Priest not following confession rite

  • Thread starter Thread starter Forgiving
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Forgiving

Guest
Recently I went to confession and the priest would not allow me to say an act of contrition before absolution. He told me to say it later in the day as my penance.** Shouldn’t he follow Catholic tradition ? **Doesn’t skipping the act of contrition make the confession invalid ? He told me because I was following his instructions, it was all right.
 
Skipping the act of contrition does not invalidate the sacrament. What is required is for the priest to say that he absolves you of your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
 
In looking up the Church’s teaching on the Sacrament of Reconciliation I found it says expressing sorrow for our sins is an integral part of the confession.
 
Forgiving said:
In looking up the Church’s teaching on the Sacrament of Reconciliation I found it says expressing sorrow for our sins is an integral part of the confession.
Click to expand...
This is true, but an one may express sorrow for their sins in ways other than an Act of Contrition.
 
Did he say why? That seems pretty strange. The only thing I can think of is that he was trying to speed things up and hear more confessions during a limited time.

This link is to the section of the Catechism on Confession: vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c2a4.htm

It does, of course, say that contrition is necessary for absolution, but it doesn’t specify anything in particular about how to express it.

“Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.” (CCC 1480)
 
In response to coolduude…True. My point was not the formula prayer. I was not allowed to say any words of contrition or sorrow for my sins before absolution. I was told to skip that part. I have always believed that some form of contrition (sorrow for our sins with a firm purpose of amendment) should be expressed as an integral part of confession. Has that changed?
 
Forgiving said:
In response to coolduude…True. My point was not the formula prayer. I was not allowed to say any words of contrition or sorrow for my sins before absolution. I was told to skip that part. I have always believed that some form of contrition (sorrow for our sins with a firm purpose of amendment) should be expressed as an integral part of confession. Has that changed?
Click to expand...
If you said “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” or something like that, and then listed your sins, that would be sufficient.
 
Thanks Moscati. The priest’s explanation to me was he was “not going to follow some wingnut from the 18th century” who said to include a prayer of contrition during confession. He prefers we say the prayer later in the day. (I was the only person in church so there was no rush to be finished).
 
The Vatican link provided by Moscati seems to answer my questions. Here is the quote that helped:
Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.

I had always thought an expression of contrition was an essential element.
 
I’ve had several priests instruct me to pray an act of contrition in the pew after Confession. So I’ve developed a habit of saying “I am sorry for these and for all my sins” when I’m finished listing my sins in the confessional.
 
Forgiving said:
The Vatican link provided by Moscati seems to answer my questions. Here is the quote that helped:
Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.

I had always thought an expression of contrition was an essential element.
Click to expand...
That’s a discussion of the form the rite should take, not a description of the bare minimum necessary for sacramental validity. I assume the priest also didn’t conduct a “reading [of] the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition.” But he doesn’t have to read you Bible verses for the absolution to be valid.
 
Forgiving said:
Recently I went to confession and the priest would not allow me to say an act of contrition before absolution. He told me to say it later in the day as my penance.** Shouldn’t he follow Catholic tradition ? **Doesn’t skipping the act of contrition make the confession invalid ? He told me because I was following his instructions, it was all right.
Click to expand...
Ive been a witness to this aswell My thoughts are is that the priest in question is herding people through. I dont know but its probably a duty some priest dont take seriously as they should and probably just want to get it over with so they can get on with the rest of their day. Of course this is all just an assumtion. My two cents if you will.

St Pio would spend 12 hours a day hearing confesions. Its a part of saving souls!

When a church dedicates 1 to 2 hours a week for confession few people show up anyway.
Sad part is during Mass everyone jumps to go to communion not knowing or maybe not caring their souls are on the line for not confessing and then recieving the body and blood of our savour Jesus Christ. Its considerd by the church to be sacreledge to recve communion while in a state of mortal sin.

I blame the pastor for not educating his sheep.

Sometimes I wonder if our church is so afraid of upseting people with the rules they let people get away with things as not to offend anyone. News flash God is not polliticaly correct nor does he care what you think of his commandments you either follow them or
not. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I personally feel the church should tighten up stop worring about offending people and if they want to leave because they disagree with the teachings and the rules then hey dont let the door hit you on the way out. The door to Heaven is narrow but the gates to hell are wide open.

Okay Im off my soap box!

pax et bonum
 
So Mark if I understand you correctly, you believe the essential elements of confession are confessing one’s sins and receiving absolution.
After 52 years of always including some form of prayer of contrition in the confessional, I thought the Church taught it was a necessary part of the rite. Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
Forgiving said:
So Mark if I understand you correctly, you believe the essential elements of confession are confessing one’s sins and receiving absolution.
After 52 years of always including some form of prayer of contrition in the confessional, I thought the Church taught it was a necessary part of the rite. Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
Click to expand...
I’m willing to be corrected here, but I don’t think it’s necessary that that expression take place during the confession for sacramental validity. I’m not even sure it has to be expressed out loud. This is why battlefield absolutions, absolutions of very sick people who can barely talk, and so on, can be valid.

