Priests in disagreement

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There are 2 priests at my parish and with out going into detail, when I go to confession one will forgive me of all my sins and one says he cannot. The sin in question is the same to both priests. How can I trust the confession process if they cant even agree on what is a sin or not?

This is not a question on my sin in question but on how priests arnt on the same page. I’m losing faith in my church because of this.
 
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Yes one believes I am not in sin and one thinks i am. I cannot receive communion over this and it hurts

One says I am living In the sin so i cannot be forgiven and one says it’s not a sin and says dont worry. The one who thinks it IS a sin wont forgive it because it’s the situation I’m in and it cannot change. How can one say it’s no issue and the other say it is such a big issue he cant forgive me
 
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Well, if you admit that you are “living in sin” (not to us) then wouldn’t you agree it is a sin? If one priest says it is not, it may be that he does not share the views of the church as he should, but that is neither here nor there. It may be better to address the problem with the priest that won’t absolve you. Or perhaps he has told you what you need to do, and you choose not to follow his advice.

Or, your situation is really too unique to go into detail here. So, you really still need to discuss this with a priest, not internet strangers.
 
If one priest doesnt consider it a sin, and the other does, and you are confessing it either way, then absolution is achieved through your confession either way.

I’d ask them to speak with one another to reconcile their dispute.

Apart from that, if your conscience is troubled, I’d write your Bishop about the matter.
 
It is not unusual for clergy to have differing opinions about a given topic. Check your situation against the teaching of the Church.
 
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Ammi said:
If one priest doesnt consider it a sin, and the other does, and you are confessing it either way, then absolution is achieved through your confession either way.
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Not necessarily.

If the person is truly living in an objective state of grave sin, and one priest disclaims that it is sinful and still absolves him, then the absolution is invalid. The OP says he’s “living in sin.” That could mean any number of things, and he’s not specified, nor should he. Matters of conscience should not be handled in public.

To the OP: Please PM me and I will try to help you figure out what’s going on.

-Fr ACEGC
 
You are probably right. I was assuming the confession meant the penitent was expressing the willful ceasing of the behavior.

Now I read his follow up post that shows the behavior has not changed. And so it is definitely necessary to resolve whether the behavior is sinful.

Thank you Fr. Edward
 
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Ammi said:
Ok! Yes, then the issue wouldnt be about the disagreement so much as the continued state of supposed sin?
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Yes. Because there are a number of conceivable scenarios:
  1. True disagreement between priests on a matter of morality and confession, which is a problem, though one that would be difficult for the OP to address given the seal of confession.
  2. A misunderstanding on the part of one priest as to the gravity of the sin of the penitent.
  3. A misunderstanding by the penitent as to how to properly explain his situation, which is resulting in a misunderstanding.
  4. An assumption by one priest, but not the other, that this situation isn’t sinful, but the penitent misunderstands it as one, or else an assumption by the other priest that the situation truly is very sinful when it might not be.
And many other ways of stacking it.

It would be worth it for the OP to talk to another priest, and not to air these things online.
 
To clarify one priest says I’m living in grave sin and one says I am not. One says it’s not an issue I need to confess at all. They are telling me the exact opposite thing. The issue isn’t am I living in grave sin, it’s how can priests mess with a new catholic like this. I’m honestly leaving the church over it. How can a priest say I’m going to hell one min and at the exact same time another say I’m living a good life. How can this be possible
 
It can be possible for a variety of reasons.

This is not a reason to leave the Church. Please send me a private message and I will help you.

-Fr ACEGC
 
And I have sat down with both. The one who says it is not a sin says he doesn’t understand why the other priest says it is one. This inability to agree on a grave matter has killed my faith for the catholic church.
 
Marc92 said:
This inability to agree on a grave matter has killed my faith for the catholic church.
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Priests are human, and may disagree, and may even do things that are wrong. One bad priest does not the entirety of the faith make. You should not stake your faith to this one situation or the one priest who is incorrect, whichever one that may be. If you would like to talk about this in more detail, please send me a PM and I will be happy to help you. But this isn’t worth leaving the Church over. The confusion can be resolved. I’ll even cite sources.
 
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Before you leave, ask for an appointment with both of them. Lay your cards on the table and be honest, that they are driving you away from the Church.
 
It’s still not terribly helpful or charitable and I’ve flagged the post.
 
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