Priests Have Me Thinking Frequent Confession is Bad?

[chancvn]

Daily for Bl. John Paul the second actually, :thumbsup:

I second that emotion, I mean, that’s what I heard. But for most of us, that may not be advisable or practicable. See my other reply.

 

[chancvn]

There is no such thing as confessing too much

I believe there could be too much confession. Take for instance, a person goes to confession every week. I have seen a person that confesses almost everyday. Remember, you only need to confess your mortal sins. I try to go to confession every two weeks. So if you don’t have a mortal sin and you go to confession every week or every other day, just so you can receive the graces from the Sacrament. I feel that there is something wrong there. It would be OK if the priest knows you and you “fall” all the time and prescribe that rigor for you.
We all know that we don’t go to confession just to “get rid” of the sins. We confess to a priest because of our love of God and are sorry for offending Him who loves us so much (perfect contrition). In return, we receive the forgiveness and grace to not commit those sins again.

It’s another thing if one keeps committing a mortal sin every two weeks and is in need of confession and this cycle repeats itself for months, there are big problems here: priest who is not giving proper advice, penitent who lacks faith and will to change and trust in the power of the sacrament.

Sure, many times we might commit some of those venial sins because we are weak and didn’t make the change in our life to really avoid the occasions of those sins and we fall over and over. This should be recognize as our “weak” point or shall we say our “kryptonite” as in the case with Superman. Therefore, the penitent and the priest should devise a plan to recognize the temptation and run to Jesus and Mary where we find strength against the enemy. This daily war is hard but take heart because of the power of God. That is if we believe in God and trust in his supernatural power to help us overcome it. This is why we need to follow confession with Holy Communion. Friends, the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist sustain us on our journey home. We need to know where we want to go and pick up all the tools and food to help us make it. Jesus is the food, tools and the objective of our desire. He is our Lawyer and our Judge. Let us make Him our best friend. When He is, we got less problems with Satan. Don’t worry, satan will still attack us but we depend on the Lord. May Jesus be adored and praised in the Blessed Sacrament in all the tabernacles of the world, now until the end of time. Amen.

 

[George_Stegmeir]

I hate to sound like an old fogey, but when I was growing up- in the 1940’s- weekly Confession (it wasn’t called Reconcilliation until after V II) was the norm for both adults and children.
I was away from the Church for about 50 years before I returned. Anyway, for someone who grew up surrounded by Latin, to come back post V II in the 2000’s was an enormous shock. Today’s Church was more like the Episcopalian Church than the Roman Catholic Church. Especially before they corrected the English translation of the Mass.
The biggest shock to me, is Saturday Confession. I see long Communion lines at different Masses in my Parish, but rarely see more that 4 or 5 people going to Confession. Could it be that we have a wave of Saintliness, or have the rules reguarding what constitutes a Mortal Sin been relaxed? I think neither. I do think that most practicing Catholics have not been properly catechized from the 1970’s on and that the Church didn’t want their members going around feeling guilty all of the time.

 

[TrueLight]

I hate to sound like an old fogey, but when I was growing up- in the 1940’s- weekly Confession (it wasn’t called Reconcilliation until after V II) was the norm for both adults and children.

It’s an honor to have an elder with us. Especially one who is not afraid of technology.

There was a time that I was going to weekly confession and it was good for me. It caused me to be really aware of the different ways that I might sin against God and others. Now I go about every two weeks, but I hope to go back to weekly.

 

[poche]

You have one life and one immortal soul. If you feel that you need to go to confession then go where you can.
I will pray for you.

 

[Joan_M]

You may not be allowed confession if some mortal sins apply that are perpetual

I do not understand this statement. Unless someone is committing the same mortal sin **and not taking some action to fight against committing it again, thus indicating the lack of a firm purpose of amendment, **no priest should tell them not to come back to confession.

Anyway, should a priest tell a penitent not to come back to confession, he should also state why, and what the penitent must do to return to the sacrament.

The only valid reason for denying confession to a penitent is the above mentioned lack of purpose of amendment. For example, someone is committing adultery and refuses to break off the relationship. Another example - someone stole property or money of sufficient value to be a mortal sin, but refuses to make restitution. Or someone gravely damaged another’s reputation by telling lies about them and refuses to seriously try to restore that reputation.

In such cases, the priest cannot give absolution.

 

[mcw013]

I think you need to be more assertive in your position, and if that doesn’t work to go to the bishop and up the latter.

You have my support on this for sure, and as I am tired of both priests and parishioners taking this Sacrament lightly.

Thank you, hopefully I will not have to do this, I would much rather to just do my confession and move on.

 

[mcw013]

I wish I could get that kind of treament. I just wish that the Confessional could be my permanent home sometimes… and OP btw, you have every right to have a Confession heard. I am sure that if You bothered to look You would find the Canon Law for it, I would either print or write it out if You don’t have a printer, then show it to the Priest.

Thank you! I know that it is my right and that the cannon law supporting it exists, I just feel rather strange that these priests are behaving in such a way.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

Go to the monastery, tell the priest that apparently you are “not a good Catholic,” which is why you need confession!

I’ve had the same reception since I started going to confession more often. It went something like this:

Why are you here again?
Because I sinned father!
Well it’s not a bad sin.
It’s bad for me, which is why I need confession.

And here I went to confession twice within less than 24 hours last week (I’m having adjustment issues to our new priest’s style of “counsel” let us say and I’m a bit hotheaded) and my confessor didn’t even question it. I go weekly, sometimes twice in the week if I feel compelled. Frequent confession is normal at my parish. We have Confession daily. It’s great.

 

[runningdude]

I hate to sound like an old fogey, but when I was growing up- in the 1940’s- weekly Confession (it wasn’t called Reconcilliation until after V II) was the norm for both adults and children.
I was away from the Church for about 50 years before I returned. Anyway, for someone who grew up surrounded by Latin, to come back post V II in the 2000’s was an enormous shock. Today’s Church was more like the Episcopalian Church than the Roman Catholic Church. Especially before they corrected the English translation of the Mass.
The biggest shock to me, is Saturday Confession. I see long Communion lines at different Masses in my Parish, but rarely see more that 4 or 5 people going to Confession. Could it be that we have a wave of Saintliness, or have the rules reguarding what constitutes a Mortal Sin been relaxed? I think neither. I do think that most practicing Catholics have not been properly catechized from the 1970’s on and that the Church didn’t want their members going around feeling guilty all of the time.

A nickpick, but the Episcopal Church changed its liturgy to match the Catholic Church’s new liturgy in the 1970’s, not the other way around.

I however do find it sad that confession lines are so short. When I go to confession, there is sometimes a 50 year age gap between me and the next penitent in line!

A few weeks ago though, I was feeling especially self-conscience about my age when I went down to daily mass at the Cathedral, but the good Lord filled that particular mass with young people who were volunteers at the Saint Vincent de Paul center on the occasion of their patron’s feast day!

 

[mcw013]

Thank you everyone for the replies, and advise. I visited the monastery today and did confess. The priest seemed a bit “nicer” than normal. He didn’t complain like he did the last time I saw him, but this time he actually said he would pray for me, and that I should come back and let him know how I’m doing.

Maybe he was just having a bad day when he complained the last time I saw him, or maybe he was in an exceptional mood today. I really do not know, but I am happy that I was able to get my confession done. Thanks again everyone.