Going to confession ASAP

[XXI_4]

What you describe as the Eastern experience is what Latins experience if they are privileged enough to have a spiritual director. Of course, that is an ideal and not realistic for everyone. There are literally thousands of faithful per priest after all…
Face to face confession is also very common in the Latin Church in recent decades.

To be fair, many Eastern catholics (particularly Maronites) don’t have a spiritual director. Perhaps I shouldn’t have used that term in my description. I don’t have one, my pastor doesn’t do spiritual direction. He actually referred me to the local Franciscans. What I meant was more that it feels like having a spiritual director in this context.

I didn’t realize that face-to-face confession was that popular in the Western church now. And I hadn’t considered the sheer volume of parishioners to priests in West vs. East either. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

That makes no sense unless you’re talking about spiritual direction vs the Mystery of Repentance aka Sacrament of Penance.

 

[Socrates92]

Hmm interesting. I guess I always assumed that spiritual fathers were priests, especially if they were hearing “confessions”. Silly me. I’m still confused though. Didn’t Christ essentially order the institution of our sacrament of confession when he talked about binding and loosing and the commandment to forgive sins? Was absolution not required for the remission of lesser mortal sins back in the day?

 

[Kmon23]

IDK why the current Latin discipline is that no mortal sin = always allowed to receive communion. In the early church and early confessionals, it’s quite common that after confession/absolution, the penance may include several years of excommunication (not in the Latin sense of you are in trouble, just means you can’t receive communion). Although not as common nowadays in Eastern Orthodoxy, I have met priests who told me to wait X days before receiving communion.

If I remember correctly for the early church, adultery meant you can only receive communion on your deathbed, and in the byzantine empire, remarriage (whether the previous spouse is alive or not) is 3 years no communion, and self-fornication 1 year’s excommunication? Don’t quote me, it’s been a while since I’ve studied this.

 

[Vico]

…

Eastern Catholic Canon Law CCEO

Canon 719 - Anyone who is aware of serious sin is to receive the sacrament of penance as soon as possible; it is strongly recommended to all the Christian faithful that they receive this sacrament frequently especially during the times of fasts and penance observed in their own Church sui iuris.