How do priests go to confession?

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Irishmom2 said:
How is that any more awkward than anyone else that confesses face to face?
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I could see it being awkward if one of my sins involved one of the other guys in the rectory if I was a priest. “Yeah, the last cookie? I lied. I took it.”
 
Fauken said:
I could see it being awkward if one of my sins involved one of the other guys in the rectory if I was a priest. “Yeah, the last cookie? I lied. I took it.”
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LOL.

You’re right, I think the priests tend to confess to priests they don’t work with or live with, if they can. I also know of pastors who insist that the people on their parish staff find someone else as a confessor, because they want their staff members to feel totally free when they are in the confessional.

(He needs to own up to taking the last cookie, though! It isn’t like anybody believes the rectory ghost ate it.)
 
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PetraG said:
I also know of pastors who insist that the people on their parish staff find someone else as a confessor, because they want their staff members to feel totally free when they are in the confessional.
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I’ve heard of that. When I was worked at a parish I asked a coworker what their thoughts were about confessing to your boss and they said don’t do it
 
Irishmom2 said:
I don’t know if I see that as any different than saying it about my home life.
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You aren’t normally confessing you lied about the last cookie though and possibly other embarrassing sins to your family members though, are you?
 
Fauken said:
You aren’t normally confessing you lied about the last cookie though and possibly other embarrassing sins to your family members though, are you?
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Why wouldn’t you? When you freely admit it when you’ve wronged someone, they trust you more, not less.
 
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PetraG said:
Why wouldn’t you? When you freely admit it when you’ve wronged someone, they trust you more, not less.
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Depends on what it is. If, for example, I fantasized over one of my guy friends, I am definitely not going to tell him about it even though I very wrongfully objectified him.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
Well, yes, for a priest, they are indeed a “special class of sin”. Priests make a promise of celibacy or, if they are religious order priest, they take a vow of chastity.
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They make a lot of promises, including baptismal vows, and violating any one of them, sexually or otherwise, is a sin. Sexual sins are not a special class of mortal sin.
HomeschoolDad said:
Yes, it is a private matter — aside from that more modern notion of “being reconciled to the community” — but as I said above, we look to priests to set an example.
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There’s no “but” here. It’s a private matter. If you’re worried that your priest is failing to “set an example,” pray for him. If it’s more severe than that, talk to your bishop. But stay assured that priests are required to confess like the rest of us. That’s really all we need to know.
PetraG said:
Well, actually, when somebody tells you to do such-and-so, that is an opening to ask how they personally approach the task. I don’t think that means we get to ask for a health history from our physicians, but just that if a doctor tells us to take up some general good practice it isn’t out of place to ask the doctor how he or she manages to do it.
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My priest is very up front in his homilies about how we should live and how he specifically has failed to live that way. Being honest about one’s faults is the best buffer against moral hypocrisy.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Well, yes, for a priest, they are indeed a “special class of sin”.
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No, sexual sin is sexual sin. Whether it is a sin for you or a sin for a priest makes no difference if it is considered a sin for our state in life. You want to assign a higher standard where there is none. We all sin. We may sin differently, but it is still sin.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
Well, yes, for a priest, they are indeed a “special class of sin”. Priests make a promise of celibacy or, if they are religious order priest, they take a vow of chastity.
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Sex outside of marriage isn’t less of a mortal sin for a layperson than for a priest. When someone marries and has sex outside of marriage, they’ve violated a vow made before God just as surely as a priest has.
As for the point that a priest has a special duty to holiness, that would apply for embezzlement or character assassination or any of a number of other things, not just sexual sins. Our Lord was particularly harsh towards the religious authorities, for instance, for offenses committed against mercy from a position of religious authority.
 
Fauken said:
Depends on what it is. If, for example, I fantasized over one of my guy friends, I am definitely not going to tell him about it even though I very wrongfully objectified him.
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That’s not admission to stealing a cookie, though. That is compounding a sin by how you relate it to the victim, rather than opening up an avenue for making amends (such as by conceding some of your cookies the next time the jar is filled). Mostly, however, when a cookie has been taken and everybody knows it, the person who confesses his or her guilt also declares the innocence of everyone else under suspicion as well as admitting his or her own capacity to do such a thing.
 
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Fauken said:
If, for example, I fantasized over one of my guy friends, I am definitely not going to tell him about it even though I very wrongfully objectified him.
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Can’t imagine why you wouldn’t tell him, I can’t imagine that being awkward at all. 😬
 
They go to confession as you and I do. Some have a brother priest who is their standard confessor, sometimes they go to whomever is sitting in the box that day, they go as often as they need to.
 
From what I understand, it depends:
  1. if it’s a normal sin that every priests commits, I’m sure they simple walk/drive into the office of their personal confessor or ask a fellow priest in their rectory to hear their confession
  2. if it’s a sin where they want it to be anonymous, I’m sure they do what we do… go to another church, stand in line & and confess behind the screen (but if they are looking to be anonymous, they may or maynot wear street clothes)
NOTE: even when confessing anonymously, the priest must tell the confessor that he’s a priest, just like we should be telling our confessors if we are married or single, member of religious order, etc.

God Bless
 
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Glennon_P said:
Heard a funny story about a seminarian who went to Confession at a parish near the seminary.
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I was once in a Confession line next to a seminarian, who was wearing his cassock, when at the Cathedral. We spent the entire time in line chatting with one another. He said he was in line because the priest we were waiting to confess to was his assigned confessor from the Seminary.

He said he had an assigned confessor and an assigned spiritual director.
 
VonDerTann said:
Priests have surely heard EVERYTHING in the confessional.

I wonder if it wears on them. It must.
I would think/hope that, were I a priest, the chance to counsel folks in confession would be one of the more enjoyable/uplifting parts of the job, but I really don’t know.
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From what I’ve heard from Priests, it often inspires them… esp when it’s a tough confession because it takes courage to make a good confession.
 
Irishmom2 said:
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HomeschoolDad:
Do priests in parishes with multiple priests confess to each other? And isn’t that a bit awkward?
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How is that any more awkward than anyone else that confesses face to face?
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Well, to be fair… I know some parish employees who refuse to confess to the pastor (their boss) and refuse to confess to the vicar (their co-worker). The ones I know always confess at a different parish, even though the are members of the parish they work at.
 
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