Invalid Confession?

[cwestall]

Hello,

I have recently begun going to confession and doing my best to give full examinations of conscience. I have seen that a person is supposed to tell the priest the number of times they have committed the sins they are confessing. What if for whatever reason I have not and do no do that at confession unless the priest asks me for numbers. Does this make my confession invalid or worse, sinful? I am not asking for advice on how to go about properly confessing the number of times I have committed a sin, I am asking if I do not do this does it invalidate my confession and/or add the additional sin of giving a bad confession to my list of sins?

 

[cwestall]

Hello,

I have recently begun going to confession and doing my best to give full examinations of conscience. I have seen that a person is supposed to tell the priest the number of times they have committed the sins they are confessing. What if for whatever reason I have not and do no do that at confession unless the priest asks me for numbers. Does this make my confession invalid or worse, sinful? I am not asking for advice on how to go about properly confessing the number of times I have committed a sin, I am asking if I do not do this does it invalidate my confession and/or add the additional sin of giving a bad confession to my list of sins?

 

[LilyM]

No, it does not affect the validity of your confession if you do not tell the number of your mortal sins. Neither is it sinful in itself.

The reason we give this information is that it gives the priest an idea of whether your sin is a rare occurrence or something that happens often - which might affect the advice they give you about that sin.

 

[passus]

Hello,

I have recently begun going to confession and doing my best to give full examinations of conscience. I have seen that a person is supposed to tell the priest the number of times they have committed the sins they are confessing. What if for whatever reason I have not and do no do that at confession unless the priest asks me for numbers. Does this make my confession invalid or worse, sinful? I am not asking for advice on how to go about properly confessing the number of times I have committed a sin, I am asking if I do not do this does it invalidate my confession and/or add the additional sin of giving a bad confession to my list of sins?

In order to make a “worthy confession,” you must confess all mortal sins in both kind and number. It won’t make your absolution invalid or your confession illicit, but it does raise the obvious question of, if you’re not willing to make as worthy and truthful a confession as you can, then do you really have contrition for your sins and desire to be forgiven?

 

[thistle]

Hello,

I have recently begun going to confession and doing my best to give full examinations of conscience. I have seen that a person is supposed to tell the priest the number of times they have committed the sins they are confessing. What if for whatever reason I have not and do no do that at confession unless the priest asks me for numbers. Does this make my confession invalid or worse, sinful? I am not asking for advice on how to go about properly confessing the number of times I have committed a sin, I am asking if I do not do this does it invalidate my confession and/or add the additional sin of giving a bad confession to my list of sins?

You do not have to be specific with numbers. You can say I committed (whatever sin) many times, or several times, or a number of times…

 

[passus]

You do not have to be specific with numbers. You can say I committed (whatever sin) many times, or several times, or a number of times…

That’s not specific enough to constitute an “entire” confession. It is important to give as exact a number as possible.

According to Baltimore Catechism No. 4:Never say “sometimes” or “often” when you are telling the number of your sins. Sometimes might mean ten or it might mean twenty times. How then can the priest know the number by that expression? Give the number as nearly as you can, and if you do not know the whole number give the number of times a day, etc. (Q. 191)

 

[cwestall]

So, the impression I am getting is that while it is recommended to attach numbers to sins and while they do give somewhat specific guidelines abotu how to go about doing this, if you do not do it for whatever reason, including having an overly scrupulous nature and attaching numbers could result in a whole new wrinkle in the problem, it does not invalidate the confession in any waynor is it sinful to not do this in your confession as long as you are truly contrite. Is this correct? What canonical support is there for this?

 

[LilyM]

So, the impression I am getting is that while it is recommended to attach numbers to sins and while they do give somewhat specific guidelines abotu how to go about doing this, if you do not do it for whatever reason, including having an overly scrupulous nature and attaching numbers could result in a whole new wrinkle in the problem, it does not invalidate the confession in any waynor is it sinful to not do this in your confession as long as you are truly contrite. Is this correct? What canonical support is there for this?

