I'm homebound and my Priest comes to give me Communion and won't hear my confession

[Memaw]

Sure – as has weekly confession and bi-weekly confession.

I have never known anyone to ever recommend weekly or bi-weekly. we could go every day if available. But you get the last word if that makes you happy. God Bless, memaw

 

[Brendan_64]

Hi friends, I’m disabled.

I’ve asked my Priest to hear my confession before receiving the Body of Christ but Fr. says it’s not necessary.

If he’s refusing to visit you to hear your confession, and if he’s not making provision for an EMHC to bring you Holy Communion, then write to your bishop about it. I suspect you’d get a visit after doing that.

 

[Brendan_64]

I don’t think you need to concern yourself if your sins are venial in nature for it is these type of sins which most of the faithful are committing.

Are you implying that most of the faithful do not commit mortal sins. Mortal sins are a whole lot more common than many people think (or want to recognise) but to look at the short confession queues these days (and compare them to the Communion queues) you would think that the vast majority of the faithful today are truly saintly people.

 

[Bookcat]

I have never known anyone to ever recommend weekly or bi-weekly. we could go every day if available.

Yes - (avoiding scrupulosity) one could go even daily -as have some Saints.

Time intervals of recommendation have been such as “weekly”, or “bi-weekly” or
“Monthly”…such were simply good recommendations given to assist one in keeping a good habit of frequent confession.

(now religious of course could have --have indeed had - particular intervals indicated for them at different times -such as “at least once a week”…but that is a somewhat different subject)

The Confessor or Spiritual director may even have a particular recommendation for a particular penitent.

 

[johnnyc176]

Don’t you think your making a mountain out of a molehill? I think most Catholics know what it means. If the church is talking about our “everyday faults” then maybe once a month isn’t often enough. Good greif!, God Bless, Memaw

lol…

 

[Bookcat]

I have never known anyone to ever recommend weekly or bi-weekly. we could go every day if available.

Yes - (avoiding scrupulosity) one could go even daily -as have some Saints.

Time intervals of recommendation have been such as “weekly”, or “bi-weekly” or
“Monthly”…such* were simply good recommendations given to assist one in keeping a good habit of frequent confession*.

(now religious of course could have --have indeed had - particular intervals indicated for them at different times -such as “at least once a week”…but that is a somewhat different subject…)

The Confessor or Spiritual director may even have a particular recommendation for a particular penitent.

 

[randirhoades]

I *think *dshix meant asking for ‘Confession’, not Communion, unnecessarily. You are within your rights to ask for both Communion, & Confession. Ask Father why not; ask the secretary to make a few more minutes for you in his schedule for Confession.

May God bless and keep you all these days,

I appreciate what you said above. Yet, I think receiving Communion once a month should be said with a confession. It’s not like it’s every week. I do not want to spend much time in Purgatory any longer than I have to. I hear it kind of hurts. Just kidding. No one I know has ever come back and said, “Hey, it was a breeze or yikes”! I hope, my desire, my wish, my hope is my destiny to Heaven since we don’t know who goes and who doesn’t.

And my race is white. I’m American, (Someone wondered that) Raised in Texas.

And being 59, I was taught that we couldn’t receive Communion until we confessed when very young.

And thank you for the suggestion. I will ask him. That was very nice of you. God Bless you forever.

 

[Bookcat]

I have never known anyone to ever recommend weekly or bi-weekly. we could go every day if available.

Yes - (avoiding scrupulosity) one could go even daily -as have some Saints.

Time intervals of recommendation have been such as “weekly”, or “bi-weekly” or
“Monthly”…such* were simply good recommendations given to assist one in keeping a good habit of frequent confession*.

(now religious of course could have --have indeed had - particular intervals indicated for them at different times -such as “at least once a week”…but that is a somewhat different subject…)

The Confessor or Spiritual director may even have a particular recommendation for a particular penitent.

A side note that is related:

It is good to note to that regarding receiving a plenary Indulgence - Pope Paul VI noted that one was to receive Confession at least 8 days before or after the indulgenced act (counting the day of the work). This was later extended by Pope John Paul II during the jublilee to about 20 days before or after.

Point being – prior to 2000 one would need to go to confession basically once a week if one wished obtain a plenary indulgence often (some seek to do so daily indeed) as many are in the practice of doing -for oneself or those who have gone before us. Now of course it is about 20 days so less often is possible for that practice.

