Does the Sacrament of Reconciliation need revision?

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carlos19

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I went to confession a few days ago. It was a bit confusing. Three things that I felt were sins, (I know in my heart I did wrong), the priest said it was just part of the human condition and not sinful. He explained very beautifully I might add that the sacrament is what opens up God’s love and he said he felt the sacrament was in dire need of revision. He did not go into details.

Has anyone heard anything similar or feel the same way?
 
carlos19 said:
I went to confession a few days ago. It was a bit confusing. Three things that I felt were sins, (I know in my heart I did wrong), the priest said it was just part of the human condition and not sinful. He explained very beautifully I might add that the sacrament is what opens up God’s love and he said he felt the sacrament was in dire need of revision. He did not go into details.

Has anyone heard anything similar or feel the same way?
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A vast number of Roman Catholic Parishes are simply in decline and overwhelmed by secularism. My parish is very very liberal and frankly only a shadow of the true Church. Many of the Parish Priests are simply not teaching the Holy Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.

When you ‘know’ that what you’ve done is a sin and a Priest tells you that it’s ‘just the human condition’, that Priest doesn’t know or in is opposition of the Faith, period.

‘Grace’ gives us the means of transcending this ‘human condition’ so it, in and of itself, isn’t an excuse for us sinning. The Priest is participating in your sin by his defense of the sin committed, by his concealment of the sin, and by his consent of such sin.

I would encourage you to find a Father Confessor.
 
chrisb said:
When you ‘know’ that what you’ve done is a sin and a Priest tells you that it’s ‘just the human condition’, that Priest doesn’t know or in is opposition of the Faith, period.

… The Priest is participating in your sin by his defense of the sin committed, by his concealment of the sin, and by his consent of such sin.
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From the scant details we have, you are ready to claim that the priest is participating in sin?
 
I_Thirst said:
From the scant details we have, you are ready to claim that the priest is participating in sin?
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Yes. When anyone, most especially a Priest, excuses sin because of ‘human conditions’… he is either ignorant of the Faith or a modernist.
 
Since none of us was there, and we only know the little the OP is telling us, I don’t think we can pass judgment on the poor priest.

Maybe what he confessed really isn’t a sin. Maybe he thought the OP was being overscrupulous. It happens.
 
Personally, I think it’s in need of a reversion back to the way it was when it was still called Confession and they didn’t have those “Reconciliation Rooms”. I think many priests need an overhaul in the theology of Confession and understand how it it (IE: Not a counseling session, and how the graces work, etc).

My confessor is from the FSSP. I don’t think I could ever keep up with my Devotion for Confession with most diocesan priests.
 
chrisb said:
Yes. When anyone, most especially a Priest, excuses sin because of ‘human conditions’… he is either ignorant of the Faith or a modernist.
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I would agree with you to an extent.
But we don’t know what the sins were.

There have been times I’ve committed a sin, and thought it seriously wrong, until reading the catechsim of the Church.

One old priest of the old tradition let my mother know, when she had stress trying to keep her duty to go to Mass on Saturday or Sunday, and she didn’t because of the attitude’s of the family, or the chaos that went on, that she didn’t need to worry, because God knew what was in her heart.

Keep in mind, this was a priest who asked me how many times did I commit such and such a sin, because each time was an individual time, and gave me two rosaries for penance. He also stood firm and talked about Hell in front of the community. So he wasn’t a liberal priest by any means.
 
I’m not sure if revision is a good idea.

We DO need those outside the confessional to be respectful to those waiting for their turn, or for the priest and the peerson in the confessional.

We DO need for people to know their act of contrition and for priests to have them say it.
 
aren’t there multiple, acceptable acts of contrition? There isn’t, I do not believe, and single form which is right over others of the same intent…
 
NO, I do not think the sacrament of Penance needs any revision. However, there are priests who are excellent confessors and then there are some who are completely at a loss as to counseling or advising the sinner. Not every priest has every talent in equal measure. The good news is that it is a good confession if we, the sinners do a thorough examination of conscience, confess our sins in a contrite and sincere manner and say a good act of contrition and perform whatever penance we are given. Jesus forgives us of our sins, regardless of how the priest may respond. Having a priest who gives bad advise is unsettling, but that in no way negates the benefit of the sacrament.
 
ZhaneAugustine said:
I’m not sure if revision is a good idea.

We DO need those outside the confessional to be respectful to those waiting for their turn, or for the priest and the peerson in the confessional.

We DO need for people to know their act of contrition and for priests to have them say it.
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I confessed for the first time at a different Church a few weeks ago, and they actually had a plaque on the wall of the Act of Contrition. I thought that was a novel idea. Certainly at least a solution for the second problem you raise.

