If you sin against a priest, is it a more serious or specific sin

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I had a hateful thought about a priest that was totally unwarranted. I confessed the sin, but in confession, I didn’t let the priest know that my sin was against a priest. The main reason I didn’t explain in confession was that it was the same priest I sinned against! I didn’t know if sinning against a priest is a more serious or specific sin or not. I look forward to your replies.
 
You are asking people who have no training either in moral theology or the Sacrament of Confession to give you an answer.

The person you need to address this with is your confessor.
 
I’m not even sure if the OP has sinned at all in what he describes. What do you mean “I had a thought?” There’s a difference between a thought popping into our heads and us deliberately dwelling on our thoughts. If a supposedly hateful thought just came along, about a priest or not, it isn’t really a sin. All kinds of thoughts run through our heads all the time, quite unconsciously.

The analogy I typically use, particularly with regard to sexual thoughts, but it holds up here too, is that it’s sort of like when I’m in the grocery store and I see a magazine at the checkout stand. The woman on the cover is wearing barely anything, and yet I did not put that magazine there, I did not put that photo on the cover, and I did not put that string bikini on that woman. Though I saw it, so long as I didn’t pick it up and examine it or, still worse, put it in my cart and buy it, I didn’t commit a sin. There’s a difference between seeing the thing (or having the thought) and dwelling on it.

In any case, it is unwise to ask questions about matters of conscience on internet forums, as you can see from the contradictory answers you’ve already gotten. Please speak with your priest about matters pertaining to the confessional.

-Fr ACEGC
 
matjam said:
Yes. It’s a more serious sin. You have to confess by specifically mentioning that it was against a priest.
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No. Not at all. A sin against any person has equal gravity as a sin against a priest.
 
Seriously, people, it isn’t quite so simple as “yes, this is a serious sin” or “no, it is not.” There are three fonts of morality–the object (that which is chosen and acted toward), the intention (why it was done), and the circumstances (what was going on around it). Any of these factors could render the act right or wrong, and can affect to what degree they are. This is why matters of conscience should not be discussed on internet forums with unqualified strangers–it is between the person and his confessor to form conscience and discern the degree to which something might be wrong, if it is wrong at all.

-Fr ACEGC
 
(sigh!) So many “experts”, so little knowledge.

Thanks for bringing real expertise to bear.
 
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I do know that external sins of violence against a clergy bring on excommunication. It could be this includes sins not acted out but from a desire to harm, can’t be sure on that.
 
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Not actually true anymore. The only excommunication levied under the current Code of Canon Law for physical violence against clergy is for one who attacks the Pope.
 
No a sin against a priest is not more serious than a sin against another person. Why would you suspect that it may be?
 
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