 

[Bookcat]

Memaw

In addition to the above – St. Padre Pio is one example of one who recommended weekly confession as a means to spiritual growth. I read he compared such to dusting a room. I do not know great deal about him and his recommendations but I did run across that.

(I guess the practice was to dust a room once a week…the dust in my office does not have the experience… but thankfully I see the inside of a confessional more often than my office sees the dust rag).

 

[Bookcat]

I have never known anyone to ever recommend weekly or bi-weekly.

A bit more to add to the last 2 posts.

Quote:

"For those who sincerely wish to do their best to avail themselves of the opportunity of frequent confession in order to grow spiritually, frequent confession will ordinarily be associated with having a fixed confessor. The confessor will be the best qualified person to suggest the frequency suited to the spiritual development For those who sincerely wish to do their best to avail themselves of the opportunity of frequent confession in order to grow spiritually, frequent confession will ordinarily be associated with having a fixed confessor. The confessor will be the best qualified person to suggest the frequency suited to the spiritual development and the physical and moral possibilities of the penitent. Within those rather broad limits of flexibility and in accord with a general rule of common sense, we can refer to one of the documents mentioned above which speaks about “receiving the Sacrament of Penance frequently, that is twice a month.” Previous legislation which specified regular intervals for confession referred to weekly confession. One can therefore say in general terms that, whenever possible, frequent confession will ordinarily mean between once a month and once a week.

The frequency of confession for those who frequently fall into mortal sin and wish to struggle against their failures is a completely different matter. "

From a longer work on the subject:

scepterpublishers.org/product/samples/2730.pdf

My point being here that yes as we agree frequent confession is recommended --with -monthly, every two weeks or even weekly --as good measures of frequency as has been recommended in the various sources on the matter. All three can be good examples of such.

(PS: I do not want to infer though only the regular confessor can guide one in how often -such may never come up even if one has a regular confessor. One might just judge that once a week is best for you or once a month etc…)

 

[CatholicRaven]

And being 59, I was taught that we couldn’t receive Communion until we confessed when very young.

Do you mean you couldn’t receive until you confessed, if you had committed a mortal sin since your last Confession? If that is what you meant, then that would be correct.

Or are you under the impression that you must always confess before receiving, even when you have committed no mortal sin? That would be incorrect. And if this is what you thought, it could be that that’s what your priest meant that you didn’t need Confession before receiving–that you don’t need to do so each and every time unless you have committed a mortal sin since your last confession.

Hope that helps to clarify.

 

[nannymar]

Receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation IS “taking your sins to [G]od.”

We are fortunate in the Catholic Church to have sacraments and one of these is the sacrament of reconciliation. When you (think?) you are telling your sins to God( when you confess privately without a priest) you may be telling them to “other then God”. I find that evil can actually redefine my sins as not being sins…Hows that? you don’t want this type of confession. The priest should let you know where you are on the path. So I would ask the priest outright the questions that bother you and the first one is: How come you(priest) feel I do not need this sacrament??
Even if no serious sin, you can tell a sin that was serious from your past which has already been confessed and this will allow you to receive the graces in the sacrament. These graces will strengthen you.

 

[ccmcmg]

I appreciate what you said above. Yet, I think receiving Communion once a month should be said with a confession. It’s not like it’s every week. I do not want to spend much time in Purgatory any longer than I have to. I hear it kind of hurts. Just kidding. No one I know has ever come back and said, “Hey, it was a breeze or yikes”! I hope, my desire, my wish, my hope is my destiny to Heaven since we don’t know who goes and who doesn’t.

And my race is white. I’m American, (Someone wondered that) Raised in Texas.

And being 59, I was taught that we couldn’t receive Communion until we confessed when very young.

And thank you for the suggestion. I will ask him. That was very nice of you. God Bless you forever.

Oh aren’t you sweet! God bless you always as well! (FYI: it doesn’t matter to me where you live or what you look like, although if you lived nearby, I’d give you a ride to Mass.)

 

[randirhoades]

Oh aren’t you sweet! God bless you always as well! (FYI: it doesn’t matter to me where you live or what you look like, although if you lived nearby, I’d give you a ride to Mass.)

Oh how wonderful for you to say! And I would go too. Thank you sugar. God bless you and your family. Oh my so sweet!

