Forced Confession question

  • Thread starter Thread starter elizaveta01
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
elizaveta01 said:
Thanks to everyone for trying to help, but I am more torn than ever.

I did talk to the priest at length and the sin I would need to confess, according to him, is attending non-Catholic services. Not my missing Catholic mass or Easter duty. Which is part of the problem. From what I’ve read and studied it isn’t a sin to attend other services in my circumstances. I don’t believe I sinned by attending non-catholic services. And obviously a lot of you don’t either.

My problem isn’t in going to confession (which I did regularly for most of my life), it is in giving a confession that would basically be a lie.
Click to expand...
Pope John Paul VI gave this in 1964:
26. Common participation in worship (communicatio in sacris) which harms the unity of the Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law.(32)
vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html
 
The distinction needs to be made why you were going to the non Catholic Church-for what reason. Certainly the issue of being away from Sunday Mass for three years is something to confess-and presumably the priest is saying that by attending the non Catholic Church in that time was a type of apostasy, which is a rather large sin. That is the meaning I would take. how culpable you are depends on your knowledge and acceptance that the catholic Church was and always will be the one true Church of Jesus Christ. To formally leave knowing and believing that would have been a mortal sin as Vatican II taught. Only you can know how much you knew and believed three years ago. The easiest thing to say in Confession would be along the lines of “I left the Church for three years and attended a non Catholic Church for which I am deeply sorry, knowing that Salvation can only be found in the Catholic Church” (of course if that is the situation you felt back then)
Come home now. Think of the great joy you will give the whole company of Heaven by confessing this and returning to the flock of Christ.
God Bless you!
www.divinemercypopes.com
 
Vico said:
Pope John Paul VI gave this in 1964:
26. Common participation in worship (communicatio in sacris) which harms the unity of the Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law.(32)
vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html
Click to expand...
the key word being participation, yes?
Attending another church as an observer, without reciting their creed or ‘participating’ is not formal acceptance.
Do I have this right?
By the way, one church I have attended recites the same profession of faith, however…
 
elizaveta01 said:
I was Catholic from many years, but for about 3 years I have been going to a non-Catholic church. My reasons for doing this were personal, not religious. I can now resume attending the CC, but I have a problem.

In a conversation about coming back my local priest said that I would have to go to confession before I could start receiving communion again. I don’t have a problem with this per se. But during the conversation it became clear that he meant I would have to confess to the sin of attending a non-Catholic church. The problem is that I don’t believe it was a sin.

So now I’m having a moral dilemma. I really want to come back to the Church, but if I confess something without believing it to be a sin just to get the priest to commune me, wouldn’t that be a sin also? And wouldn’t the confession be invalid?

If not for this issue I would have already returned, but I just haven’t been able to find any way around this problem.
Click to expand...
Find another parish. What the priest has told you doesn’t seem really in keeping with the Church’s campaign to welcome home lapsed Catholics.
 
kag1982 said:
Find another parish. What the priest has told you doesn’t seem really in keeping with the Church’s campaign to welcome home lapsed Catholics.
Click to expand...
Confession isn’t part of welcoming home lapsed Catholics?
 
Gorgias said:
Confession isn’t part of welcoming home lapsed Catholics?
Click to expand...
It doesn’t seem like the priest is very understanding of the circumstances that caused the poster to leave. Priests in particular should realize that the Church has not always been welcoming and understanding and that many people have had bad experiences with the Church in the past. This priest doesn’t seem to be acting in a merciful or understanding priest. The OP should find another priest and parish. Missing Mass is sinful, but participating in another faith’s religious service is not sinful. If it was, then my parish must have been promoting sin when they sponsored a community service weekend with a local synagogue which included attending a Friday night Jewish service as part of the schedule. And bishops generally attend interreligious events.
 
Bookcat said:
It can be (see above)
Click to expand...
Yeah… I don’t believe that is the case. There is going to be some participation if you go to another church or religious institution. Such as singing, etc. I obviously wouldn’t take communion at a Lutheran church, but there is nothing against being a respectful guest and not a sullen observer. Saying it is sinful to attend other religion’s services seems to contradict interreligious dialogue.
 
cheezey said:
the key word being participation, yes?
Attending another church as an observer, without reciting their creed or ‘participating’ is not formal acceptance.
Do I have this right?
By the way, one church I have attended recites the same profession of faith, however…
Click to expand...
There is a more detailed document called* Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism* (1993).

