No, you must make sure she either goes to Confession (preferably) or does not receive at all, if she does not go to Confession. Receiving the Blessed Sacrament in the state of mortal sin is literally the worst possible isn one can commit, as it is equal to killing Christ Himself on the Cross, as the jews did 2000 years ago.Instead of answering this question I would like to ask an opinion. If you had a good friend who hadn’t been going to mass and you encouraged this friend to go to mass… is it also your responsibility to make sure your friend goes to confession before he/she receives? It’s surprising the number of people out here on the left coast who feel they don’t need to go to confession because they haven’t sinned. (?that sounds like the sin of pride to me?) I presented this question to a left coast nun who told me I should just be happy the person is going to church and not worry about whether he/she has gone to confession.
You cannot receive the Blessed Sacrament until you have received absolution in Confession of any mortal sins.
For a sin to be mortal the person sinning must "believe" it is grevious. There are hundreds of Catholics who are convinced they haven't committed any sins. They are probably comparing themselves with thieves, murderers, adulterers, etc. These people are so far to the left that they believe you and I are uptight and we should loosen up. In their eyes you and I are guilty of intolerance. I am surrounded with people like that here on the left coast. I am the odd one. The broken record argument that the "tolerant" Catholics keep playing is "If you don't think it is a sin....it 'aint'" Even Father Pacwa says you can only commit a grievious sin if you believe it is a grevious sin. All the abortion-promoters honestly think they are just being "tolerant". Then there are others who haven't committed any public sins. They just don't think it is a mortal sin to frequently miss mass and not go to confession once a year. After all, all their protestant or non-church going friends aren't going to go to hell if they don't go to church every Sunday. Are "semi-lapsed Catholics" worse off then lapsed Catholics who don't go to church at all? I think my nun friend believes there is still hope for the "semi-lapsed" and if the person honestly believes they are in the state of grace it is not up to me to keep them away from church.I don’t think anyone whatsoever has the right to tell you how often or how little you need to go to Confession! This REALLY, REALLY, irritates and frustrates me!:banghead: It happens too often unfortunately - it’s happened to me. For a time I was going every week, not because I was any greater sinner than anyone else at the time, but simply because I get so much benefit from Confession and I feel it helps me sort of ‘stay accountable’–to God but also to myself. I stopped this practice because I got so tired of priests and even friends criticising me for it, saying that I was wasting the priest’s time and/or being overly scruoulous! I thought the Church, and the Pope in particular, actually
i would back off of the ‘making sure’ comment, myself. i don’t think it’s a good idea to be the ‘mortal sin’ police, only inviting people to mass or encouraging them to go if you’re ‘sure’ they’re not in mortal sin.
jews didn’t kill Christ, we all did by our sins.
This is something I’ve been mulling over. My daughter is 13, and I know that her school does confession twice a year for her class, but I’ve been toying with the idea of taking her monthly when I go with a “no questions asked” policy.
If the Sacrament means so much to you, the Lord has given you a very great grace. Do yourself (and Him!) a favor and find a priest who will hear your confessions regularly by appointment so you won’t have to go through the annoyance of finding a public time . . . Works for me!