Obviously, it doesn’t sound like this priest was following best practices; I’m not defending his way of going about it, just trying to convince you that he imparted a valid absolution.
 
Zatzat said:
Heaven sounds like it would be a very, very lonely place. 😦
Click to expand...
Just follow simple instructions… Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Jesus’s words Matthew 7:13
 
The duty of the priest / confessor is to absolve people of their sins if they are sorry.

In the case of hearing confessions at a regular hour at Church, one could say that merely by showing up the penitent is expressing sorrow. Not a hard and fast rule, each situation is different. The use of a formula for the Sacrament of Confession makes things a little easier and smoother, but as long as the priest observes the sorrow (and you don’t have to tear your shirt in grief), then he can perform the absolution.

I have been in situations where the priest had to be someplace and was walking to his car; he knew me; I raised a question and to alleviate my mental anguish, he gave me absolution while we were walking and told me to do the act of contrition later. I nodded as he headed out. Good to go.

Trust the priest. He has heard “millions” of confessions. After a while, AND with the benefit of all his studying, he has developed a tuned ear to guide his granting absolution.

It’s not necessary for Confession to turn into an emotional catharsis. Maybe that is your concern. You didn’t “FEEL” forgiven. But much of Christianity is not about our individual feelings, it is about re-forming our lives. And preparing for our next life.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “Go. And sin no more.”

It may take some work, but re-form your life. Whatever that may mean for you.

Go. And sin no more.

[If you are able to, Father George Rutler has a pretty neat program currently running on EWTN, you might try to see if you can catch it. He has a very “mild”, low key way of describing things. Ascerbic, sometimes.]
 
Forgiving said:
The Vatican link provided by Moscati seems to answer my questions. Here is the quote that helped:
Like all the sacraments, Penance is a liturgical action. The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest’s absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest.

I had always thought an expression of contrition was an essential element.
Click to expand...
You are quite right that an expression of contrition is essential.
But let me ask you.
Why did (do) you Go to Confession?
To brag in sinful pride? or to confess in contrite humility?
Is not the very act of going to confession an expression of contrition?

Just a thought.

Peace
James
 
Penance does not have to occur right away, but once absolution is given, you are absolved. What penance does is help make remediation. For instance if you stole something, you should give it back. But not doing your penance in real terms means longer time in purgatory.

Take a look at CCC 1422-1498 here.

And although the gates to hell are wide and those to heaven narrow, there is incredible peace in trying to get into heaven.

Burdens of sin seem to never be noticed by society. Take greed for instance. A greedy person may not even realize they are acting greedily or see the harm their greed causes other people. Like a business owner who refuses to offer sick leave or maternity leave to his employees even though he could easily afford to do so. He gets an extra few thousand dollars a year but he ends up really harming the family life of one of his employees. To the owner, it seems he has freedom – he can do what he pleases. In reality, the greed taints and harms his soul. In real terms he ends up with unloyal employees who will likely not be willing to go the extra mile for him.

Another good example of false “freedom” in not being Christian are sins of the flesh. Someone who is out having sex before marriage may consider themselves free. However they are ruining themselves with relationships that typically result in a string of low fulfillment serial monogamy. Compare that to the true slice of heaven that a healthy marriage can give you and you will be surprised at how the “freedom” or the “wide gate” seems much more appealing to so many. The narrow gate is where real freedom lies.
 
Forgiving said:
So Mark if I understand you correctly, you believe the essential elements of confession are confessing one’s sins and receiving absolution.
After 52 years of always including some form of prayer of contrition in the confessional, I thought the Church taught it was a necessary part of the rite. Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
Click to expand...
That is a gross distortion of what he said. You seem to have come in here, asking a question, but you only want a single response, rejecting all others.

The priest’s practice is far from ideal, but it also is far from invalid. I have had any number of priests (typically Irish, but that is another story, LOL) tell me to say my act of contrition in the pew. They do this to maximize the number of confessions they can hear. While I do not like what your priest supposedly said, I would not be surprised, based on your statements in here, that you harangued him at the time, which was also not too cool. Yes, contrition is a necessary part of the sacrament (and Mark T. did not say otherwise, though you tried to pretend that he did), but the rite does not absolutely prescribe that it be said while still in the confessional, just as the penance is an integral part of the rite, but neither is it said in the confessional. Just as a specific penance is not prescribed by the rite, neither is a specific act of contrition.

I say the traditional “Oh, my God, I am hearily sorry for having offended Thee…” prayer (which is on a laminated card in our confessionals, anyway) and prefer to say it in the box and immediately receive my penance and go out and do it, if possible. However, occasionally it does not happen in that exact way, and even if I am not enamored of the priest’s screenside manner, I still receive the sacrament in a valid manner.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top