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/general-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19930325_directory_en.html

Excerpts:

To Whom is the Directory Addressed
  1. The Directory is addressed to the Pastors of the Catholic Church, but it also concerns all the faithful, who are called to pray and work for the unity of Christians, under the direction of their Bishops. The Bishops, individually for their own dioceses, and collegially for the whole Church, are, under the authority of the Holy See, responsible for ecumenical policy and practice.5
***Aim of the Directory

*** 6. The new edition of the Directory is meant to be an instrument at the service of the whole Church and especially of those who are directly engaged in ecumenical activity in the Catholic Church. …

General Principles
  1. Christians may be encouraged to share in spiritual activities and resources, i.e., to share that spiritual heritage they have in common in a manner and to a degree appropriate to their present divided state.113
  2. The term “sharing in spiritual activities and resources” covers such things as prayer offered in common, sharing in liturgical worship in the strict sense, as described below in n. 116, as well as common use of sacred places and of all necessary objects.
***Prayer in Common

***115. Since the celebration of the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day is the foundation and centre of the whole liturgical year,120 Catholics—but those of Eastern Churches according to their own Law121—are obliged to attend Mass on that day and on days of precept.122 It is not advisable therefore to organize ecumenical services on Sundays, and it must be remembered that even when Catholics participate in ecumenical services or in services of other Churches and ecclesial Communities, the obligation of participating at Mass on these days remains.

***Sharing in Non-Sacramental Liturgical Worship
  1. By liturgical worship is meant worship carried out according to books, prescriptions and customs of a Church or ecclesial Community, presided over by a minister or delegate of that Church or Community. This liturgical worship may be of a non-sacramental kind, or may be the celebration of one or more of the Christian sacraments. The concern here is non-sacramental worship.
…
  1. In liturgical celebrations taking place in other Churches and ecclesial Communities, Catholics are encouraged to take part in the psalms, responses, hymns and common actions of the Church in which they are guests. If invited by their hosts, they may read a lesson or preach.
 
elizaveta01 said:
Thanks to everyone for trying to help, but I am more torn than ever.

I did talk to the priest at length and the sin I would need to confess, according to him, is attending non-Catholic services. Not my missing Catholic mass or Easter duty. Which is part of the problem. From what I’ve read and studied it isn’t a sin to attend other services in my circumstances. I don’t believe I sinned by attending non-catholic services. And obviously a lot of you don’t either.

My problem isn’t in going to confession (which I did regularly for most of my life), it is in giving a confession that would basically be a lie.
Click to expand...
Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, “have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders.” It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church, Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible. However these ecclesial communities, "when they commemorate the Lord’s death and resurrection in the Holy Supper . . . profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory” – Paragraph 1400 CCC

You’re allowed to attend the services of these communities but not permitted to receive communion from them.
 
kag1982 said:
Yeah…
Click to expand...
While yes there can be good reasons for me visiting a community (I have done so) --and no sin involved. (we love our fellow Christian brothers and can be very edified by them)

(though there is of course that which cannot be “done” while visiting -even aside from not participating in a communion service – I am not going to for example profess their beliefs or affirm the things they have incorrect))

I needed to note that it can also be a* sin* at times.

For *example *leaving the Church to do so – or endangering ones Faith, causing scandal or indifferntism etc.

Though someone might not realize such and thus may have lessened culpability…they may not have say a clue that what they do is not good etc
 
Vico said:
Pope John Paul VI gave this in 1964:
26. Common participation in worship (communicatio in sacris) which harms the unity of the Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law.(32)
vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html
Click to expand...
Right, this is important. Superstition is the act by which we render false worship to the true God or true worship to false gods. Presumably there may be some doubt about the OP’s guilt for superstition but he seems to be advising her, nevertheless, to confess them.
 
To the O.P.

If your priest has advised you that something is a sin, and instructed you to confess it, and you dissagre: I would strongly advise raising this matter in the confessional, or during spiritual direction.

Playing a game of chinese whispers and asking for advice on the internet based on partial information about your conversation with your priest is a situation that is very likely to get you bad advice from people who have misunderstood the situation, or are ill-informed in other ways.

Now If your priest is telling you something about the official teaching of the church and you have an honest doubt or difficulty with that teaching, then this is something else which should be discussed in Confession or Spiritual Direction.

It is a mortal sin to hold Obstinate Doubt, or to refuse to accept the teachings of the Church, but honest and reasonable doubt or misunderstanding is not a sin if you are honestly and earnestly searching for the truth.

It is impossible to commit a mortal sin if you genuinely and reasonably did not know or reasonably believed that the act was not gravely sinful. this is called Invincible Ignorance.
Invincible Ignorance, however is nullified by Obstinate Doubt or deliberate rejection of the church’s teaching (Heresy, Apostacy etc.)

Your priest is trying to convince you of the importance of the actions and ensure you have an opportunity to realign your beliefs with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

As others have said it is absolutely fine to say “I have been told I must confess this but I don’t believe I have sinned, please help me to understand, I don’t want to be in sin.”

face to face with a priest in confession, or a priest, deacon or catechist in Spiritual Direction are very much the best times for this. In a scheduled confession time, with a queue behind you is not a time when the priest can go into a long period of instruction, so an appointment for spiritual direction, including confession may be better for you.