 

[ccmcmg]

Oh how wonderful for you to say! And I would go too. Thank you sugar. God bless you and your family. Oh my so sweet!

Have you asked the secretary about a ride to Mass? I know our parish puts notices in the bulletin when someone needs a ride and hasn’t been able to find one; I think one of the volunteer groups is for transporting homebound.

 

[randirhoades]

Yes, and they can’t find anyone. Not even on Saturdays. There are no buses, nothing. God Bless you forever.

I miss going to Mass. I always cry when in there because it’s so beautiful and I love Jesus so much. He is everything to me.

 

[soufanieh37]

Is it possible to go to masstimes.org and see if there is a monastery not too far from you or another church, even if it is a little distance, in which you can get a priest to come visit you? Sometimes Shrines or Monasteries have more priests available and they might be willing to travel. While there is cases, such as scrupulous people that want to go to confession daily and think they committed grave sins when they didn’t and the priest refuses them to go to confession or tells them not to confess things like temptations where they were tempted to sin, but didn’t actually sin, other than that, a priest should not refuse someone confession. Maybe the only other reason to refuse to hear confession is if the priest is the only priest one in the parish and was overloaded with work and visiting people? Even then, I can’t imagine why he couldn’t asking you to make a short 5 minute confession and confess only serious sins or a couple more important venial sins and give you absolution. Someone said that the Church recommends confession once a month. That is not true. Many go to weekly confession and every time they commit a serious sin, but a priest might not have the time to hear weekly confessions when someone is home bound.

 

[Memaw]

Is it possible to go to masstimes.org and see if there is a monastery not too far from you or another church, even if it is a little distance, in which you can get a priest to come visit you? Sometimes Shrines or Monasteries have more priests available and they might be willing to travel. While there is cases, such as scrupulous people that want to go to confession daily and think they committed grave sins when they didn’t and the priest refuses them to go to confession or tells them not to confess things like temptations where they were tempted to sin, but didn’t actually sin, other than that, a priest should not refuse someone confession. Maybe the only other reason to refuse to hear confession is if the priest is the only priest one in the parish and was overloaded with work and visiting people? Even then, I can’t imagine why he couldn’t asking you to make a short 5 minute confession and confess only serious sins or a couple more important venial sins and give you absolution. Someone said that the Church recommends confession once a month. That is not true. Many go to weekly confession and every time they commit a serious sin, but a priest might not have the time to hear weekly confessions when someone is home bound.

When I said the Church recommends going to Confession once a month, I did not mean one couldn’t go more often if necessary or desired. Many people that go to daily Mass, confess weekly. They say the closer one gets to God, the more we see our sins. God Bless, Memaw

 

[Bookcat]

When I said the Church recommends going to Confession once a month

It is not per se that the Church “recommends going to confession once a month”…

The Church can be said to recommend regular confession.

I can be once a month, every two weeks, every week…

But yes monthly can be a good recommendation for many. And is one that has been recommended along with the others.

 

[Bookcat]

Quote:

"For those who sincerely wish to do their best to avail themselves of the opportunity of frequent confession in order to grow spiritually, frequent confession will ordinarily be associated with having a fixed confessor. The confessor will be the best qualified person to suggest the frequency suited to the spiritual development For those who sincerely wish to do their best to avail themselves of the opportunity of frequent confession in order to grow spiritually, frequent confession will ordinarily be associated with having a fixed confessor. The confessor will be the best qualified person to suggest the frequency suited to the spiritual development and the physical and moral possibilities of the penitent. Within those rather broad limits of flexibility and in accord with a general rule of common sense, we can refer to one of the documents mentioned above which speaks about “receiving the Sacrament of Penance frequently, that is twice a month.” Previous legislation which specified regular intervals for confession referred to weekly confession. One can therefore say in general terms that, whenever possible, frequent confession will ordinarily mean between once a month and once a week.

The frequency of confession for those who frequently fall into mortal sin and wish to struggle against their failures is a completely different matter. "

From a longer work on the subject:

scepterpublishers.org/product/samples/2730.pdf

My point being here that yes as we agree frequent confession is recommended --with -monthly, every two weeks or even weekly --as good measures of frequency as has been recommended in the various sources on the matter. All three can be good examples of such.

(PS: I do not want to infer though only the regular confessor can guide one in how often -such may never come up even if one has a regular confessor. One might just judge that once a week is best for you or once a month etc…)