Priest during confession was angry

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David_97

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Hey guys, just wanted to ask a question regarding the Sacrament of Confession. It’s been bothering me all day. Today I went to confession, it’s been a while since my last confession and I had alot of sins to tell the priest. He started getting agitated and I heard him click his tongue and massage his forehead. He cut me off and asked me what was the thing that most bothered me, and I was at a loss for words since I had so much to say. He absolved me right away and told me the penance, he didn’t even tell me to do the act of contrition, I instead did it silently as I did my penance after confession. I left the confessional very sad since it’s been a while since I had my last confession and I was scared if any of my sins were absolved at all. All in all, the confession lasted only about 1 minute and 30 seconds. And there was barely anyone in the church that day. I’m 20 years old and I’ve been wanting to go back to being a good catholic. And I thought today was gonna turn out amazing. But it just really left me with a sour taste. Wasn’t able to finish my confession and the priest seemed angry. Can anyone help me out? Were my sins forgiven and should I not be afraid to receive the Holy Communion ? Thank you

Edit: Thank you for the replies guys, it’s given me peace of mind and to answer some of your questions. I only had 10-12 things to say and he cut me off at around 8. I feel no anger whatsoever to the priest. I was just scared if my confession was valid and whether or not I could receive holy Communion. I’m still learning more about the faith. God bless you guys! Thank you again
 
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Being a Priest is quite hard. Don’t blame him. His day might not have been going well. Keep him in your prayers and find another confessor.
 
@David_97 A priest is a servant of God but is STILL very human. I’m sure this priest was having his own struggle and I wouldn’t take it personally. I must remind you that God knows what’s in your heart and already knows the desire you have to do better and the wish in your heart to confess your many sins. While in Catholicism it is ritual to confess to a priest I was raised in a Protestant church where we prayed to God directly and confessed our sins, told God what was in our heart asked for his forgiveness ourselves. Protestant is basically “Catholic- Light” 😂 We believe all of the same principles and acknowledge the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary and some of the Saints but we speak directly to God. I know you are accustomed to a priest absolving you from your sins and giving you a penance but if you feel unsatisfied after a confession perhaps you can seek a different priest or let God know in your own way how you feel and ask him for forgiveness. If it is truly in your heart God will know because he knows all. Then say prayers and maybe do an act of kindness as penance. I hope this helped. ❤️ I am a 📿 Rosary person. I taught myself how to pray all of the decades myself because I was DRAWN to Our Blessed Mother. There are many ways to speak to God who is all knowing and forgives all sin as long as we are genuinely repentant. Bless you!
 
I am so sorry you had this experience. Be assured that the Lord loves you unconditionally! He is near you and rejoices that you have gone to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

If you feel the need to discuss this with another priest you certainly may do so.

God bless you!
 
David_97 said:
He cut me off and asked me what was the thing that most bothered me,
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Did you confess all mortal sins before he cut you off? If so, you are absolved. If he cut you off before you could confess them, the confession was invalid, but through no fault of yours. It’s sad to hear that a priest would be that impatient.

As for the act of contrition, an explicit prayer of contrition is not required for a valid confession. In the Eastern churches, simply asking a priest to hear your confession is considered enough.
 
Speaking as someone who has been going to confession 1-2 times a month for the last few years, and rarely goes to the same priest twice because I travel a lot and go wherever I happen to be,

90 to 95 percent of the priests and confessions go just fine, no problem.

5 to 10 percent of the time I get a priest who seems to be having a bad day, is in a rush, is short tempered or otherwise doesn’t act how I’m expecting. Priests are human, it happens. The last time this happened I overheard the priest talking to another parishioner outside the confessional before he went in, and he was saying how overworked and tired he was from substituting for other priests all over the diocese (including at the parish where he was hearing the confessions that day), so I knew that was the probable cause of his bad mood.

As others said, don’t take it personally, just say an extra prayer for the priest and next time feel free to choose another priest if you would be more comfortable confessing to someone else. Above all, don’t let it scare you off from going to confession frequently. The more confessions you make ,the more you will get used to it and be less bothered by the moods of our very human priests.
 
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All your sins were absolved. Move on, and don’t worry about it for another second of another minute of another day…Any good and decent spiritual director worth his or her salt will tell you the same.
 
Paragon468 said:
Did you confess all mortal sins before he cut you off? If so, you are absolved. If he cut you off before you could confess them, the confession was invalid, but through no fault of yours. It’s sad to hear that a priest would be that impatient.
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Ugh. I’m sad to say that even though the priest cut you off you do have the responsibility to confess all mortal sins in name & number (your best guess). The priest should never have cut you off unless perhaps you are extremely scrupulous and were confessing every sin in the book in and OCD/compulsive fashion. But I’m afraid you can’t skip off saying “well, I tried - it’s on him if he botched my confession.” Sometimes the mistakes of other cause us pain and discomfort going forward. This is one of those times. Find a different priest, explain what happened, and redo the Confession including all mortal sins.
If you feel it may take awhile for your own peace of mind you may want to schedule an appointment with the priest so he knows to expect a long-ish Confession. But it should be necessary. I’ve been behind folks in Confession lines who took 15 or 20 minutes in there EASILY. Praise God!! I’m so glad they got it all out & received Christ’s mercy!! I’m sorry you had a priest who didn’t grant you this same time.
 
