Have I made a bad confession?

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BonnieBj

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I recently returned to the Church after 20+ years as a Protestant (Church of God, then Southern Baptist). I was a cradle Catholic. During those years away I naturally committed many sins. As a Protestant, I was taught that I should just go to Jesus in private prayer and confess my sins and repent and they would be forgiven me.

OK, so now I’m back in the Church. I’m a weekly communicant and attend Mass every Sunday, and am an EMHC. While studying to make my confession to return to the Church there was nothing saying I needed to confess all the sins of that period that I was away, so when I went to our priest to confess I did not include any of thoses sins, just the ones that I had committed between the time I made the decision and went to confession.

Because of not mentioning those sins because I thought they were forgiven and done with and so not having confessed them, did I make a bad confession? Do I need to go to confession again for this before I again take Communion or act as an EMHC? I need to know quickly so I can do whatever I need to do by the weekend.
 
Why not make a general confession? One can do that at any point, I believe.

Simply tell your priest that you were unaware of or misunderstood what needed to be confessed at the period that you returned to the church, and then go over in a general way the sins of that 20 or so years, without enumerating each and every one since really you can’t possibly remember, but just give a general idea.

I’ll say an extra decade for you.
 
I too converted after having grown up in a Protestant church. During RCIA, my instructor told us (wrongly!) that no General Confession was necessary–for our First Confession, we were only to include our current sins. I later found out that this was not correct, and the next time I went to Confession after that, I briefly told the priest that I had unconfessed sins from my pre-Catholic days and stated all the mortal sins I could remember in general terms. Even still, whenever I remember an unconfessed mortal sin from my past (even distant past), I include it in my Confession the following week. As the other poster said, I would suggest you go to Confession before receiving or distributing the Eucharist again, just to be sure that your soul is free of moral sin.
 
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BonnieBj:
Because of not mentioning those sins because I thought they were forgiven and done with and so not having confessed them, did I make a bad confession? Do I need to go to confession again for this before I again take Communion or act as an EMHC? I need to know quickly so I can do whatever I need to do by the weekend.
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No you did not make a bad confession. You do need to confess these sins the next time you go to confession. These sins were actually forgiven in your confession as long as you did not deliberatly withhold them.
 
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cmcruz:
my instructor told us (wrongly!) that no General Confession was necessary–for our First Confession, we were only to include our current sins.
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AAAaaarrgghhhh! :banghead: WHERE do these people GET this stuff? I was told that “a general confession doesn’t include the sins of your whole life,” and “childhood doesn’t belong here.”

I made sure that the priest who heard my general confession wasn’t going to confuse a careful, detailed confession with a “scrupulous” one.

So, Bonnie, a “bad” confession is one in which you deliberately omit something you know you need to confess. Good advice (as usual) from Tantum ergo.
 
cmcruz,

Don’t feel bad. Our previous pastor didn’t have the RCIA candidates go to Confession at all, even those with previous valid Baptisms who should have had a General Confession. :mad:

BonnieBj,

I came back to Confession after 20+ years too. Congratulations and welcome back. Father walked me through the whole thing. I won’t say it was easy and I kept remember sins to confess from the past for a few confessions going forward. When you go back, simply tell Father that there are sins that you ommited from your last Confession and ask for his help.

Sins you forget are forgiven. Sins that you omit purposely are not (nor are the rest of the sins you confess at that Confession). I don’t know about sins you omit purposely due to faulty information. Turn it over to Father (in persona Christi) and be at peace.
 
could we talk about sins. i have a hard time thinking of sins. i know i sin everyday but i am a stay at home mom and i have a bit of a boring life. i have some big sins i know of. how about the daily ones. examples?? i am sure i have done it. and can anyone explain mortal and venial sins?
 
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stayathomemommy:
could we talk about sins. i have a hard time thinking of sins. i know i sin everyday but i am a stay at home mom and i have a bit of a boring life. i have some big sins i know of. how about the daily ones. examples?? i am sure i have done it. and can anyone explain mortal and venial sins?
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Click here for a very complete examination of conscience which distinguishes between mortal and venial sins. Also on this page are links to examinations of conscience for children.

There are three conditions necessary to make a sin mortal:
First, the action must be seriously wrong or thought to be seriously wrong.
Second, there must be full knowledge of the evil of the act.
Third, there must be full and free consent of the will to commit the act.

If you do something that is seriously wrong and find out only later that it is sinful, you have not committed a mortal sin, but if you do it again, after you learn about it, that would be a mortal sin, if you consented freely.

Venial sins are bad actions that do not meet all of the above criteria. It can be that the action is less seriously wrong than a mortal sin, or the sinner is unaware of how seriously wrong the act is, or may commit the act without full consent.

For your confession to be valid, all mortal sins of which you are aware must be confessed. If you forget one and remember it later, it is forgiven, but must be confessed next time. If you intentionally leave one out, you invalidate your confession and commit an additional sin of sacrilege.

Confessing venial sins is optional, but highly recommended. If you only have venial sins, it is fine to confess them. If you have some venial sins that you are not ready to let go of right now, do not confess them, expecting them to be forgiven. The only sins that are forgiven are the ones we intend to stop committing. With venial sins, it is acceptable to take a one-step-at-a-time approach and confess some and work specifically to eliminate them, while waiting to tackle the others until later. Remember, though, that it is not good to keep our “pet” venial sins without making an effort to eradicate them. Even though they do not kill the life of grace in our souls, they still prevent us from reaching the degree of holiness to which God calls us.

Hope this helps.

Betsy
 
If a person in good faith makes a good confession to the best of their ability, then all their sins are forgiven. If later you start thinking that maybe you forgot something, it was forgiven. Fr. Corapi was very clear about this in one of his classes. Otherwise, you can become scrupulous. The evil one loves to play on peoples’ minds through false guilt.
God Bless
Deacon Tony SFO
 
Deacon Tony560:
Otherwise, you can become scrupulous. The evil one loves to play on peoples’ minds through false guilt.
God Bless
Deacon Tony SFO
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To me this is one of the most important advantages of confessing to a priest. The first time I had ever heard this was soon after my first confession in 13 years, during a homily that seems like it was written especially for me.

My favorite priest listens to my sins, gives the best council, and takes the time thats necessary no matter how long the confession line is.
 
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