinely contrite and remember as best as possible what mortal sins they have committed and how often and the priest simply has to be sure the penitent’s confession is genuine and he is contrite.
We don’t want people to feel like they need a PhD in sin species before they can confess.

Not hard for me at all, that is the way I was taught.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

When we confess mortal sins we are to state the moral sin in kind and number along with any details that make the sin more sinful. For example if a man commits murder he is to state the murder and number of times, but if he murdered his brother he should mention that since murdering one’s brother is more sinful than murdering a stranger (I realize my example is one in the extreme, but you get my point).

With that in mind when confessing pornography how detailed should one get? There are a lot of different types of pornography out there. Does one need to confess the kind involved? Pornography involving homosexual acts, acts involving multiple people, the acts themselves? I think you get my drift. One wouldn’t want to put unwanted images in the mind of the confessor.

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

I had a long-running addiction to porn. When I finally broke free of it and went to confession, I told the priest that I’d had that problem for over 25 years and had no way of doing the math to determine how many time I’d committed the various associated sins. I was concerned that I wasn’t giving enough detail, especially when it came to number and kind, but my priest told me that what I’d said was fine. I haven’t had to confess about it since, but I’d imagine that when you’re confessing a smaller number of infractions over a shorter period of time, it wouldn’t be any different than most other sins. I’ll tell my priest, “I committed this sin x number of times.” I’ll occasionally add some context if a sin really bothered me or if I think it changes the scope of a sin but the priests I’ve been to have almost never asked for more than what I tell them.

 

[twf]

I think the intent matters somewhat. If you are watching pornographic scenes, even if it is hard group stuff, but you are really doing it out of lust for the women actors, it is just regular “impure thoughts” and I would just confess pornography. If, however, you are specifically seeking out gay porn (as a man to lust after the bodies of other men), or even more perverse, children, I think you need to specify that as it changes the nature of the sin in my opinion. Lusting after your own sex or lusting after children is different than lusting after adults of the opposite sex and I think that applies to porn use.

(And when I say children, no I don’t mean “barely legal” type stuff…I mean actual CHILD pornography which is highly illegal and particularly perverse).

 

[Vico]

I think the intent matters somewhat. If you are watching pornographic scenes, even if it is hard group stuff, but you are really doing it out of lust for the women actors, it is just regular “impure thoughts” and I would just confess pornography. If, however, you are specifically seeking out gay porn (as a man to lust after the bodies of other men), or even more perverse, children, I think you need to specify that as it changes the nature of the sin in my opinion. Lusting after your own sex or lusting after children is different than lusting after adults of the opposite sex and I think that applies to porn use.

(And when I say children, no I don’t mean “barely legal” type stuff…I mean actual CHILD pornography which is highly illegal and particularly perverse).

There are circumstances that alter the species of sin: place, time, the end in view, the person with whom its committed, something regarding the person who commits it (such as vow of chastity). Unchaste thoughts could have more species, for example (of time and place) someone entertaining unchaste thoughts immediately after receiving communion would add sacrilege.

 

[thistle]

Not hard for me at all, that is the way I was taught.

I live in the Philippines which has the largest Catholic population in Asia and more Catholics than the USA. Half of the population live below the poverty line and are more concerned about where the family’s next meal will come from and who will pay for medical treatment if someone gets ill. Most have probably never even heard of the CCC never mind not having money to buy one.
Confession should be encouraged and made simple. Show true contrition and confess all mortal sins you can remember and how often they were committed. I don’t know what to say to anyone who thinks penitents should be getting into species of sins.
End of story unless the priest wants more details from the penitent.

 

[Xantippe]

I live in the Philippines which has the largest Catholic population in Asia and more Catholics than the USA. Half of the population live below the poverty line and are more concerned about where the family’s next meal will come from and who will pay for medical treatment if someone gets ill. Most have probably never even heard of the CCC never mind not having money to buy one.
Confession should be encouraged and made simple. Show true contrition and confess all mortal sins you can remember and how often they were committed. I don’t know what to say to anyone who thinks penitents should be getting into species of sins.
End of story unless the priest wants more details from the penitent.

