"Not calling you a liar, but I find this very hard to believe."

[maurin]

This was a response I received from a poster on a different thread commenting on my own experiences trying to battle and over come sexual impurity in the NO Confessionals.

My job moved me around to many different states and even within the same state, to different Dioceses, over a period of about 10 years.

My experience in the Confessional, as well as listening to Homilies in the NO Church for those 10 years was very confusing. Very few imparted the Church’s teachings on sexual Morality, and very many actually advised me not to be so ‘old fashioned’. God created us as sexual creatures and wants us to enjoy that particular gift. The trouble was, I was (and remain) single.

So I’m wondering, does anyone else have similar contradicting experiences in the NO with some degree of consistency?

 

[Eucharisted]

I know Confession, but what’s NO Confession? Sounds like heresy to me.

Rereading your post, you are spouting heresy. There is no NO Church. There is only One Church. To say otherwise is a heresy.

 

[maurin]

yes, yes, thank you for your modernist denial. The sky is green, the grass is blue and all is well there are no problems.

getting back on track now…

 

[Eucharisted]

yes, yes, thank you for your modernist denial. The sky is green, the grass is blue and all is well there are no problems.

getting back on track now…

You want to talk about problems? Try going to Mass at Corith when St. Paul was still alive. The Christians there worshipped idols during Mass.

To repeat St. Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Anxiety is useless.

 

[JustaServant]

This was your original statement:

I wasn’t able to find Him in the NO Parishes, pnewton. Every sexual sin I confessed to the NO Priests were mocked as old-fashioned (I could count on one hand how many Priests in 10 years of NO life actually took me seriously in this aspect), and that “pretty soon” those types of transgressions won’t be transgressions at all. No, I was dying and many of the Priests were eager to convince me I was not sinning at all. But I will repeat that I was at times lucky enough to find a NO Priest who was still faithful to the Church’s timeless teachings on Morality. Unfortunately for me, they were far and few in between.

I stand by what I said.
I think you are looking for an excuse to be a part of a scismatic movement not in union with Rome. I find the bolded sentence to be VERY disturbing.
But I’m not going to argue with you. In fact, I am not sure these types of threads are allowed.

 

[lifesmom]

There have been just a few times in the confessional when the priest glossed over my sins as though they were not ‘so bad’. Once when I had slapped my foster daughter - shortly before the adoption. We were both in a high stress period of our lives and the priest kind of condoned what I had done and continued to tell me what a wonderful person I was. I felt that he was justifying something that was clearly a sin. But then, after he gave me absolution, I realized that the absolution was from God and it didn’t really matter what he [the priest] thought. The other time was condoning my personal use of birth control. I walked out of the confessional knowing full well that birth control was wrong, no matter what the priest said.

I would hope that we all would recognize the humanity of our priests. Just like a good friend they may be trying to find ways to make you feel better about yourself - or they may even be just plain wrong in their teaching. Still, it is the absolution you can be happy about, because no matter what mistakes the priest makes, absolution comes from God.

I want to add that most generally, I have been blessed with priests that are true to the Church in their teachings. Currently I have a wonderful, conservative priest who always leads me rightly and encourages me to live according to Gods & the Church’s teachings.

I hope this is helpful. God bless.

Life(name removed by moderator)

 

[Spirithound]

So I’m wondering, does anyone else have similar contradicting experiences in the NO with some degree of consistency?

I certainly don’t have your level of experience (many different states and dioceses), but I’ve lived and confessed in the Dioceses of St. Catharines, London, and Ottawa, and never came across a priest telling me looking at pornography was ok.

 

[ML561]

What is NO confession or NO church? I have been seeing this quite a lot on various posts. Is it the post-Vatican II church? This is something I have never heard of.

 

[PaulinVA]

After participating in this TC forum for a few months, I was all ready to go buy a GIRM on Amazon and be able to detail all of the abuses in my parish. Then, I could recount them to anyone who would listen.

