Nervous About Confession

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Alex_H

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Hi,

I am currently in RCIA and we have some important dates coming up very quickly. I’m afraid that I’m getting the jitters about becoming Catholic.

I’m especially nervous about confession. I have some habits that I haven’t quite been able to kick and I’m worried about going to confession over and over again for the same reason. I have heard that some confessors will really give you a hard time over sins that have become habitual.

Any help with this?

Thanks.
 
Alex_H said:
Hi,

I am currently in RCIA and we have some important dates coming up very quickly. I’m afraid that I’m getting the jitters about becoming Catholic.

I’m especially nervous about confession. I have some habits that I haven’t quite been able to kick and I’m worried about going to confession over and over again for the same reason. I have heard that some confessors will really give you a hard time over sins that have become habitual.

Any help with this?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Hey don’t sweat it. I go to confession at least twice a month. I have never come across a priest who gives you a "hard time ". They are there to help. They are sinners too. Just be honest when confessing your sins, don’t be embarassed. You won’t say anything that haven’t heard before. It is a great act of humility and you will feel the weight of the world lifted off your soul:)
 
Alex_H said:
Hi,

I am currently in RCIA and we have some important dates coming up very quickly. I’m afraid that I’m getting the jitters about becoming Catholic.

I’m especially nervous about confession. I have some habits that I haven’t quite been able to kick and I’m worried about going to confession over and over again for the same reason. I have heard that some confessors will really give you a hard time over sins that have become habitual.

Any help with this?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I just made my first confession after coming into the church last Easter (I was baptized, so no need to attend before Easter), and I was incredibly anxious. Like, having multiple panic attacks level of anxious.

But I made it through. And I was fine. And everything people tell you right now about how wonderful Confession is and how great you are going to feel - it’s true. They aren’t full of it. I felt like a thousand pound weight that I’d been carrying around for two years was lifted from my shoulders.

In my experience, priests are kind people who are genuinely interested in helping their parishioners - there is no reason to believe that they would be any different in the Confession. My confessor wasn’t - and he is one of the “gruffer” priests in our parish. He was incredibly kind and managed me and my anxiety calmly and gently. And though I was struggling with what I would consider a habitual sin, now when I feel myself slipping toward it, I recall his advice, and it provides help and strength.

Best of luck and welcome! The Easter Vigil is an amazing experience!
 
Have no fear. There is no a single thing they haven’t heard.
 
Hi Alex!
It’s normal to have these feelings. I too had (have) habitual sins but through weekly confession and God’s grace have kicked some of these sins to the curb. If you are worried about what the priest will think, then do not confess face to face. It’s been said time and time again in these forums, that there is no sin that the priest has not heard. You are not a “exclusive” sinner. Unload the baggage in confession and receive God’s Grace and Forgiveness… God bless you Alex!
 
Don’t worry, you will not be telling the Priest anything he has not heard before & won’t hear again. Remember, we are all sinners but God in His infinite mercy & love forgives all our sins & welcomes us home every time into His loving arms. God bless you on your RCIA journey.
 
Try to relax before you go in. Pray just as much as you can beforehand–not necessarily literally. If you feel it’s too much now, than maybe don’t pray so hard for that long, but offer up prayers to God–through the saints perhaps or directly. Praying a Rosary, or at least part of one beforehand can work great. God REALLY wants you back in His EVERLASTING, EVER-LOVING Arms and coming back to Him is the very best move any of us can ever make if we are away. He will absolutely NEVER leave us behind.

I will now pray for you.
 
Alex_H said:
Hi,

I am currently in RCIA and we have some important dates coming up very quickly. I’m afraid that I’m getting the jitters about becoming Catholic.

I’m especially nervous about confession. I have some habits that I haven’t quite been able to kick and I’m worried about going to confession over and over again for the same reason. I have heard that some confessors will really give you a hard time over sins that have become habitual.

Any help with this?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
The first time I went to confession because I was baptized as an adult was actually after I came into the church and I recall the priest got kind of indignant with me because I waited so long to go to confession. Now he had reason to be angry but mind you this was my first confession. So I don’t scare you off I recommend going to confession to a priest that you know well. When I lived elsewhere and my pastor before he retired heard confessions I would always go to confession face to face. When I started doing confessions face to face I actually found them much easier. Before I start going to confession to my pastor I would actually go to somewhere else for confessions and I always did face to face with whatever priest was there. Nowadays because of the availability of confession 6 days a week at one place near me, and at a very appropriate time at that, I usually go behind the screen but to me that isn’t what is important what is important is that you go. I still have things I struggle with and every couple weeks I’m in there. Fortunately it’s not always for the same thing although there are a couple of things that are definitely on the top of that list. It might actually help if you mention that these are habits because that could help you get through it and they could help give you better advice. On a different note my voice to text for some reason keeps changing confession to concession so be glad I edited it
 
BY ALL MEANS, let your confessor know it’s your FIRST confession. I wish you well. Do remember that the priest is a sinner in need of God’s grace as well. I have had both good and bad confessions AND confessors in my 17 years as a catholic. It happens. Wish you well.
 
Don’t sweat it. Priests don’t give you a hard time over habitual sins, because they have them too.

They get what it means to be human and a sinner. 🙂

They don’t have their halos, either.
 
I was listening to a CD by Dr. Scott Hahn, Confession.

Dr Hahn tells a story about a person, who in confession expresses a deep regret for committing the same sins over and over again. The priest replies, “Sooo, do you want new sins?”

In my 16 years as a Catholic, I’ve never been given a hard time about my sins. Don’t worry! You’ll do fine.
 
I am currently in RCIA and we have some important dates coming up very quickly. I’m afraid that I’m getting the jitters about becoming Catholic.
Click to expand...
I’m especially nervous about confession. I have some habits that I haven’t quite been able to kick and I’m worried about going to confession over and over again for the same reason. I have heard that some confessors will really give you a hard time over sins that have become habitual.
Click to expand...
It’s only natural to feel nervous. I still get nervous before every confession.

I have yet to come across a priest that gave me “a hard time” over habitual sins. They are there to help you overcome sin. My priest always treats me with compassion and understands we are all sinners.

Trust me on this, the feeling you receive after confession is like nothing you’ve ever felt before. Anxieties, fears and stress are all gone and replaced with happiness, peace and love.
 
If you tell him you are struggling with a habitual sin, but you are trying to overcome it, (provided that this is true) he will be most merciful and offer you advice. Everyone always feels great after confession.
 
I had much the same fear when I was a new Catholic. But I’ve never met a priest who wasn’t kind. Believe me, there is nothing you can confess that they haven’t heard before.
 
Rest easy. I came into the church 3 years ago, and I have never had a priest in confession who was anything but merciful. Once a priest gave me advice about how to not be so anxious, and I was a bit put off by it at the time, because I kind of took it as an insult (I was really nervous during that confession). But recently I’m struggling with anxiety, and I realized, like many other times, it was probably what I needed to hear. I truly believe that Christ works through priests to give us words that we need when we need them. So, try to shift your focus on who is meeting you in that confessional.

Just take your faith journey one day at a time, and God bless.
 
Thank you, all, for your responses. I am now not as nervous about confession.
 
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