Did I Make a Good Confession?

[ryz900]

Hi everyone,

I have been struggling with masturbation and straight as well as gay pornography for a great deal of time. This past week I attended an Advent mission at my parish which really opened my eyes regarding the realities of heaven and hell and gave me a whole new motivation to resist those temptations.

Yesterday I went to confession and explained my struggle with sexual impurity to the priest and asked how detailed I should be while confessing these sins. I read a few things online that said I should be as descriptive as possible while others said I should just give what’s necessary. Basically what I was getting at while in the confessional was whether I should confess the TYPES of pornography or just that I had indulged in pornography in general. The priest never asked anything about whether it was straight or gay porn so I didn’t say anything because it felt improper to simply throw in that there was some gay pornography too.

Afterward I feel guilty because I feel like I didn’t make a full confession even though he didn’t ask me to specify. I’ve been reading similar posts on this website and most say that I should just say what the confessor asks for, but I still can’t shake the thought that the sin isn’t forgiven yet.

I’m really hoping that someone can ease my thoughts on this.

Thank you for taking the time to help and God bless,
ryz900

 

[Immacolata]

If your priest did not ask you to specify what type of pornography you indulged in, then it was not required; therefore, your confession is valid. If he had asked you to specify and you did not, then your confession would be improper. If it continues to bother you, perhaps you could bring it up at your next confession?

God bless.

 

[exquisitor]

When we make the effort to confess our sins we immediately enter into the mercy of God. You told the Lord { in the person of the priest} your struggles, your temptations, and the Lord in his infinite Mercy and love has heard and absolved you. We should not lack confidence and trust in God. We should not doubt His mercy and compassion. How can we go forward whilst still looking back?

 

[R_C]

If you did not willfully hide anything or willfully lie to the priest, that is, if you tried your best to make a good confession, you have nothing to worry about.

If you remember some additional unconfessed sin or something you consider worth confessing next time, you can do so in the next confession but you should still be properly disposed to receive the Holy Eucharist.

Resist the devil, who tries in a thousand ways to keep us away from the Beloved. And I pray you grow closer to Our Lady, our great helper in the way of chastity.

As an advice, remember to always make a good examination of conscience before Confession, and in the end always tell the priest: “for this and for all sins I may have forgotten I am sorry and I seek forgiveness.”, or something around these lines - I read it somewhere and can’t recall the exact words. This is for your peace of mind.

From this thread, a post by user underacloud:

Council of Trent: When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon.

 

[ChibiViolet]

If you thought you were making a valid Confession, or didn’t know if you were making a valid Confession or not, but thought that you were than it was valid. In the future if you look at gay porn than you must specify the type as this makes the sin worse. The same goes for violent porn or porn with more than one person involved. You shouldn’t be super-specific, but details like that (the ones I listed) matter.

There are certain details that can make any sin worse.

 

[Metropolis]

Well when I went through RCIA a few years back, my priest said that you don’t have to get into every nitty gritty detail. The point of confessing is being remorseful of sins, confessing them, and then turning your back on those sins and gong the other direction (or at least doing your best to!). You don’t have to get too specific, trust me, God knows the details.

 

[R_C]

Sorry, but “God knows” is not the best depiction. We are under obligation to confess kind and number of mortal sins. Pornography: one kind of sin. Homosexual pornography: another kind of sin. But in this case ultimately it’s no big deal, I guess, and he can always mention it in the next confession for his own peace of mind.

 

[Metropolis]

Sorry, but “God knows” is not the best depiction. We are under obligation to confess kind and number of mortal sins. Pornography: one kind of sin. Homosexual pornography: another kind of sin. But in this case ultimately it’s no big deal, I guess, and he can always mention it in the next confession for his own peace of mind.

I’m not sure, but it sounds like the “God knows” is talking about my post. I am just going by the guidance of my priest who said we do not have to go into great detail, just give the idea of the sins committed. I trust that priest and have heard the same thing from my new priest in my new area (we moved since I went through RCIA). I really think that saying struggling watching pornography should be sufficient. I am not a porn watcher, but the issue of sexuality did come up when I talked to my priest because I do have same sex attraction (as well as opposite sex attraction) and he said issues regarding my ssa would be sufficiently explained during confession under having lustful thoughts.