See, I’m a Quality Assurance professional, and I could certainly perform the task with skill and style. But, to what end? I found myself complaining after every Mass. I found myself separating myself from the Church, because they were all idiots.

I didn’t buy the GIRM, and I’ve stopped looking for every nit-picking mistake I could find. It was bad for me, personally, to attend Mass in that frame of mind. I’m trying to be more positive.

I do believe that Maurin, since he was paying attention and looking, found things in the confessional that he disagreed with. That is not my experience. I have found the majority of the priests in the Arlington, VA diocese to be pretty orthodox. Supportive in one’s struggle against sin, but, in my experience, they call sin what it is.

 

[Corki]

I felt that he was justifying something that was clearly a sin. But then, after he gave me absolution, I realized that the absolution was from God and it didn’t really matter what he [the priest] thought. The other time was condoning my personal use of birth control. I walked out of the confessional knowing full well that birth control was wrong, no matter what the priest said.

This has happened to me too. There are a few priests I try to avoid because they try to justify every sin I confess. If I’m not making excuses for my own behaviour, why are they? But there are other very good priests, many of whom are young and never knew the pre-Vatican II Church that are excellent confessors, giving good advice.

I don’t think it is a NO vs. Traditional thing however. I don’t remember receiving any advice at all in Confession pre-VII. And that’s as much of a problem.

 

[RyanML]

I’ve never had a priest tell me something in the confessional that was heretical. I’ve had plenty of priests who weren’t nearly as hard on me as I thought they should have been or who didn’t really challenge me in the spiritual life. But I’m aware that could be pride on my part.

As far as homilies go, I don’t remember every hearing one that contradicted the Church’s teachings regarding morality. Most of our priests seem to be conservative regarding morality, or atleast they keep their opinions to themselves. The problem in my area seems to be critical Biblical scholarship. Not too long ago I was listening to a Carmelite priest who was talking about Christ’s miracles, in particular when He calmed the sea. The priest refered to it as a myth, a story, meant to teach us to trust God in the trials and tribulations of life. He made some good points, but they were shadowed by his erroneous beliefs that doctrine and dogma aren’t important (his words) and that when we read the Scriptures we have to look at it through the lens of mythology.

 

[True_Believer_1]

Please let us know what “NO” stands for. There is no way to attempt answer your question without this information.

NOT JUST STRONG…CATHOLIC STRONG!!!

 

[RyanML]

Please let us know what “NO” stands for. There is no way to attempt answer your question without this information.

NOT JUST STRONG…CATHOLIC STRONG!!!

NO=Novus Ordo

This usually refers to a modernist and/or liberal mentality regarding philosophy, theology, and morality that has become widespread since the Second Vatican Council.

 

[Walking_Home]

I’ve never had a priest tell me something in the confessional that was heretical. I’ve had plenty of priests who weren’t nearly as hard on me as I thought they should have been or who didn’t really challenge me in the spiritual life. But I’m aware that could be pride on my part.

As far as homilies go, I don’t remember every hearing one that contradicted the Church’s teachings regarding morality. Most of our priests seem to be conservative regarding morality, or atleast they keep their opinions to themselves. The problem in my area seems to be critical Biblical scholarship. Not too long ago I was listening to a Carmelite priest who was talking about Christ’s miracles, in particular when He calmed the sea. The priest refered to it as a myth, a story, meant to teach us to trust God in the trials and tribulations of life. He made some good points, but they were shadowed by his erroneous beliefs that doctrine and dogma aren’t important (his words) and that when we read the Scriptures we have to look at it through the lens of mythology.

---

Many of us recognize error when we here it ----but there are many, many out there who do not. These are the souls vulnerable to faithless priest’s who “guide” them away from truth.

 

[RyanML]

After participating in this TC forum for a few months, I was all ready to go buy a GIRM on Amazon and be able to detail all of the abuses in my parish. Then, I could recount them to anyone who would listen.

