How do you personally go to Confession?

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Correct, because it is not spiritual direction which would take another forum.
 
It drives my husband and I nuts when people treat the confessional booth as a therapy session and are in there for 20-30 mins.
On occasion, my husband and I would visit a chapel in downtown for confessio. I was fourth in line and waited almost 45 mins to make it through 2 people. My husband had the kids and came in to get me out because it was taking way too long and he had to go to work…that was disappointing.
It drives me even more nuts when priests hold you hostage. I went in once at my parish for a guest priest…and had plans for a very, very quick confession. They priest held me in there for a good 15-20 mins talking and talking about one thing.
I stopped listening after 5 mins and started to stress because their was a line out there.
 
Thascius said:
we become scrupulous
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Nope. Scruples and legalism are two major pitfalls for any religious person, but especially for Roman Catholics.

The SEVERE cases of scruples and legalism I see in people on these forums occasionally never ceases to amaze me.

The Roman Church would certainly do well to gaze toward the Orient to combat scrupulosity and legalistic tendencies in the Church - the medicine to fight scruples and legalism are a reliance on Divine Grace and an appreciation for Mystery.
 
This past Saturday there were two people ahead of me and another woman, plus a man behind me. Confessions are from 4:00 to 4:45 on Saturday and when it’s time for Msgr. to stop at 4:45, he stops hearing confessions then but this Priest hearing Confessions wasn’t Msgr

There was one woman just ahead of me, plus two other people ahead of her. These others two took forever. I almost asked the lady ahead of me if they were dictating their autobiography in there. Our church bells ring every 15 minutes so we knew when it was 4:45. I was looking at the time on my phone and so was she. But bless Father, he continued to hear everyone’s confessions, even though they continued into the beginning of Mass. (He wasn’t the celebrant).
 
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Or to visit places where the Church is driven under ground and it becomes a question of survival rather than obtuse rigidiity and criticizing the padres fro trivialities such as posture, prayers he uses and vestments.
 
Gabika50 said:
to visit places where the Church is driven under ground and it becomes a question of survival rather than obtuse rigidiity and criticizing the padres fro trivialities such as posture, prayers he uses and vestments.
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Exactly!

Doesn’t it seem odd no major schisms happened in the Church between the years A.D. 30 and A.D. 325? (well, with the exception of Gnostics who were never in the Church to begin with… I mean whole established Catholic Churches and diocese breaking away from the rest of the Church.)

The reason why? During those years the Church was underground and being persecuted.

The first major schisms in the Church happened in 325 and 431, when the Arians went into schism after Nicea and when the Assyrians went into schism after Ephesus.

But isn’t it interesting how all the theological disputes became non issues in time of persecution?

It’s similar to clergy during WWII - it wasn’t uncommon to have Catholic Priests, Orthodox Priests, and Protestant ministers all celebrating liturgies and sharing communion together.
 
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ChristMyLife said:
Doesn’t it seem odd no major schisms happened in the Church between the years A.D. 30 and A.D. 325? (well, with the exception of Gnostics who were never in the Church to begin with… I mean whole established Catholic Churches and diocese breaking away from the rest of the Church.)

The reason why? During those years the Church was underground and being persecuted.

The first major schisms in the Church happened in 325 and 431, when the Arians went into schism after Nicea and when the Assyrians went into schism after Ephesus.

But isn’t it interesting how all the theological disputes became non issues in time of persecution?

It’s similar to clergy during WWII - it wasn’t uncommon to have Catholic Priests, Orthodox Priests, and Protestant ministers all celebrating liturgies and sharing communion together.
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I’ve heard it said here and elsewhere by Arab/Middle Eastern Christians in particular that this is the case even today after the schisms wherever there is significant persecution of Christians. The Syriacs intercommune with the Latins who in turn intercommune with the Copts, who intercommune with the Melkites, and on with the Assyrians, etc. despite whatever their mother church’s official rules may be. I guess when your people are being systematically murdered the last thing on your mind is the intricacies of the Filioque Controversy, Papal Primacy, how many natures Christ has, or whose names are mentioned in the Canon and where. You begin to have a very literal sense of “compassion” for each other given your shared suffering.

I think in a way we’ve seen a much smaller version of that in the West wherever secularism has become more belligerent. Consider that just a couple generations ago Protestants had strictly defined ecclesial communions and Catholics were strictly forbidden from even entering a Protestant building unless it was for a wedding or funeral. The whole ecumenical movement in the West I don’t think would’ve ever come to fruition if it weren’t for aggressive secularism and Christians feeling that they have a shared plight with one another.
 
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Same. I’ve never been asked to divulge the number of times I sinned, but I usually will give some idea, like “often”, “a few times”, or something like that.
 
ChristMyLife said:
God is not a legalist.

The Roman Rite requirement the sins are confessed in number as well as kind is so that the Priest can better counsel the penitent, not because God forgot how many times you did something.

If you’re not sure of an exact number, it suffices just fine to say “I did x almost every day for the past 6 months” or “I’ve been occasionally doing x” or “I’ve done x several times” or “I commited x about a dozen times.”

You get the point…
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This - nor is God an accountant for that matter (apologies to any accountants on the forum). Some people come to the confessional after years away - in some cases, it’s been so long they don’t even know how long. Especially in such cases - but not exclusively - it can be very difficult for the penitent to know where to begin let alone how to continue. Others may take time to build up to the serious stuff (often out of embarrassment) while others still have a lot they need to get off of their chest and somewhere in all of it is the key to what’s really going on in their life. In other words, it takes as long as it takes and patience, is after all, a virtue - for both confessors and penitents alike! So yes, some people take longer than others, longer than we’d prefer they did but God is at work in their lives, and His work is not something to be rushed; His time is not our time.
 
I think Jesus’ forgiveness doesn’t depend on a tiny detail. Of course we should try do to it the way we are supposed to, but I do personally believe that you are forgiven whether you remember to mention the numbers of times you committed a mortal sin or if you forget to.
 
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As per the teaching of the Council of Trent, in order that you may recieve absolution validly, you must confess all of your mortal sins in kind and number. If you cannot remember the exact number, you must make a specific approximation, such as: “I accuse myself of stealing (a large sum of money), about 2 times a day for the last 4 days.”
 
One padre defined ecumenism as You–come-in-ism. Given the present blurring of the lines and sheepish attitude of many Catholics, this definition is becoming all too popular!
 
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