Priest had an accent

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pcg2

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Hello,

I was wondering if you wonderful people could answer a couple of my questions. Let me first off state that I suffer from scrupulosity. I just went to confession about an hour ago. The priest was reading the church bulletin the whole time I was making my confession – I think this was very rude becasue it made me feel like he wasn’t even listening to me. But then after my confession he counseled me and in the process menitoned some of the things I had just confessed, so I guess it turns out he was listening to me 🤷

1. Had the priest not been listening to me/not payed attention to my confession, would it still have been valid?

And then when the priest gave me absolution, he said (what I think was the) absolution formula so fast and with such a bad accent/slur that I’m not even sure what he said :confused: My main concern is that he said it very fast, so that makes me think that he didn’t say the whole formula, and the fact that for the life of me I can’t remember/couldn’t tell whether he said “I absolve you” – and I know that if he didn’t say this, the sacrament isn’t valid, right? 😦

2. So what should I do? Should I assume that he did say it correctly, even though I think he didn’t? Or should I go to confession again? I’m not sure because I know that I’m scrupulous and that I should probably just assume that he said it right… but I don’t want to be careless. This priest is usually very orthodox so that makes me think that he wouldn’t have said it incorrectly/forgot… but I don’t know I am very confused and the worst part is not knowing whether or not my confession even counted!!!

Thank you for your responses :o
 
Hello there!

I would not worry about you confession being invalid.
Your heart was in the right place, and you did everything you were supposed to do. 🙂
Maybe the priest was just having a bad day, although I agree that him reading the bulletin was inappropriate.😊

If this continues to bother you, the next time you go to confession, bring your concerns to the priest, remember he is there to help you.

Peace be with you on your journey!
 
I went to Confession one time and my priest gave me absolution in Polish. I didn’t understand a word, but I know it was completely valid. If I were in a foreign country and I felt the need to go to Confession right away, I would go. If the priest that was there did not speak English, but we went through the form, I think I would still be forgiven. It isn’t the priest that we are confessing to, it is Christ present there. He is the one who gives absolution.
 
you are worrying way to much. the priest was listening and i’m sure he properly did his part.

you do not need to ge to confession again. take care.
 
bnbkaine said:
I went to Confession one time and my priest gave me absolution in Polish. I didn’t understand a word, but I know it was completely valid. If I were in a foreign country and I felt the need to go to Confession right away, I would go. If the priest that was there did not speak English, but we went through the form, I think I would still be forgiven. It isn’t the priest that we are confessing to, it is Christ present there. He is the one who gives absolution.
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Hmmm… that’s interesting 🙂 Just curious, is it allowed for us to go to confessions where our confessor doesn’t understand us (as it seems what was the case in your situation?) Can the priest give us absolution even though he would have no idea what we just said haha
 
My priest understands English, he just gave me the absolution in Polish. Just to clarify.
 
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