God Bless and I hope you find your way home.

Ruairi.
 
kag1982 said:
Find another parish. What the priest has told you doesn’t seem really in keeping with the Church’s campaign to welcome home lapsed Catholics.
Click to expand...
Actually that is incorrect…it is very in line with welcoming home lapsed Catholics. I used to be a lapsed Catholic and now I work with the program. Here is the thing…reconciliation is about being reconcilied to God and to the Church. If you left and are attending other services…you have turned your back on the Church. Yes…you are welcomed back but you do need reconciling. It’s worse if you were receiving communion at that other church.

Been there…done that…confessed it…feel MUCH better. But it did take me a process to recognize it as sin…
 
I once had a confessor who said offhanded things like “I wouldn’t worry too much about it” when I confessed a certain mortal sin. It was abundantly clear that he disagreed with Church teaching on that. Yet I persisted in confessing it and eventually I was able to avoid the sin altogether, through the grace of God. Now you have the opposite situation. I would say that if I had a confessor who told me something was a sin, but I felt it was not, I would still confess that thing and avoid doing it. The consequences of NOT confessing a thing and persisting in doing it are dire if I am wrong. It is therefore important to find a confessor who will not lead you astray in either direction but will help you conform your conscience to the mind of the Church. I would say that this priest is not a good confessor for you and to find another.
 
Have you considered going back to the priest and discussing this problem. I think that would be my first step. I would not go with the idea of changing his mind, but rather to together examine the components of the issue. On your part, what leads you to believe that attending another Christian church was not a sinful act, what were your motives, and intriguingly, why did you have to attend. On the part of the priest, what is the reasoning behind considering this a sinful act. Do you meet those criteria or was there something else going on?

My best to you. God Bless.
 
Annabelle_Marie said:
Actually that is incorrect…it is very in line with welcoming home lapsed Catholics. I used to be a lapsed Catholic and now I work with the program. Here is the thing…reconciliation is about being reconcilied to God and to the Church. If you left and are attending other services…you have turned your back on the Church. Yes…you are welcomed back but you do need reconciling. It’s worse if you were receiving communion at that other church.

Been there…done that…confessed it…feel MUCH better. But it did take me a process to recognize it as sin…
Click to expand...
Umm I’ve NEVER felt much better after a confession but that is a whole other story. Confession was always taught to me as a severe punishment. In fact, the nuns used to use confession as a discipline tool and used to threaten to go into the confessional with the bad kids. I like the Pope’s take on confession but I don’t think I’ll ever approach the sacrament with fear and near illness. (Ask me about my bad confession experiences*).

But that isn’t the question. Main question is that the poster is being asked to declare attending another church a sin. It is not per say. A pastor who isn’t gentle and welcoming to people who are returning to Mass is really turning people off.
 
kag1982 said:
Umm I’ve NEVER felt much better after a confession but that is a whole other story. Confession was always taught to me as a severe punishment. In fact, the nuns used to use confession as a discipline tool and used to threaten to go into the confessional with the bad kids. I like the Pope’s take on confession but I don’t think I’ll ever approach the sacrament with fear and near illness. (Ask me about my bad confession experiences*).

But that isn’t the question. Main question is that the poster is being asked to declare attending another church a sin. It is not per say. A pastor who isn’t gentle and welcoming to people who are returning to Mass is really turning people off.
Click to expand...
I don’t believe the OP said that he wasn’t welcoming…but just because the priest says it is a sin does not mean he isn’t welcoming. We must not forgo truth…

And yes I do feel better after confession…not such a weight on my soul…not that for a long time I wasn’t always terrified to go in…until I started reminding myself that it’s Christ who waits for us in the confessional…
 
On my confession app…1st commandment - it asks “have I formally or informally left the Catholic Church”…going to a non-Catholic community for 3 years…seems to me to fit the bill…
 
Annabelle_Marie said:
I don’t believe the OP said that he wasn’t welcoming…but just because the priest says it is a sin does not mean he isn’t welcoming. We must not forgo truth…

And yes I do feel better after confession…not such a weight on my soul…not that for a long time I wasn’t always terrified to go in…until I started reminding myself that it’s Christ who waits for us in the confessional…
Click to expand...
Umm… So saying that other religions are sinful is how one expresses interreligious dialogue. That works well with outreach… The poster should find another priest because her current one doesn’t strike me as very welcoming or reassuring. He really “doesn’t smell like his sheep.”

And no… I never feel the weight of God’s forgiveness when I go to confession. It is a yucky obligation I have to do. I get nothing from it. (*Please ask me about my bad confession experiences.) Perhaps if Catholic nuns didn’t threaten confession for “bad children” then the whole experience would be better.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top