Feeling a bit lost; can you help?

[Albany]

Hello Father,

I find myself in an awful situation. I returned to the Sacrament of Confession about three years ago. I couldn’t face going to my own parish priest because, although he’s nice, he makes me really nervous. So I went to another parish and confessed to the priest there and although he was really old he was brilliant. I’m one of those who try to rush through the sacrament to get it over with as quickly as possible but he always had a lot of time for me and understood where I was coming from. He was also really friendly and did not expect too much from me.
However he has recently been re-located to another parish and I find myself without my confessor. The last time I went to confession was the week before Easter and, although I always dreaded going, I miss it. I’m only twenty and I worry that I’ll never go to confession again. I know the obvious answer is to go to another priest for confession but it’s honestly not that easy. I also don’t want to make a long travel to the parish my confessor was sent to because I’d look a bit pathetic doing that. So I’m feeling a bit lost.
Also I love being a catholic or to be exact I love Jesus becuase He’s wonderful and I thought about changing religion for no other reason than curiosity and a new experience and viewpoint. What do you think about that?

If you have the time please reply.

All the best and God bless.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

What do I think about your changing religion? Not much! Religion is not a matter of taste or satisfying curiosity. I would hope that you would go beyond your subjective preferences and embrace a religion for its objective truth. I’m a Catholic because what it teaches is true. It has no other founder than our Lord, Jesus Christ. Since it is the oldest form of Christianity, I judge all other forms of Christianity by it. None of them can equal it. All of them are a reaction to it in some way or another.

As for finding a confessor, what is important is that he can absolve you of your sins. His personality and style are secondary. If you knew you were going to die next week, you wouldn’t care about how easy the priest is to talk to, you would be intent on having your sins forgiven. Well, you don’t know that you won’t die next week. So forget the anxiety and embrace the Lord in this life-giving sacrament. He suffered greatly that you might have access to it. You are in our prayers.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.