Have i been confessing the wrong way?

[angell1]

have I been too vague in my confessions?

especially when I first started going, I didn’t give much detail in confession. is just saying “dishonesty” or “unchastity” not enough?

I also want’ really able to confess the number because I didn’t relaly know you had to and also because when I first started, I had such a pile-up, I didn’t even know hwo many times I had committed sins

the priests have never asked me to clarify though so I thought it was ok?

 

[St_Francis]

F the priests do not ask you to clarify, you are ok, so your past confessions are valid and those sins have been forgiven.

Sins against chastity might be a little vague if you are referring to something like adultery or fornication.

And dishonesty seems very vague: are you telling lies? If so, say so.

You should give an indication of the number of times, but it doesn’t have ti be a definite number like 7–you can say “a couple of times”, “2 or 3 times a month,” or “maybe 10 times over the past two years,” or “pretty much every day.” This is to give the priest a good idea of the habitualness of your sin.

I find that saying, “For these and all the sins of my past life, I am most heartily sorry,” helps me finish up and let’s the priest know I have finished

 

[sarah_j]

When I made my first confession…pre- Vatican II…we weren’t taught
that you had to give the number of times you committed each sin.
I’ve never had a priest prompt me to give the number of times.
The priest will let you know if you aren’t being clear enough.
But as the previous poster said, I do give the priest a rough
idea of how often I commit some sins… ( once, often, etc.)

Most churchs have little pamphlets that will help to guide you in
making a good examination of conscience.
Or you can find one on the internet. This looks like a good one:

beginningcatholic.com/catholic-examination-of-conscience.html

 

[brad90956]

When I confess my sins, I get specific but I do not go into detail about how or why I did it (unless my priest asks me). I state the specific sin I committed and don’t generalize it. God knows what specific sin you committed so you might as well tell him. I confess as if I’m talking directly to God.

You stated “unchastity” and “dishonesty”. Those are pretty general terms. I would get more specific than that.

There is no need to be embarrassed. The priest has heard everything before.

 

[1ke]

You are doing just fine.

If you have a grave sin (mortal) and you know the number of times you committed it, the say the number. If you don’t know, you don’t know. And you need not enumerate venial sins that way.

 

[SuperLuigi]

have I been too vague in my confessions?

especially when I first started going, I didn’t give much detail in confession. is just saying “dishonesty” or “unchastity” not enough?

I also want’ really able to confess the number because I didn’t relaly know you had to and also because when I first started, I had such a pile-up, I didn’t even know hwo many times I had committed sins

the priests have never asked me to clarify though so I thought it was ok?

I’m not really sure about the “unchasitity” part.

Please see Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin’s answer here:

jimmyakin.com/2007/03/specific_confes.html

Ultimately, I have to defer to all advice about Confession validity to your Confessor.