On Concealment and Confession

[hoklochen]

I only learned about the Sin of Concealing one’s sins in Confession this past spring. I had never been taught about this grave matter during my catechism as a child, so I’m left wondering, were my concealments of grave sins render many of my Confessions invalid? I eventually got to Confessing these concealed sins at a later point in time, but still a year before I learned that concealment itself was a sin. Fr. Ed Broom OMV had a video on how to make a good Confession, and in that video he mentioned (I think he based this on the Baltimore Catechism) that concealing sins made Confessions invalid and that to receive absolution for these sins, I would need to repeat these Confessions and then add the notes on concealment on top. As I think more about it, it starts getting a bit paradoxical, at least how my mind is processing it. Overall: Does concealment of sins without knowledge that concealment is a sin render Confessions invalid? And do those previously confessed sins need to be repeated in another Confession because of supposed invalidity?

 

[InThePew]

Does concealment of sins without knowledge that concealment is a sin render Confessions invalid?

No; there has to be a deliberate intention to conceal (in the sense of hiding something).

And do those previously confessed sins need to be repeated in another Confession because of supposed invalidity?

Short answer: no. Long answer: it would be helpful to bring them up at your next confession, especially if they’re recurrent or your troubled by their lingering presence in your past.