Returning borrowed things after months/years

[PaulDT]

Hi, last time in confession I mentioned that I have a few things at home (cds, books, a resistance band for sports and, more serious, a keycard to my former office job which I will definitely return) that were lended to me and left unclaimed by people who I have not seen in years. The priest didn’t instruct me about this part of the confession.

My question: Must I go out of my way to contact these people and say “Hi, you lended this thing to me two years ago, do you want it back” or is it OK to just give the things away? These people include my ex-girlfriend who I try to see as little as possible for the sake of chastity, someone from an ideological group that I would rather stay away from, and a co-worker who doesn’t work there anymore. It is not very easy to reach out to them.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Can you just pop them in the mail? That’s what I would do.

 

[RolandThompsonGunner]

I think it’d be nice to at least check with the owners. Something simple like “I still have this, do you want it back?” Odds are if it’s something small they’ve probably completely forgotten about it and don’t care. If it’s something really low value (the price of a used CD is probably what, twenty five cents at this point?) and it’s been years, you could probably just safely assume they don’t want it and throw it away.

 

[Irishmom2]

I am not sure why it was mentioned in confession, it’s not as if you stole them, and I don’t know what the priest advised either, but I agree that if they are not expensive or personal items, I wouldn’t bother trying to return them at this point, except for the work keycard. If people wanted their things back, they probably would have asked for them by now.