Have you ever felt embarrassed to confess a sin to a priest?

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His mercy endures forever!

All the time. Every time. But we all fall short of the glory of God.
 
joclucsylv…

don’t be too concerned about scandalizing the priest you love and admire so… Priests have “heard it all before”…literally. And so many have told me that rather than being shocked by salacious sins, they are humbled to act “in persona Christi” to be able to hear such a confession, and give absolution. As for becoming an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, making frequent use of the sacrament of reconciliation makes you a better candidate rather than a worse one… We are all sinners…including your priest. When we try to avoid confessing our sins to a particular priest because of our personal feelings for them (good or otherwise), we are drifiting toward the sin of pride…the root of all sin. Perhaps confessing to your beloved priest is precisely what you need to be free of your attachment to this sin? In any event, i know how you feel. I love my pastor dearly…and I work in our church! Going to him is sometimes very difficult for me… And candidly, sometimes, I go elsewhere (in my embarrassment or my pride…) In the end, I try to remember that i am going to JESUS.

I also try to remember that my shame is nothing new: Adam and Eve hid from God… Peter told Jesus to depart from him because he was “a sinful man”… knowledge of God always leads us to knowledge of our sin. His Divine Mercy awaits us, though… all we have to do is seek it and ask
 
I think LilyM summed it all up perfectly. 👍

And, yes, I’ve been embarrassed by my sins. Especially when I keep confessing the same dang ones. :o

Sigh. I’m human, therefore I’m a sinner. I am called to pick up the pieces, confess my sins and do my best to sin no more. I also have to think long and hard about the WHY’s.
 
Sure. I think everyone does at times. Face it, sins are embarrassing - we can’t figure out why we commit them - especially if we’re “older” and supposed to be “wiser.” Its embarrassing to say “I did that again” Why do we do it? I don’t really know, but it
makes me feel so foolish… and a bit ungrateful to Our Lord for all He’s given us.

The perfect solution is to be healed of our pride that is prob. behind the embarrassment but while I’m working on that, I know it helps me to go to a priest I don’t know AND the thing that helps the MOST is to contemplate on God’s abundant mercy and to read the words of the saints - this really helps me put it in perspective.

Read the words in this video from St. Isidore. They’re really cool:
Be Reconciled to God
 
I do not feel embarrassed, but I feel ashamed. I thought that usually embarrassment is something that happens to us when we are exposed to something new/unusual that involves us personally, even a positive thing can be embarrassing.
 
I didn’t go to confession for 16 years, in part because I felt embarrassed of my sins. Then, the Friday before Palm Sunday, I met with my pastor and confessed. I left nothing out and was actually amazed at how easy it was to say some things I thought would be difficult to get out. I realized something- you SHOULD be embarrassed of your sins-after all, that means you know they are sins. What you SHOULDN’T be is SCARED to confess, and that was my real problem. God wants us to recieve forgiveness-that is why Jesus gave the apostles the power to bind and loosen. The priests will not think less of us- they will probably be happy that we come to confess. After all, the lines at the confessionals are usually much shorter than those at Communion…
 
=joclucsylv;7816412]Yes, I admit it. Some of my sins are really embarassing to confess. Does anyone else feel like I do?
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YEP! A very common occurence…WHY?

A God of Love and Mercy KNEW that if it were difficult it MIGHT be a deterent to sainning AGAIN. 👍

Love and payers,
Pat
 
It was much easier when the grill was in place. It supposed anonymity, but I remember once the priest asking me, “Is that you…?” I answered “Yes” and he said, “Come round” I then went round to the other side of the grill and confessed my sins. I had wanted to hide.
But I suppose it is much easier than in the Russian Orthodox Church where the priest covers the penitent with his vestments, then under the vestments the priest and the penitent “huddle together” and confession takes place. At least in the West we have separate chairs, sometimes there’s a screen between us.

Nowadays sometimes if it’s a child confessing the priest has a witness “just so as he’s protected from suspicion of misconduct” Perhaps in the traditional manner (with grill) this was not necessary.

I remember going into confess and because there was absolute silence starting my confession to be told, “Please wait until I’m finished confessing the other penitent”
 
Has anyone gone to confession feeling their weight of sin upon them to be told they have no sin?
I remember once going, confessing sins that I found quite troubling to be told by the priest I had no sins, that I only wanted a social outlet, and to meet him tomorrow at the presbytery.
 
KEVIN_WILCOX said:
Has anyone gone to confession feeling their weight of sin upon them to be told they have no sin?
I remember once going, confessing sins that I found quite troubling to be told by the priest I had no sins, that I only wanted a social outlet, and to meet him tomorrow at the presbytery.
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That doesn’t seem to be an appropriate response to a confession.
 
Sheadad

No, I don’t think so either, I left more troubled than the state in which I had arrived. Did I meet up with the priest afterward? No.
It stopped me from returning to the confessional for quite a while, I felt I was wasting everyone’s time. The experience was embarrassing.

It’s difficult to know what to confess, nowadays what is considered a sin seems a very grey area. I’ve confessed to leaving the Catholic Faith to follow “strange gods” to be told that is not a sin:shrug:

I don’t want to go off at a tangent but Catholic ethics since Vatican 2 appears to have gone into relativism - all things that were once considered sin appear to be questionable, e.g. abortion, contraception, sex before marriage.
 
