Good confession?

[Revert2Christ]

Hi,

I recently returned to the Church after falling away when I was about 15 years old.
After reverting to the Catholic faith I went to confession and I had to confess many bad things, including heresies. Worst of all, I turned to a false religion (Islam) and believed in it a couple of months. Although I never converted in public or visited a mosque, I know that this is a mortal sin.

Some weeks ago I confessed to my parish priest that I violated the 1st commandment by turning to a false religion and believing in another god. He gave me absolution, but I still have bad feelings about what I have done.

Was my confession valid or didn’t I tell enough?

 

[Bookcat]

Hi,

I recently returned to the Church after falling away when I was about 15 years old.
After reverting to the Catholic faith I went to confession and I had to confess many bad things, including heresies. Worst of all, I turned to a false religion (Islam) and believed in it a couple of months. Although I never converted in public or visited a mosque, I know that this is a mortal sin.

Some weeks ago I confessed to my parish priest that I violated the 1st commandment by turning to a false religion and believing in another god. He gave me absolution, but I still have bad feelings about what I have done.

Was my confession valid or didn’t I tell enough?

I take it that you make a complete confession of your mortal sins in kind and number (as you could reasonably do) when you returned but then you remembered this other thing?

So you confessed it in the last confession?

I assume you were seeking to make a good confession and not trying to hide anything. So I would think it was a good confession so far as the absolution goes…

But what you can do is simply say next time that it was that you turned to Islam for x period of time and believed it. (they do have the look to the same God of Abraham…so it is not really another God…for there is only one… even though they are mistaken about many things regarding God.)

Bad feelings can still persist…it may take time for them to go away…But take heart…and focus on Following Christ…I am sure Peter had much worse feelings then you or I! And yet he accepted the Lords forgiveness and love…and call…and followed him to the end…

 

[Revert2Christ]

I take it that you make a complete confession of your mortal sins in kind and number (as you could reasonably do) when you returned but then you remembered this other thing?

So you confessed it in the last confession?

Actually I made a bad confession before ( mainly because of little knowledge) , but I already confessed that.
And yes, I made a general confession and did my best not to leave anything out. But every time after confession I ask myself if I gave enough information or not.

 

[GKCT]

I am a revert too, and went to confession a few times before everything came out. The hardest thing is to forgive yourself. But this is something we have to do. Jesus forgives and forgets, and we have to do the same. Relax, you have done everything right. If you should think of something else, go to confession and tell the priest you remembered something else. I hope you are using the same confessor all the time. This way you don’t have to backtrack and explain anything. Welcome back.

 

[Bookcat]

Actually I made a bad confession before ( mainly because of little knowledge) , but I already confessed that.
And yes, I made a general confession and did my best not to leave anything out. But every time after confession I ask myself if I gave enough information or not.

Ok…so if you got “up to date” and fixed the bad confession with the general confession…(all mortal sins from the bad confession being mentioned along with the bad confession…though if it was from lack of knowledge…and you just forgot things etc…you may not have had a “bad confession” anyhow…)…

I will address things in general.

One wants to avoid scruples and scrupulosity in confession…or tendency towards such.

Remember too that one is only obliged to confess a mortal sin. Such goes for everyone.

So when you examine your conscience…start there. Am I conscious …of any mortal sins that I know of? You can go through your week etc and examine.

Note them to yourself in number and kind and one needs only the circumstance that “changes” the sin…like the gold cup you stole was the chalice from Church or the person you murdered was your brother.

Then after that …ask what venial sins have I committed? And then pick some of these…but do not concern yourself with any detail. I would suggest you limit yourself to say what you can count on one hand. And then intend all your sins that you are sorry for in general…

"I accuse myself of lustful thoughts 2x
and I murdered a person one time…he was my brother.

I also accuse myself ways I have not been good to my wife, of been impatient, of not working as well as I could, some intemperance and selfishness.

And all the sins of my life, especially against chastity and of anger (pick some category of sins your particularly sorry for from you life)."

Doubtful sins need not be confessed. If one does confess them say it is doubtful in some way.

If you forget a venial sin that you wanted to confess…but were sorry for all your sins…that it you were contrite for it…it was absolved…and need never be mentioned.

If say you want to confess a venial sin that you wanted to confess from before but forgot…you can just confess it if you like. But do not feel that you have to.

Also venial sins can be forgiven in many ways…such as the Our Father, act of contrition, reading Sacred Scripture, Holy Communion etc…though it is highly recommended to confess them…at least some of them …but I would not try to hunt them all down and round them all up for confession.

If you *forget *a mortal sin then you are obliged to confess it in the next confession once you remember (unless you forget it again!) But one need not run back to confession…such can be absolved “indirectly” in that absolution. No worries…For you either intended to be contrite for it and confess it…or in general you were contrite etc and not hiding it.

You do not need to give “too much info” …rather aim to be brief.

Then one must turn to Christ…and be thankful…seek to follow him with joy.

In him is true life.

Meditate on the reality of being a Christian…a son of light.

 

[Bookcat]

From the chief apologist at CA

jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2007/03/specific_confes.html

 

[Revert2Christ]

My problem is, that everyone says something different.Some people told me that I’m good to go because I confessed the general topic, others say that one has to tell the story in every detail, otherwise the confession is not valid.
Of course I understand that one should not make ambiguous statements.

In my first confession after years, I confessed that I turned away from the Church and denied the Catholic faith. This can of course mean everything.
But my statement “I turned to a false religion and thus violated the 1st commandment” is, in my eyes, unambiguous. The priest didn’t ask for any further information and just absolved me.

However I’m seriously considering to confess this again in detail, just to make sure it is done.

 

[Bookcat]

My problem is, that everyone says something different.Some people told me that I’m good to go because I confessed the general topic, others say that one has to tell the story in every detail, otherwise the confession is not valid.
Of course I understand that one should not make ambiguous statements.

In my first confession after years, I confessed that I turned away from the Church and denied the Catholic faith. This can of course mean everything.
But my statement “I turned to a false religion and thus violated the 1st commandment” is, in my eyes, unambiguous. The priest didn’t ask for any further information and just absolved me.

However I’m seriously considering to confess this again in detail, just to make sure it is done.

See the post from the Senior Apologist of Catholic Answers above…in my post above.

We can not just say “I broke the 6th commandment” but must say something like “I commmitted fornication 2 x” Or “fornication 2x” or “I had pre-maritial intercourse 2x”…

the Priest needs to know what it was…the “kind” …not in detail of course…but not “general” either.

And he needs to know the number (as one reasonably can of course…)

In your case you would perhaps say “for x number of months”

(and anything that changes the nature of the sin)

But in any case…

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE THE STORY IN EVERY DETAIL