Question about the Act of Contrition

[CatholicZ09]

Okay, so the general norms for confession are that you say the Act of Contrition at the end of your confession. Now, I noticed a trend, and I don’t know if what the priests are doing is right or not. I know someone that went to our pastor for confession recently, and at the end she pulled out a paper that had the Act of Contrition on it. Well, she was about to start when he said to put it away. He asked her to just say, “I’m sorry.” I went to a conference today, and the priest said he didn’t want to hear the Act of Contrition, but a simple “I’m sorry.” Is it right to do this? I thought the Act of Contrition was important.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

I don’t have an official answer, but my confessor & I did talk about this.
We decided that something more heart-felt was better than something I simply memorized and had no real meaning for me as I was never was a big fan of this

MY GOD, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

and usually prayed, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.”

About a year ago, I wrote my own-

“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a humble & contrite sinner,
teach me your ways and lead me on your paths. Amen.”

Pray as you can, not as you can’t!

 

[sw85]

Okay, so the general norms for confession are that you say the Act of Contrition at the end of your confession. Now, I noticed a trend, and I don’t know if what the priests are doing is right or not. I know someone that went to our pastor for confession recently, and at the end she pulled out a paper that had the Act of Contrition on it. Well, she was about to start when he said to put it away. He asked her to just say, “I’m sorry.” I went to a conference today, and the priest said he didn’t want to hear the Act of Contrition, but a simple “I’m sorry.” Is it right to do this? I thought the Act of Contrition was important.

It’s not necessary that the Act of Contrition be said. What matters is that the penitent say something to the effect that he regrets his sins and sincerely desires absolution. A simple “Christ, have mercy” would suffice.

That said, I don’t think any priest should be scolding people for saying it!

 

[Mintaka]

Four factors for this:

1. There are some really long Acts of Contrition out there, and there are also some really slow readers and reciters. And then there are those who forget Acts of Contritions easily.
2. There are some priests who are very uncomfortable with formal sacred language, and for some reason think that it’s less sincere unless you’re emoting like a Shakespearian actor.
3. There are some people who really do tend to rattle off memorized prayers without thinking. Of course, they’ll probably rattle off “I’m sorry” without thinking, also.
4. Probably some particular person is going around giving workshops that tell priests just to have penitents say “I’m sorry”, or writing books that say that.

In general, you should accept a priest’s direction in the confessional without too much worry, as long as they’re not demanding something sinful or doctrinally wrong. But you don’t have to go along with everything he says, either.

I’d have to say that “I’m sorry” is said insincerely a great many times in life, and that dragging it into the confessional almost begs for insincerity, especially among kids. But I’m a cynical sort of person, whereas people who run workshops are good at making their attendees believe that rainbows and dancing unicorns will follow their every suggestion.

 

[drafdog]

The important thing is the apology, not the exact wording of it. The “Act of Contrition” is just an apology gussied up with a lot of “thee’s” and thou’s" and a disclaimer thrown in for good measure. The priest wants you to think about who God is: your Dad; and he wants you to apologize to Him just the same as you would apologize to Mom or Dad at home when you’ve done something wrong. That’s not a difficult idea. It may be difficult to put into practice, but the sacrament is intended to help strengthen our love for God and improve our relationship with Him.

Reb Levi

 

[1ke]

I’m sorry is an act of contrition.