Is this Confession Valid?

[Phil_M]

Earlier today, I went to confession. The priest was not wearing the stole, but instead had it draped over the screen. This was not the first time this happened, as I’ve confessed to him before and the situation was the same. In addition, the priest has said some troubling things in the past, namely suggesting that “habitual” masturbation is not a sin. While his views and practices may be unorthodox, does this in any way affect the validity of my absolution?

 

[Joan_M]

As long as he is an ordained priest and said the words of absolution, it is valid.

Not wearing the stole will not invalidate the absolution - just think of a priest happening on an accident victim and hearing his confession. He does not have his stole with him, but that will not prevent him from bestowing the Sacrament on the penitent.

And, even if the priest has heretical ideas as to what constitutes sin, he is giving you absolution from your sins, not confessing his own, so it still does not invalidate the absolution.

 

[Joannm]

Earlier today, I went to confession. The priest was not wearing the stole, but instead had it draped over the screen. This was not the first time this happened, as I’ve confessed to him before and the situation was the same. In addition, the priest has said some troubling things in the past, namely suggesting that “habitual” masturbation is not a sin. While his views and practices may be unorthodox, does this in any way affect the validity of my absolution?

While masturbation is objectivly always a sin, the person may not always be morally culpable to the full extent due to force of habit. This is addressed in the CCC I think but I dont’ have time to look it up.

 

[ac23]

To the OP: I’ve had the same experience several times in the past–it always made me a bit uneasy.

Here’s what Joannm was referring to, from the CCC (paragraph 2352):

By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."138 “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."139

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.

 

[Joannm]

thanks for looking that up.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Earlier today, I went to confession. The priest was not wearing the stole, but instead had it draped over the screen. This was not the first time this happened, as I’ve confessed to him before and the situation was the same. In addition, the priest has said some troubling things in the past, namely suggesting that “habitual” masturbation is not a sin. While his views and practices may be unorthodox, does this in any way affect the validity of my absolution?

No, not wearing proper vestments does not invalidate the Sacraments. Also his comment about the “habitual” component possibly mitigating the guilt of a sin is consistent with the Catechism.