Do it if you can. You can give a rough estimate (‘two or three times’), a broader range (‘somewhere between five and ten times’) or use whatever formula best works (‘about twice a week for two months’).

Like EVERY aspect of confession, numbering your sins is not a memory test. If your honest guess is wrong it doesn’t invalidate the confession or mean you need to reconfess. Giving an estimate that is to the best of your recollection is fine.

 

[cwestall]

The problem is that this line of reasoning could result in an exercise in absurdity, i.e., if a person were to walk into a confessional after a very thorough examination of conscience or a spiritual awakening and say " I have taken the lords name in vain a lot. I have abused alcohol a lot. I have neglected prayer a lot…" This could go on and on. Not only that but it would not be useful to priest. Sometimes attaching numbers to sins would in fact be very confusing to a priest, for instance, if you drank a lot before getting married, but not after and you confess to abusing alcohol countless times. The priest might think that this is a problem sin for you when in fact you have conquered this sin with the help of your wife.

 

[LilyM]

The problem is that this line of reasoning could result in an exercise in absurdity, i.e., if a person were to walk into a confessional after a very thorough examination of conscience or a spiritual awakening and say " I have taken the lords name in vain a lot. I have abused alcohol a lot. I have neglected prayer a lot…" This could go on and on. Not only that but it would not be useful to priest. Sometimes attaching numbers to sins would in fact be very confusing to a priest, for instance, if you drank a lot before getting married, but not after and you confess to abusing alcohol countless times. The priest might think that this is a problem sin for you when in fact you have conquered this sin with the help of your wife.

That’s like mistakenly thinking you’re helping your doctor by failing to mention exactly when you started feeling dizzy, or that you have a past history of kidney disease even though you’ve been fine for months, or that you took some really strong painkillers at home just before you saw them.

That’s all the sort of information the doctor actually needs, and it may seem a lot, some of it may not strike YOU as being necessary, but it can make their job a lot more difficult - and be worse for you - if you fail to tell the important stuff.

So what do you do? Firstly you should go to confession often enough that you only have maybe five to eight sins to confess. That way you’ve less risk of forgetting something yourself, and also are less likely to overwhelm either yourself or the priest with information.

DO tell enough of the circumstances so that the priest knows what is necessary - for example ‘I failed to confess a mortal sin from x months/years ago, which is that I drank very heavily at that time’.

You don’t just say ‘a lot’ as a number, you give a closer estimate - ‘daily for about two months’, ‘four or five times’, ‘multiple times a day for three weeks’.

Finally - if you’ve got a long list for confession you do some pruning. Restrict it to those sins that you are certain are mortal, group similar type sins together into one category, and perhaps add just the ONE other sin that you most need help with, or the ONE question that you most urgently need advice on. As long as you don’t neglect any sins that you know for sure are mortal, your confession is good.

 

[cwestall]

My ultimate question is not what I should do now, but what I should do about my past confessions. I think I understand that my past confessions were valid and not sinful even if I did not tell the priest the number of my sins even though I knew that telling the priest the number of my sins was something that is at the very least encouraged? Is this correct?

 

[cwestall]

Whatever the answer to this question, if telling the priest the number of times you have committed a sin is so helpful to a priest, why do priests never ask for that information during confession? If this could invalidate the confession then why would a priest not ask about numbers?

 

[LilyM]

Whatever the answer to this question, if telling the priest the number of times you have committed a sin is so helpful to a priest, why do priests never ask for that information during confession? If this could invalidate the confession then why would a priest not ask about numbers?

It’s already been explained to you that it will not and could not invalidate the confession, however it is desirable, and should be done whether or not the priest asks.

Some priests choose not to do so, it’s up to them. Some choose not to ask you to say an Act of Contrition. In such cases you should yourself say the Act once you’re outside the confessional. They’re not required to ask, but in the interests of making as good a confession as you can you should do these things (numbering your sins, saying an Act of Contrition) without HAVING to be asked or told.