Although, the priest I see most often says “please recite the Act of Contrition, or any other prayer of sorrow that you can”… so, is the Act of Contrition itself necessary for the Sacrament? or do you just need a prayer that is contrite?
 
chrisb said:
Yes. When anyone, most especially a Priest, excuses sin because of ‘human conditions’… he is either ignorant of the Faith or a modernist.
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We were not present in the confessional so we have only your side of the story. You may have made a mistake, or misunderstood but you can’t come here and expect us to sympathise with you against a priest based on what you say.
 
chrisb said:
A vast number of Roman Catholic Parishes are simply in decline and overwhelmed by secularism. My parish is very very liberal and frankly only a shadow of the true Church. Many of the Parish Priests are simply not teaching the Holy Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.

When you ‘know’ that what you’ve done is a sin and a Priest tells you that it’s ‘just the human condition’, that Priest doesn’t know or in is opposition of the Faith, period.

‘Grace’ gives us the means of transcending this ‘human condition’ so it, in and of itself, isn’t an excuse for us sinning. The Priest is participating in your sin by his defense of the sin committed, by his concealment of the sin, and by his consent of such sin.

I would encourage you to find a Father Confessor.
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I thought my parish was amongst few like yours. My focus is on the Mass. Sadly; and it hurts to say this…the Beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation seems to be the least celebrated in the Church. Only twice a year in my parish (Advent and Lent) is this Holy Sacrament made available. Is it the declining number of priest evident?

IMHO not enough is said by priests about this awesome sacrament. Its difficult to track a priest down when he arrives 20 minutes before Mass time and ask him if he’ll hear your confession. This is common complaint amongst many devout Catholics in my parish.

I go elsewhere to find a Father Confessor (Spiritual Director).

Does the Sacrament need revision? Not really…only that it need be encouraged more greatly in its importance from the Ambo by the Priest Himself.
 
Thank you all for responses. One example of what was said is that I felt bad that I had several times been embarrassed to discuss my involvement with the Church. I felt that this was a form of denial of God. He said it wasn’t. I asked for guidance on proper way to confess and what should be confessed since what I had said he didn’t consider sin. What he said was good… About opening God’s grace, but he said it is not about punishment. Then he said it had to be revised. I then asked if he could suggest any books to read up on the subject. He said none come to mind. I like him don’t get me wrong. His homilies are a bit to left wing for me (pro occupy, anti iraq) but when he stocks to spiritual things he is good.
 
Act of Contrition is not necessary for absolution, your contrition is. You can make up your own contrite prayer. In fact if you look up Act of Contrition you will find many different variations from solid Catholic sources.
 
thistle said:
We were not present in the confessional so we have only your side of the story. You may have made a mistake, or misunderstood but you can’t come here and expect us to sympathise with you against a priest based on what you say.
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I was not looking for sympathy. Where did you get that idea? I simply was confused. I was away the church a long time and recently came back. I was simply confused. Maybe this was a trend so I thought I would ask.
 
I was talking to a priest about this several months back and one of the comments he made which resonated with me, is that the world we live in these days makes it difficult to have a properly formed conscience. We are surrounded by things everyday that are in direct opposition to our faith. Considering the amount of time the majority of us spend in Church versus in the secular world, it is a difficult battle to fight at best. He went on to say that while it does not excuse sin, it does make the line a bit grayer in terms of ‘consent of the will’ and thus sinfulness; particularly if we are not talking about mortal sin.

I would suggest that the OP may wish to seek clarification from the priest to properly understand what the priest meant by the ‘human condition’ and that others might want to cut the priest some slack since we don’t have all of the knowledge needed to base such judgement.
 
We had a visiting priest over the weekend. He commented that a healthy parish is not necessarily one that has lots of people at Mass, but one that has lots of people going to Confession! 👍

He acknowledged that many people don’t go anymore then encouraged folks to go back if they had been away.

The sacrament is the sacrament. Perhaps its attitudes towards the sacrament that need to be revised.
 
jwinch2 said:
I was talking to a priest about this several months back and one of the comments he made which resonated with me, is that the world we live in these days makes it difficult to have a properly formed conscience. We are surrounded by things everyday that are in direct opposition to our faith. Considering the amount of time the majority of us spend in Church versus in the secular world, it is a difficult battle to fight at best. He went on to say that while it does not excuse sin, it does make the line a bit grayer in terms of ‘consent of the will’ and thus sinfulness; particularly if we are not talking about mortal sin.

I would suggest that the OP may wish to seek clarification from the priest to properly understand what the priest meant by the ‘human condition’ and that others might want to cut the priest some slack since we don’t have all of the knowledge needed to base such judgement.
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Well said.

-Tim-
 
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