Mortal sin

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TKRick

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I’ve always confessed my mortal sins by type. However, now I’m told that I must confess my sins by number as well. Is it necessary that I confess my past mortal sins by number?
 
If the priest didn’t ask you, “How many times?” – consider your sins confessed. Just start fresh.
 
I can’t be 100% but I believe that the purpose behind the number thing is to help the priest identify if you are engaged like once or twice, occasional, or if it has risen to a level of habit or addiction.

I would classify occasional as a few time a year or lifetime.

Habit: Several times monthly

Addiction: Several times weekly to daily/several times daily.

For this reason, it is good to let the priest know if one is in such a situation as they can provide better guidance.

I also think there is a value in the numbers thing when trying to break a habit. For some people, once they fall from grace into the hard to break habit (which often happens soon after they last confessed), it’s all downhill, making it easier to say “yes” to more, and “no” to stopping and preventing further “damage”. This is terribly mistaken and goes to presumption. Such attitudes should also be confessed, and I must say, I had to do this once. Told Father that once I fell, I developed an attitude that if I have to come back to confession, why not indulge some more in the sinful behavior. I acknowledged that the attitude was wrong and that really ended that behavior for me. I knew if I did that again, I would have to confess it again. And, now that I’ve mentioned it, so will anyone else reading this post laughs.
 
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