Does lack of confession lead to excommunication?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jrs88
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jrs88

Guest
If someone has not been to confession in over a year, have they incurred automatic excommunication?

If they have, how do you go about telling them that they should go? ( I feel like that might be a silly question but I just wanted opinions on how you might let them know in a way that would show the seriousness of how they need to…the people I am worried about do not really see Mass as an obligation, but more of they go when they can, and I am trying to help change this)
 
No, they have not incurred automatic excommunication. This is reserved for particularly serious sins (e.g., abortion). And an excommunication can often be lifted by the priest in the confessional (depending on the type of offense that incurred the excommunication).

You invite them to go to confession because it is a wonderful sacrament of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Because it washes away sin, restores our friendship with Christ. It reconciles us with the Church. It fills us with grace. It gives us strength to avoid sin in the future. If we have sinned mortally, it opens up the possibility for us to receive Holy Communion again. It doesn’t get any better than that!
 
No, they are not excommunicated on that basis. They have committed sin. There would be zero people in the pews if sin resulted in excommunication!

What I would say to my friend, though, is that Receiving in a state of sin compounds the sin & is a sacrilege. Either follow, or don’t. I had that situation in my family which was really rather embarrassing. I had some fallen-away Catholics attend First Communions and themselves receive. I say fallen-away because they are close relatives & I know this, but more importantly, they talked about it openly at the reception. (“I don’t believe anymore,” etc.) Naturally I didn’t comment. I would never do such a thing in any public setting. But some of my guests were scandalized by it & mentioned it to me. I don’t know that I responded as well as I should have. I said that I didn’t know why those people had done that. (What else could I say?) And I repeated what I knew the teaching to be. If I thought there would have been a similar celebration in the near future, I would have said something privately, but I knew they would not be attending the Confirmations.

The other point to mention to your friend is that there is no efficacious grace when receiving in a state of sin, so the person is wasting their time as well as disrespecting the presence & the sacrament.

But I like post #2 better than mine.🙂
 
jrs88 said:
If someone has not been to confession in over a year, have they incurred automatic excommunication?

If they have, how do you go about telling them that they should go? ( I feel like that might be a silly question but I just wanted opinions on how you might let them know in a way that would show the seriousness of how they need to…the people I am worried about do not really see Mass as an obligation, but more of they go when they can, and I am trying to help change this)
Click to expand...
Not excommunication, no. A mortal sin? If they understood the Easter and Christmas Duty, yes. A Grave sin, for certain, unless indulted by lack of available priest, by incapacity or by incarceration.
 
I am asking out of concern for my family members, I just don’t want them to feel like I am being judgemental in talking with them about confession- I think they are both very, very good people however they do need confession because everybody does, and it is wrong to receive the Eucharist if one is in mortal sin. I am just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation, and what you said. Thank you everyone who has responded so far.
 
jrs88 said:
If someone has not been to confession in over a year, have they incurred automatic excommunication?

If they have, how do you go about telling them that they should go? ( I feel like that might be a silly question but I just wanted opinions on how you might let them know in a way that would show the seriousness of how they need to…the people I am worried about do not really see Mass as an obligation, but more of they go when they can, and I am trying to help change this)
Click to expand...
EXCOMMUNICATION

Ferendae Sententiae Excommunication:

Canon 1378: The pretended celebration of the Eucharist or of sacramental Confession
Canon 1388: Violation of the seal of Confession by an interpreter

Latae Sententiae Excommunication:

Canon 1364: Apostasy, heresy or schism
Canon 1367: Violation of the Sacred Species
Canon 1370: Laying violent hands on the Pope
Canon 1378: Absolution of an accomplice
Canon 1382: Episcopal consecration without authorization from the Holy See
Canon 1388: Violation of the seal of Confession by a confessor
Canon 1398: Procuring abortion
 
In RCIA our parish taught one is only obligated to go to confession when one is in mortal sin. I thought one was obligated to go once a year at easter at a minimum. But when I brought it up, they repeated that this was only an obligation if one was in mortal sin.

I still think we have a once a year minimum.
 
jrs88 said:
If someone has not been to confession in over a year, have they incurred automatic excommunication?

If)
Click to expand...
no they have broken a law of the church. If they have no mortal sins–something you have no way of knowing, they have not broken any law whatever. Unless these family members are your own minor children, in which case you make confession available but don’t command, you say and do nothing, except by your own good example. I am going to confession because I want to receive communion tomorrow-on Christmas-Sunday, anybody want to come with me?

to iterate, we are obliged to confess MORTAL sins once a year and to receive communion during the Easter season.
 
Harsalter said:
In RCIA our parish taught one is only obligated to go to confession when one is in mortal sin. I thought one was obligated to go once a year at easter at a minimum. But when I brought it up, they repeated that this was only an obligation if one was in mortal sin.

I still think we have a once a year minimum.
Click to expand...
For Byzantine Rite Catholics, the Christmas and Easter duty is confession. Therefore, twice per year.

For the Roman Catholics, Canon Law spells out the modern duty:

Can. 989 After having reached the age of discretion, each member of the faithful is ob-liged to confess faithfully his or her grave sins at least once a year.
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3H.HTM

Can. 920 §1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.

§2. This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P39.HTM
 
jrs88 said:
I am asking out of concern for my family members, I just don’t want them to feel like I am being judgemental in talking with them about confession- I think they are both very, very good people however they do need confession because everybody does, and it is wrong to receive the Eucharist if one is in mortal sin. I am just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation, and what you said. Thank you everyone who has responded so far.
Click to expand...
I usually find that I get further by talking about my own experience than by telling someone else what to do. I can’t imagine telling someone “You know, you really ought to go to confession. The Church says you need to go at least once a year and I don’t think you’ve done that.” How different to say something like “I went to confession on Saturday and came away with such a feeling of God’s mercy and love. Have you ever felt that way?” Or perhaps even better – since so many parishes have communal Reconciliation services during Advent – something like “Hey, my parish is having a Reconciliation service on Tuesday night. Would you like to come with me?”
 
Aramis said:
Not excommunication, no. A mortal sin? If they understood the Easter and Christmas Duty, yes. A Grave sin, for certain, unless indulted by lack of available priest, by incapacity or by incarceration.
Click to expand...
Christmas duty? There ain’t no such animal in the Latin Church. I see you clarified in a later post.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top