KEVIN_WILCOX said:
Sheadad

No, I don’t think so either, I left more troubled than the state in which I had arrived. Did I meet up with the priest afterward? No.
It stopped me from returning to the confessional for quite a while, I felt I was wasting everyone’s time. The experience was embarrassing.

It’s difficult to know what to confess, nowadays what is considered a sin seems a very grey area. I’ve confessed to leaving the Catholic Faith to follow “strange gods” to be told that is not a sin:shrug:

I don’t want to go off at a tangent but Catholic ethics since Vatican 2 appears to have gone into relativism - all things that were once considered sin appear to be questionable, e.g. abortion, contraception, sex before marriage.
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Well I can tell you with most certainty that following a strange God is first and foremost although forgivable, it is a grave sin. Also, the church strictly prohibits all three of your examples. If you’re getting “mixed signals” in these areas, you’re being led astray. Don’t allow that kind of balogne to be propagated.
 
Maybe it takes a while to find a “competent” priest.
In the same way as it does to find a competent doctor - they may have the calling, may have passed the appropriate exams but application may be far from adequate.
(I hear some place one can “interview” and read reviews on a priest.)

It occurs to me that St John of the Cross wrote his books because (even then) expert spiritual directors were very few and far between.

There have been more saints made of the laity than of the Religious.

Should one constantly and continually be going to confession until one gets the answers one wants? Or expects?
 
I’m quickly approaching 40 and still find confession difficult. I think some degree of embarrassment/shame for the things we do wrong is healthy – it’s our conscience’s way of telling us that we are doing or have done something wrong.
 
KEVIN_WILCOX said:
There have been more saints made of the laity than of the Religious.
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There are far more laity in the world than religious, so this statistic, if true, wouldn’t surprise me. I have a hunch, though, that religious comprise a greater percentage of saints than of the general population.
 
KEVIN_WILCOX said:
Maybe it takes a while to find a “competent” priest.
In the same way as it does to find a competent doctor - they may have the calling, may have passed the appropriate exams but application may be far from adequate.
(I hear some place one can “interview” and read reviews on a priest.)

It occurs to me that St John of the Cross wrote his books because (even then) expert spiritual directors were very few and far between.

There have been more saints made of the laity than of the Religious.

Should one constantly and continually be going to confession until one gets the answers one wants? Or expects?
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Even if the priest doesn’t think your sins are as grave as you do, if he absolves you, you are absolved. You don’t need to continue to give the same confession until you get a priest who is “hard” on you.

There are times when the priests at my parish simply listen to your confession, give you your penance and absolve you. There is no scolding, admonitions, or advice. That is not necessary for confession. It is indeed wonderful when they can take the time to give everyone a few words of advice or scolding, but we have frequent confession times and there are still lines so they don’t always have the time.

Certainly it is perfectly acceptable to go to confession to several priests in your area and if one is particularly helpful to you, to continue to go to him However, if you are looking for spiritual guidance, please make an appointment for that outside of the regular confession times. Confession is not usually a long, tricky process and the folks in line behind you will appreciate it if you aren’t taking that time for a long discussion with the priest,
 
KEVIN_WILCOX said:
I don’t want to go off at a tangent but Catholic ethics since Vatican 2 appears to have gone into relativism - all things that were once considered sin appear to be questionable, e.g. abortion, contraception, sex before marriage.
Click to expand...
I think it’s often a matter of misguided compassion. Priests want to make sinners feel better, but unfortunately, some think they way to do this is to tell them they aren’t really sinners. Some are so worried about being too hard on sinners that they end up being to squishy. Unfortunately, without some pushing, this allows the sinners to be complacent in their sinfulness, and makes them wonder why they need the Church at all if they can be “basically good people” without her.

I do think the pendulum is gradually coming back the other way, as the priests I’ve encountered in more recent years seem more willing to call a spade a spade. I’ve also noticed that many of the “Father Squishies” I’ve known over the years have eventually left the priesthood. Perhaps they felt they weren’t making a real difference, but then, perhaps that was because they offered no incentive for anyone to strive toward greater holiness.

(It’s like having a personal trainer who always tells you that you look great and that you’re doing wonderfully, versus one who always wants to push you to the next level. Maybe that was the reason Jillian Michaels’ team beat the pants off Kim Lyons’ team a few years back on "The Biggest Loser.)
 
Update:

No, not anymore. Because, you must as a catholic always stick to the truth. No matter what. In order and by means to be close to God. Everything else is like fooling yourself, gambling with your soul and being dishonest to God.

Do you want that? Do you want to gamble with your soul. Do you want to do the same mistakes all over again? I asked myself this as of yesterday and the answer to all of them is: No, i do not wish to do that.
 
Mrs_Sally said:
Even if the priest doesn’t think your sins are as grave as you do, if he absolves you, you are absolved. You don’t need to continue to give the same confession until you get a priest who is “hard” on you.
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Absolutely correct, but what if the priest tells you that something wasn’t a sin, and therefore doesn’t offer absolution for it? (That’s not a rhetorical question – I’m honestly not sure.)
 
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