In my first Confession, do I need to mention things I feel are in the past and healed?

[JA2010JA]

Hi,

I am going to be baptised and confirmed shortly and will make my very first confession to cover my life before entry into the unity of the church. I am an adult male.

Do I need to mention masturbation, if this sin is something I have done in the past but is something that is no longer an issue with me? Of course I regret ever doing it and know why it was wrong. But out of my entire life to cover in the first confession this is not what I would consider high on my list of sins considering I feel it is something in the past and is healed within me.

I am not trying to avoid talking about it. I am just wondering about the principle concerning which sins needs to be covered in the first confession as obviously I am not able to cover everything up to this point as an adult in one confession!

Thanks!

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

If you have never been baptized, then you do not need to go to Confession. Your baptism will remove all past sins. This is standard Catholic procedure. I would think that your parish RCIA intructors would know this.

If you have been previously baptized, then you will simply be making a profession of faith and you will need to go to Confession. In this case you are required to confess ALL the mortal sins that you remember and masturbation is a mortal sin. It really doesn’t matter how you feel about it now. You would need to confess it and the approximate number of times you were guilty of it.

In the future when going to Confession periodically, you are not to leave any mortals sins out since your last Confession because you don’t think they merit bringing up. All mortal sins must be confessed. To deliberately withhold a mortal sin from Confession is itself a mortal sin.

I’m glad you brought this up. It may help many other people who aren’t sure about these things.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.