Notes in Confession

[dan1el]

I love the costly stones of life which God gives us through our sisters and brothers in Christ!! Thx Shoshanna
Your words minister grace to my life.

 

[mercygate]

This is really just a matter of curiosity and annoyance, but I’d love to know the rationale behind it if anyone knows:
Why do some priests (not all) have a problem with people taking notes into confession? It doesn’t necessarily indicate scrupulosity. You get to a certain age and you can’t remember why you just opened the refrigerator, much less what you did 3 weeks ago. I had a priest just recently tell me not to use notes written beforehand, and it’s not the first time. It seems to me notes can be an effective part of examination of conscience. To solve it, I stay on the other side of the screen and am careful not to rattle the paper, but it seems ridiculous to have to go to that length to make a good confession.

Heh heh. Stay on your side of the screen, and he’ll never know you’re using notes.

 

[FickleFreckled]

I wonder if priets are going to start to notice and wonder why us middle aged types are all hiding on the other side of the screen…

 

[EasterJoy]

I wonder if priets are going to start to notice and wonder why us middle aged types are all hiding on the other side of the screen…

Frankly, I think the good ones are thrilled when the penitents show up, behind the screen or not.

 

[FickleFreckled]

Ha! Good point!

 

[FickleFreckled]

I just noticed on the CA Hot Topics that pops up in my email this thread has been entitled “Taking Notes in Confession”…instead of Notes in Confession -

I get this picture of a darkened confessional, light burned out, memory-impaired person (like some of us) frantically trying to write down the penance…in glow-in-the-dark ink…on a kleenix… :doh2:

 

[i_have_no_names]

You get to a certain age and you can’t remember why you just opened the refrigerator, much less what you did 3 weeks ago.

It’s not just people past a certain age! I’m 15… I often forget why I open the fridge, and I always blank out the moment I step into the confessional. I can’t remember most of my sins, much less the act of contrition. I tried putting an act of contrition to the tune of the alphabet song recently, and I have yet to see how that works out. I might forget how the alphabet song goes when I enter the confessional

I’m really happy to have discovered this thread, though. I’ve considered making a list so many times, but never done it, because I didn’t think I was allowed to. The closest I’ve come was the time I wrote out the act of contrition on a scrap of looseleaf and took it in. I didn’t use it. I was too scared to pull it out of my pocket - it would crackle, and I didn’t want the priest to know I had it. So I had to tell the priest, as usual, that I didn’t know the act of contrition, and then repeat it after him

I think I will use the book/lamination idea from now on…

 

[FickleFreckled]

I have no names,
You may have something there - we could sing our confessions and then we’d remember! Music is a recognized memory aid. I like it!

 

[FickleFreckled]

Here’s our memory aid…

Music to Remember Sins By:
(to the tune of Jolly Old St. Nicholas)

Bless me Father, I have sinned
And I’m here to say
I am sorry, please absolve
all my sins away…

Saturday I stayed out late
Sunday Mass I missed
But that’s not all, just wait a mo’
Let me get my list!

(Sorry. It’s a sickness…)

 

[i_have_no_names]

Here’s our memory aid…

Music to Remember Sins By:
(to the tune of Jolly Old St. Nicholas)

Bless me Father, I have sinned
And I’m here to say
I am sorry, please absolve
all my sins away…

Saturday I stayed out late
Sunday Mass I missed
But that’s not all, just wait a mo’
Let me get my list!

(Sorry. It’s a sickness…)

Oh dear. I hope this isn’t my fault

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

It’s not just people past a certain age! I’m 15… I often forget why I open the fridge, and I always blank out the moment I step into the confessional. I can’t remember most of my sins, much less the act of contrition. I tried putting an act of contrition to the tune of the alphabet song recently, and I have yet to see how that works out. I might forget how the alphabet song goes when I enter the confessional

I’m really happy to have discovered this thread, though. I’ve considered making a list so many times, but never done it, because I didn’t think I was allowed to. The closest I’ve come was the time I wrote out the act of contrition on a scrap of looseleaf and took it in. I didn’t use it. I was too scared to pull it out of my pocket - it would crackle, and I didn’t want the priest to know I had it. So I had to tell the priest, as usual, that I didn’t know the act of contrition, and then repeat it after him

I think I will use the book/lamination idea from now on…

I am 43 years old and still can not remember the act of contrition. What is do is I take my Missal in to the confessional with me with my list placed at the page with the Act of contrition and open it to that page as I kneel down. That is when I can remember to make the list then I have to place the ribbon book mark to that page

 

[jmcrae]

Here’s our memory aid…

Music to Remember Sins By:
(to the tune of Jolly Old St. Nicholas)

Bless me Father, I have sinned
And I’m here to say
I am sorry, please absolve
all my sins away…

Saturday I stayed out late
Sunday Mass I missed
But that’s not all, just wait a mo’
Let me get my list!

(Sorry. It’s a sickness…)

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

Here’s our memory aid…

Music to Remember Sins By:
(to the tune of Jolly Old St. Nicholas)

Bless me Father, I have sinned
And I’m here to say
I am sorry, please absolve
all my sins away…

Saturday I stayed out late
Sunday Mass I missed
But that’s not all, just wait a mo’
Let me get my list!

(Sorry. It’s a sickness…)

that is funny I love it :clapping: :extrahappy:

 

[Shoshana]

Here’s our memory aid…

Music to Remember Sins By:
(to the tune of Jolly Old St. Nicholas)

Bless me Father, I have sinned
And I’m here to say
I am sorry, please absolve
all my sins away…

Saturday I stayed out late
Sunday Mass I missed
But that’s not all, just wait a mo’
Let me get my list!

(Sorry. It’s a sickness…)

My director/priest/friend would call you what he calls me…obsessive/compulsion, or something like that!

 

[FickleFreckled]

Now it’s OCD; 40 years ago it was “scrupulosity.”
The difference is, OCD you don’t have to confess…

 

[Shoshana]

Now it’s OCD; 40 years ago it was “scrupulosity.”
The difference is, OCD you don’t have to confess…

He has been my director/confessor for over twenty years, shoudl I tell him???

 

[Shoshana]

Scrupulosity and OCD are really two different things. In scrupulosity, the penitent does not know what is venial or mortal sin. Even weaknesses are considered sins.

OCD is just being obsessed in becoming holy!

Does that sound good? 'Cause that is what i tell him!

 

[FickleFreckled]

Oh, dear. That means I have a LOT of sins to catch up on…my mistake…

 

[FickleFreckled]

I just want to say that this has been a very refreshing, enjoyable thread. Everybody’s had something interesting to say, or something funny,
and it’s nice to know a lot of us have this problem! I hope I haven’t offended anyone with my humor tonight.

 

[Shoshana]

I just want to say that this has been a very refreshing, enjoyable thread. Everybody’s had something interesting to say, or something funny,
and it’s nice to know a lot of us have this problem! I hope I haven’t offended anyone with my humor tonight.

If you did, you will have to put that on your sin list and then admit your sin to the nearest priest you see!