See, I’m a Quality Assurance professional, and I could certainly perform the task with skill and style. But, to what end? I found myself complaining after every Mass. I found myself separating myself from the Church, because they were all idiots.

I didn’t buy the GIRM, and I’ve stopped looking for every nit-picking mistake I could find. It was bad for me, personally, to attend Mass in that frame of mind. I’m trying to be more positive.

I do believe that Maurin, since he was paying attention and looking, found things in the confessional that he disagreed with. That is not my experience. I have found the majority of the priests in the Arlington, VA diocese to be pretty orthodox. Supportive in one’s struggle against sin, but, in my experience, they call sin what it is.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve struggled with this myself. A traditional priest once told me that we have to realize that most people who attend Novus Ordo Masses and participate in liturgical abuses probably don’t know any better. Everyone else is doing it and it’s even allowed by the priest. Heck, the bishop may even support the abuses. We have to remember that what we have as traditional Catholics is a gift of grace and that surely if these other souls could see the same things that we see, they would be much better stewards of that grace than we are. It doesn’t mean the problems aren’t there and that they don’t need to be addressed, but it helps with our humility and focusing more on the issues as problems and not the people. God bless!

 

[JustaServant]

After participating in this TC forum for a few months, I was all ready to go buy a GIRM on Amazon and be able to detail all of the abuses in my parish. Then, I could recount them to anyone who would listen.
See, I’m a Quality Assurance professional, and I could certainly perform the task with skill and style. But, to what end? I found myself complaining after every Mass. I found myself separating myself from the Church, because they were all idiots.
I didn’t buy the GIRM, and I’ve stopped looking for every nit-picking mistake I could find. It was bad for me, personally, to attend Mass in that frame of mind. I’m trying to be more positive.

That’s exactly right. It strikes me as being very similar to the fundamentalist mindset I walked away from.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

NO=Novus Ordo

This usually refers to a modernist and/or liberal mentality regarding philosophy, theology, and morality that has become widespread since the Second Vatican Council.

Yes it is used as a derogatory term by some “traditionalists” who think they know better than the Church and the Pope.

I put traditionalist in quotes because these “traditionalists” who do this are no better than protestants as they have assumed the authority to judge the Church and Catholics who do not agree with them or their agenda.

 

[RyanML]

That’s exactly right. It strikes me as being very similar to the fundamentalist mindset I walked away from.

That’s just how some people react to the situation. That doesn’t mean their concerns aren’t valid. If it was all an illusion of backward traditionalists than I doubt Pope Benedict XVI would be putting so much effort into his ‘reform of the reform’. Personally, I believe that attending certain types of ordinary form Masses may indeed be an occasion of sin for some people. Certain temperments can’t take liturgical abuses and heretical preaching from the pulpit and then they spend the entire liturgy being angry and possibly thinking very uncharitable thoughts. If we find ourselves in this situation then we should pray for greater charity, humility, and grace and perhaps find another Mass to attend. It doesn’t mean we put our heads in the sand and pretend the problems don’t exist.

 

[RyanML]

Yes it is used as a derogatory term by some “traditionalists” who think they know better than the Church and the Pope.

I put traditionalist in quotes because these “traditionalists” who do this are no better than protestants as they have assumed the authority to judge the Church and Catholics who do not agree with them or their agenda.

I think seeing the problems in the Church for what they are and recognizing the harm they have caused should be important to every faithful Catholic.

 

[Patrick2340]

I understand what the OP is trying to say. He has attended Holy Mass at parishes that offer the O.F. (Ordinary Form) of the Roman Rite. In many of those parishes he has found the priests to be more liberally minded regarding the sins he is confessing. I have found much the same to be true myself.

However, I think I would frame this post in a different light. I would say that I have never been in the confessional in a parish dedicated to the E.F. (Extraordinary Form) where I have experienced a priest trying to tell me that sins I know to be sins are, in fact, not sins.