Is it all right to simply trust my priest?

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nkelly said:
People,

I don’t mean to complicate things, but priests are fallible. I’ve know a priest who said that contraception was OK and you just need to follow your conscience. As far as I know, it’s the Bishop that we need to obey, not the priest - I think. Sorry if I have this wrong.

Athanasius,
the thing to do is to inform your conscience by reading the catechism and live accordingly. Scrupolosity just causes anxiety and stress. Trust in God and just do you very best to live according to the commandments as interpreted in the catechism!

God bless,
Noel.
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I agree with you and FrCorey when he said “buyer beware.” We had a handout from the local priest a couple weeks ago that said only traditional priests generally teach that missing Mass is a mortal sin. When you have what is mentioned in the quoted post above and what was handed to me at Mass you end up with a lot of confused people. I say Catechism first and fallible priest second.
 
Thank you for that homily as when I first read the word scrupulous I didn’t even know what it meant read the post to find out. I hope the OP will read it too. dessert
 
Holland said:
I agree with you and FrCorey when he said “buyer beware.” We had a handout from the local priest a couple weeks ago that said only traditional priests generally teach that missing Mass is a mortal sin. When you have what is mentioned in the quoted post above and what was handed to me at Mass you end up with a lot of confused people. I say Catechism first and fallible priest second.
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I say God first. Remember, it is the living God that we meet in the Confessional; not a lawyer or examiner. We are not in there to be tested on how many sins we remember, or to be required to use exactly the right words in our guilty plea.

If a friend tells you she is sorry that something happened, do you give her a quiz on what all she did wrong, or demand that she apologize to you in some different words? Not if you want to be reconciled, you don’t - and we are promised in the Scriptures and in the Holy Tradition that God wants to be reconciled with us. He’s not standing there with a clip board grading us on the quality of our Confessions.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Father (who represents God) didn’t even listen to the son’s Confession - he just took him back with open arms.

That’s what God is like with us, when we go to Confession. When we are sincerely sorry for our sins, God knows it, and God will accept even the most stumbling, awkward Confession, and He will forgive all, even if we don’t explain all what we did wrong in excruciating detail.

If the priest gives you the Absolution, then thank God for it, know that God has forgiven your sins, and don’t think to yourself, “Well, that priest is a liberal heretic - that’s why he absolved me of this sin or that sin. Really, he should have excommunicated me, or else made me wear sack cloth and ashes, and crawl on my knees all the way to Jerusalem.” Or whatever you were thinking he should have done to you.
 
I’d like to apologize for reviving this thread yesterday. I only read a few posts before replying and so didn’t realize that Athanasius has been asking these kinds of questions so often. I’m sorry to have opened the can of worms again.

After taking a look at some of Athanasius’s other threads, I’m adding this to my previous post:
  1. You’ve heard nothing against Church teaching from your priest. Assume his orthodoxy.
  2. Unless the liturgical abuses are grave, ignore them and trust your priest anyway. I could give you a list of grave abuses, but after reading your other posts, I see that your case of scrupulosity is so severe that knowing those abuses will only hinder rather than help. So I’ll narrow it down to these three (since they seem to be quite common nowadays): the vessels for the Eucharist must not be made of glass or clay; your priest must not change the text of the Eucharistic Prayer; he must not refuse Holy Communion to anyone on the basis of whether the communicant kneels or stands when receiving. If your priest doesn’t do any of these things, drop your concern about liturgical abuses.
  3. If your confessor says not to confess more than once a month, obey. If he says to forget all past sins forgotten in confession, obey. If he says to stop writing your sins on paper (be prepared for him to say that, eventually), obey. These are all common methods priests use to cure scrupulosity. Obey him in everything. And don’t switch confessors.
Maria
 
jmcrae said:
I say God first. Remember, it is the living God that we meet in the Confessional; not a lawyer or examiner. We are not in there to be tested on how many sins we remember, or to be required to use exactly the right words in our guilty plea.

If a friend tells you she is sorry that something happened, do you give her a quiz on what all she did wrong, or demand that she apologize to you in some different words? Not if you want to be reconciled, you don’t - and we are promised in the Scriptures and in the Holy Tradition that God wants to be reconciled with us. He’s not standing there with a clip board grading us on the quality of our Confessions.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Father (who represents God) didn’t even listen to the son’s Confession - he just took him back with open arms.

That’s what God is like with us, when we go to Confession. When we are sincerely sorry for our sins, God knows it, and God will accept even the most stumbling, awkward Confession, and He will forgive all, even if we don’t explain all what we did wrong in excruciating detail.

If the priest gives you the Absolution, then thank God for it, know that God has forgiven your sins, and don’t think to yourself, “Well, that priest is a liberal heretic - that’s why he absolved me of this sin or that sin. Really, he should have excommunicated me, or else made me wear sack cloth and ashes, and crawl on my knees all the way to Jerusalem.” Or whatever you were thinking he should have done to you.
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Of course God is first. I agree with everything that you have said. My previous post was in regard to the practical aspect of making a good confession and I stand by what I said.
 
Holland said:
Of course God is first. I agree with everything that you have said. My previous post was in regard to the practical aspect of making a good confession and I stand by what I said.
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What you said is excellent advice for normal people. Please try to realize that the OP has very severe scrupulosity.
 
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