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melinda_s
Guest
hi a friend of mine went to confession today and she told me she got no penance from the priest is that right i thought we we’re supposed to get a penance?
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Phemie
Guest
The confessor is free to impose a penance but doesn’t have to do so.
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melinda_s
Guest
thanx i wasn’t sure so i asked here
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Sir_Knight
Guest
I once had a priest start laughing during my confession and when I was done, told me that because of the “humorous” nature of my sin, there would be no penance and he gave me absolution.
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melinda_s
Guest
thanks for that story
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Anne1964
Guest
Hmmph! The one time the priest laughed at me in confession, he still gave me a penance. (and yes, the subject was humorous)
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tobinatorstark
Guest
I had a friend last Sat. at our CRHP weekend during our Penance service that went to confession and received no Penance. (us team members had already had our Penance service before the weekend to make room for the attendees). There was more than one priest and I took him to another priest and he went to confession again and received Penance. This is certainly another option???
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EvelynEVF
Guest
I used to think that my previous priest wasn’t giving me penance, but then I realized that during his words of advice, he would always tell me to continue praying about the situation, so I suppose that was the penance. So sometimes it does come in under the radar. My current priest will actually say, "For your penance. . . " which makes it more obvious.
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CB_Catholic
Guest
What is the point of going to Confession two times in the same day in a row if one’s sins have been absolved? I question this as an option because it seems as if someone did not consider the first confession good enough or somehow incomplete because no penance was given. The penance given or not given is at the discretion of the priest. It seems as if the authority of the priest is being undermined here. Now if someone, on their own, wants to do further penance for their sins, that is up to them, but the sins are absolved and there is no benefit gained from confessing them again. Something like this could lead susceptible people to scrupulosity. It would be better to tell the person that their sins are indeed forgiven, they have been absolved of them, and the giving or not giving of a penance, or the kind of penance is at the discretion of the Confessor, who after, all is the one acting in the person of Christ.
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piscotikus
Guest
Are you absolved upon absolution or when you complete the penance? And what if you don’t do the penance?
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Lepanto
Guest
How do you know this?
It’s my understanding that every sin requires some penance. Technically, if there was no penance, then that must mean that the priest discerned no actual sin on the part of the penitent.
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melinda_s
Guest
that’s what i thought too
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Lepanto
Guest
Either no sin was discerned by the priest or he needs to brush up on his catechism. In any case, it’s on the priest’s conscience, not your friend’s. Your friend is not responsible for what the priest did or failed to do.
See especially the last two lines in para. 1459.
scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c2a4.htm
Satisfaction
1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused.62 Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must “make satisfaction for” or “expiate” his sins. This satisfaction is also called “penance.”
1460 The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent’s personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him."63
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the cooperation of "him who strengthens" us. Thus man has nothing of which to boast, but all our boasting is in Christ . . . in whom we make satisfaction by bringing forth "fruits that befit repentance." These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father.64- Status