Lying in Confession

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Senor1561

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Hello.

Tonight I went to confessing with a big list of sins. I had no intention of lying what so ever however when confessing one sin I did. Basically I was telling the priest how on Good Friday a number of years ago I was at a friends birthday party. There was drinking/adult entertainment at the party and I felt bad for being there. At the start of the party before everything kicked off I called my Dad to ask him for his opinion, I didn’t tell him about the adult entertainment (I’m not even sure if I knew at that stage) and he basically said that it’s fine to be hanging out with my friends just so long as I remember what Good Friday is about.

So I explained to the priest how I was at the party and what it involved, I then told him how I asked my Dad for advice as to whether of not it would be OK for me to stay. After saying that I thought that it would sound to the priest as if my Dad was saying it’s OK to drink and watch adult entertainment on Good Friday, so I corrected myself by stating to the priest that I didn’t tell my Dad all the details about drinking and the entertainment and that he merely said it’s fine to spend time with my friends. At that point I realized that this wasn’t entirely true as I believe I did tell my Dad I was going to have some drinks or asked if it was OK to have some drinks. However I didn’t correct myself and just continued on with my confession. Afterwards I felt good about my confession and didn’t begin to dwell on this until I got home.

So my question is was not correcting myself wrong and is my confession invalid? I didn’t conceal or lie about any of my sins, just the part about my Dad.

Sorry for being so long winded.

Thanks and God Bless!
 
You are there to confess your sins, not give detailed accounts of your actions.

I may confess that I got drunk, or I may confess that I had 4 pints of beer, 2 glasses of wine and 2 whiskeys. If I later realize that it was actually 3 whiskeys then I wouldn’t go back and correct myself, even if I was still in the confessional, because I had adequately confessed the sin.

You confessed your sin - getting the details right is not so important. You didn’t “lie”, all you did was not correct a mistake - but the mistake didn’t matter anyway.

The confession would only be invalid if you deliberately withheld a mortal sin.
 
Thanks for your reply. What you say makes sense, however I can’t help but feel like I’m in the wrong.

As soon as I said what was mentioned above I realized it was wrong and didn’t correct myself, why? I don’t know, I just didn’t.
 
It sounds like you were following an instinct to protect your father. You were there to confess your sins, not his. What you did, you confessed, so your fine. I think it might be awkward if you try to bring it up again because if your father knew the details and still said it was okay, well, that isn’t your sin to confess.
 
Fair enough. Just to make it clear tho my Dad was just under the impression I was at a friends birthday party. I may have stated I was planning on have a few drinks, I’m not sure, however he didn’t know any of the others details. So I don’t believe my Father did anything wrong at all. He told me that spending time with my friends was OK just so long as I kept in mind the meaning of Good Friday.
 
Oh, that makes sense. I still think you’re fine. You confessed about the party and that’s what really matters. 🙂
 
I’m new, but freshly catechized, so I think I have a handle on this. 😉
 
Yup. You are all good. No more worries. Now go and enjoy the infinite love and peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 🙂
 
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