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David_97 said:
Were my sins forgiven and should I not be afraid to receive the Holy Communion ?
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Did you tell the Priest your sins? If so, then you are forgiven.
If he didn’t allow you to tell him all your mortal sins then you were not forgiven of all your mortal sins. Then find another Priests.
I mean, ok you have the right intention so in a mystical way you are forgiven.
 
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Define “quite a while” and “a lot of sins” - those terms may not be as ominous as you think. Are you the least bit scrupulous?
 
ALL your sins are forgiven - please do not refrain from Holy Communion - even if there were mortal sins you did not get around to confessing because Father cut you short. Do confess those mortal sins at your next Confession.

Father was very wrong in the way you were treated. And I am sad that you have had that terrible experience. It might be too that Father did something sinful in his reactions and actions in the confessional. The Act of Contrition in Confession is not essential to the validity of this Sacrament, while being sorry (in the heart) is and I am very confident that you were. You did very well, thoughj it is not absolutely necessary, to pray the Act of Contrition after your Confession - and in my book a very holy thing you did.
David_97 said:
I left the confessional very sad …and I was scared if any of my sins were absolved at all
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If I had had an experience like yours, I would be very sad too. And I find it very hard indeed to i impossible to imagine that any Catholic would feel anything but sad - or such similar type of emotion.

Do rest assured and be in complete Peace of Soul, mind and heart, emotions, that ALL your sins are forgiven even if you did not get around to confessing them because Father cut you short in a rather nasty sort of way.
If you continue to feel uneasy in any way great or small about your Confession, then simply go to another priest and repeat your Confession, seeking Peace you had a right to hope to experience after a good Confession. .You could even go to a different priest, tell him what happened (no need to name names) and that you would like to confess the sins you were prevented from confessing and asking his advice.

There is no need to try to rationalise Father’s state of mind because only God alone can know. The heart of the matter is that FAther was very much in the wrong. Of course you were hoping for the best for yourself after your Confession - I think we all probably do that and it is rightful to Hope for Peace and a tranquil heart after the Sacrament-- it is what Confession is all about to mention one point only…

Finally, be assured you have made a wonderful beginning of your return to practising your Faith, our Faith. Everytime we go to Confession we are making a new start. We are all sinners, even our greatest saints committed sins. Every last one of us is on that up and down journey of trying to live one’s journey loving God and loving our neighbour. And we all fail somewhere, somehow! There is a saying that is very true: “The Church is not a club for saints, it is a hospital for sinners”.
Jesus had something to say on this point :
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17Jesus heard this and said to them (that), “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”’ (Gospel of Mark Chapter 2) Vatican Bible Translation - Mark Chapter 2
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The sin of Adam and Eve is called by The Church a “happy fault” because it was due to their sin that Jersus, Second Person of The Blessed Trinity became fully human while remaining yet Fully God. He came to live and to die for sinners.

Then I think that we can each say about our sinfulness. Oh happy sinfulness, sinner that I am, for Jesus has come for me and the likes of me.

Peace and God Bless.
 
Be brief
Be bold
Be gone

Priest may have had a bad day.

You may have been giving too much detail.

Make an appointment to talk to him outside of Confession.

You were forgiven.
 
Your sins were forgiven! Praise God. The devil was working through a tired priest maybe in pain to make it a bad experience for you. The devil doesn’t want you going to confession. Therefore, show him and start going frequently! The devil will realize that he just made you go more often and will not use that tactic to attack you again!
 
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No it would still be valid. He didn’t deliberately withhold mortal sins. He would still be asked to mention those sins at his next confession.
 
We have 2 Priests at Parish I attend who do confessions. First Priest always has about 10 minutes between people in the confession booth. Second Priest always has about 45secods - 1minute between people in the confession booth. I don’t think that’s random. Second Priest probably moves people along whereas First Priest is probably more thorough, just different styles. It sounds like you may have had version of Second Priest at my Parish.
 
Thank you everyone for the swift replies, this helps me alot. And to answer some of your questions. I’d say I only had about 10 - 12 things to say, I keep things short and wanted to give it straight to the point but obviously Its been a while since my last confession. He cut me off at about 8 and I could see he was visibly agitated cause you could see the priest clearly. I was able to say all mortal sins as I put them first on the list. I feel no anger or spite towards the priest. It just scared me a little, this was the first time I experienced such a thing and whether or not my sins were absolved or if I could receive the Holy Communion. So thank you guys for this, it helped me alot and has given me peace of mind. I’ve read every single one of your replies. God Bless You All.
 
We are all human. Pray for him. He was probably having a bad day.
 
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