Right.

It’s like you don’t need to memorize all of the Merck Manual before appearing at the doctor’s office. It’s more important that you just go.

Every lay person needs a certain amount of medical and ethical knowledge, but it’s most important to be the sort of person that is willing to seek out expert help.

 

[OraLabora]

I live in the Philippines which has the largest Catholic population in Asia and more Catholics than the USA. Half of the population live below the poverty line and are more concerned about where the family’s next meal will come from and who will pay for medical treatment if someone gets ill. Most have probably never even heard of the CCC never mind not having money to buy one.
Confession should be encouraged and made simple. Show true contrition and confess all mortal sins you can remember and how often they were committed. I don’t know what to say to anyone who thinks penitents should be getting into species of sins.
End of story unless the priest wants more details from the penitent.

I agree completely with you. “Species of sin” is for the priest’s guidance so he can know what to ask the penitent if he needs more information. Perhaps also useful for consecrated religious or seminarians. I don’t need to be a doctor to know if I’m ill, but I hope the doctor will know enough about illness to help me and give me the right medicine or treatment.

As for those asking about the “number of times” and how much detail is needed, it doesn’t have to be down to the gory details. I think it suffices to say either: once, occasionally, frequently or habitually, with perhaps the last time the sin occurred (today, yesterday, this past week, last month… whatever). That should be enough to guide father on the seriousness of the penitent’s problem. I’ve never had a priest not be satisfied with my confession when I presented the frequency of a sin in those terms.

 

[Xantippe]

I agree completely with you. “Species of sin” is for the priest’s guidance so he can know what to ask the penitent if he needs more information. Perhaps also useful for consecrated religious or seminarians. I don’t need to be a doctor to know if I’m ill, but I hope the doctor will know enough about illness to help me and give me the right medicine or treatment.

As for those asking about the “number of times” and how much detail is needed, it doesn’t have to be down to the gory details. I think it suffices to say either: once, occasionally, frequently or habitually, with perhaps the last time the sin occurred (today, yesterday, this past week, last month… whatever). That should be enough to guide father on the seriousness of the penitent’s problem. I’ve never had a priest not be satisfied with my confession when I presented the frequency of a sin in those terms.

Yes.

“Almost daily over five years” is plenty informative, and it’s also very brief.

 

[Vico]

I live in the Philippines which has the largest Catholic population in Asia and more Catholics than the USA. Half of the population live below the poverty line and are more concerned about where the family’s next meal will come from and who will pay for medical treatment if someone gets ill. Most have probably never even heard of the CCC never mind not having money to buy one.
Confession should be encouraged and made simple. Show true contrition and confess all mortal sins you can remember and how often they were committed. I don’t know what to say to anyone who thinks penitents should be getting into species of sins.
End of story unless the priest wants more details from the penitent.

It is just what the Church teaches to confess all sins remembered in number and kind. Kind is the species. This is what I was taught in class, and the teacher would cover all these things and we would discuss when needed.:Q. 789. When is our Confession entire?
A. Our Confession is entire when we tell the number and kinds of our sins and the circumstances which change their nature.

Q. 790. What do you mean by the "kinds of sin?"
A. By the “kinds of sin,” we mean the particular division or class to which the sins belong; that is, whether they be sins of blasphemy, disobedience, anger, impurity, dishonesty, etc. We can determine the kind of sin by discovering the commandment or precept of the Church we have broken or the virtue against which we have acted.

Q. 791. What do we mean by "circumstances which change the nature of sins?"
A. By “circumstances which change the nature of sins” we mean anything that makes it another kind of sin. Thus to steal is a sin, but to steal from the Church makes our theft sacrilegious. Again, impure actions are sins, but a person must say whether they were committed alone or with others, with relatives or strangers, with persons married or single, etc., because these circumstances change them from one kind of impurity to another.

 

[Adonia]

Or you could just say that you viewed immoral images. I don’t think one has to be specific. You know what you did and you are sorry for it. God knows what you did, as the priest also.

 

[sunburst2014]

I’m sure that if you just confessed that you viewed pornography, it should be sufficient. If not, he will ask for clarification.