Rules for Confession?

[ajababy]

Are there any age exemptions for Confession? My elderly mom seems to think so…

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

No one living on earth is too old to sin!

 

[ajababy]

Now she is stating “you only go to confession for mortal sins”. Now why am I bring my 8 yr old daughter to confession tonight???

 

[Caesar]

Now she is stating “you only go to confession for mortal sins”. Now why am I bring my 8 yr old daughter to confession tonight???

Your daughter is just past the age of reason (seven), below which children cannot be held responsible for their sins or expected to understand the basic differance between right and wrong, but since your mother is old enough to form such opinions she is certainly old enough to sin.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

Now she is stating “you only go to confession for mortal sins”. Now why am I bring my 8 yr old daughter to confession tonight???

Sounds like mom is trying to weasel out of convicting herself as a sinner.

Technically she is right. Sacramental Confession is only absolutely required for the remission of grevious (mortal) sins. Venial sins can be forgiven in numerous other ways - i.e., reception of Communion, the Penitential Rite at Mass, the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick, etc.

But, as the Popes have repeatedly told us, Sacramental Confession is useful even if you only have venial sins on your conscience. For instance, in Pope John Paul II’s Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (On Reconciliation and Penance), he says:

We shall also do well to recall that, for a balanced spiritual and pastoral orientation in this regard, great importance must continue to be given to teaching the faithful also to make use of the sacrament of penance for venial sins alone, as is borne out by a centuries-old doctrinal tradition and practice.

Though the church knows and teaches that venial sins are forgiven in other ways too-for instance, by acts of sorrow, works of charity, prayer, penitential rites-she does not cease to remind everyone of the special usefulness of the sacramental moment for these sins too. The frequent use of the sacrament-to which some categories of the faithful are in fact held-strengthens the awareness that even minor sins offend God and harm the church, the body of Christ. Its celebration then becomes for the faithful “the occasion and the incentive to conform themselves more closely to Christ and to make themselves more docile to the voice of the Spirit.”(Ordo Paenitentiae, 7b.) Above all it should be emphasized that the grace proper to the sacramental celebration has a great remedial power and helps to remove the very roots of sin.

 

[FrRJBoyd]

Now she is stating “you only go to confession for mortal sins”. Now why am I bring my 8 yr old daughter to confession tonight???

It’s still a precept of the Church to confess one’s sins to a priest (i.e., go to the Sacrament of Confession) at least once a year. It’s in the latest Catechism: CCC #2042. The precept becomes binding at the age of reason and continues until death, loss of the use of reason (e.g., the later stages of Alzheimer’s), or loss of the ability to communicate.

God bless,

Fr. Boyd

 

[FrRJBoyd]

It’s still a precept of the Church to confess one’s sins to a priest (i.e., go to the Sacrament of Confession) at least once a year. It’s in the latest Catechism: CCC #2042. The precept becomes binding at the age of reason and continues until death, loss of the use of reason (e.g., the later stages of Alzheimer’s), or loss of the ability to communicate.

God bless,

Fr. Boyd

And one more thing… precepts of the Church are themselves gravely binding, so if you know about them and deliberately ignore them, you are committing a grave sin.

 

[quiet52]

an article from Catholic Exchange:
Thinking Inside the Box: An Attitude for Confession
catholicexchange.com/node/70338

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Are there any age exemptions for Confession? My elderly mom seems to think so…

The only limit is the “moment of death”, until then any Catholic has access to the Sacrament (unless restricted by Canon Law) because of a Marriage situation or something else, but not because of age.

 

[IrishAm]

It’s still a precept of the Church to confess one’s sins to a priest (i.e., go to the Sacrament of Confession) at least once a year. It’s in the latest Catechism: CCC #2042. The precept becomes binding at the age of reason and continues until death,** loss of the use of reason (e.g., the later stages of Alzheimer’s), or loss of the ability to communicate.**

I’m probably about your mother’s age. Tell her if she doesn’t go people will think she falls into one of the categories in bold, above. (Her first sin can then be vanity. )

 

[Kielbasi]

Are there any age exemptions for Confession? My elderly mom seems to think so…

I bet she didn’t say state this opinion to you out of the blue.

It really isn’t the place of a son or daughter to cajole their parents about whether or not they have been to confession or other such matters. They are the parents, you are the child.

If your mum doesn’t want to share the matter of when, or if, she receives confession or other activities, that is certainly her perogative and a way to maintain her independence as well as her position in regards to the family and to her offspring.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Three points (*maybe four, depending on how you count them *) …

First off, why would she not want to have her sins forgiven even if they were only venial? Any sin not atoned for in this life will have to be accounted for in the next.

Secondly, why did Pope John Paul II, who was also advanced in age, confess his sins THREE times a week? If there was an age limited, surely he would have qualified. Also, if confession is only for mortal sins, are we to conclude from this that the previous Pope was committing numerous mortal sins that required forgiving?

That could very well be but that does not mean that the pope was a great sinner. Instead, I would think that he recognized sin where others of us might not.

Frequent confession brings us closer to the light of Christ and the closer that we come to the light out of our darkness, the better we will be able to see our own stains of sin.

If I get dressed in a dark room just before sunrise, I may not notice wrinkles and/or stains on my cloths but when I step out into the light, they become visible.

The same applies to our sins. While we remain in darkness (or near darkness), we may not recognize all of our sins but by coming closer to the light of Christ through frequent confessions, we are better able to recognize our sins.

Finally (*is this point three or four *), look at Mother Theresa … she was also advanced in age but went to confession EVERY day and is now recognized as a saint.

 

[planter654]

When I go to confession in our parish there is always only or barely 10 people if that. The priest must be aware of this on Sunday after Sunday when they give Holy Communion. Yet the line up for communion is long. Help me on this one.

God Bless

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

Frequent confession brings us closer to the light of Christ and the closer that we come to the light out of our darkness, the better we will be able to see our own stains of sin.

If I get dressed in a dark room just before sunrise, I may not notice wrinkles and/or stains on my cloths but when I step out into the light, they become visible.

The same applies to our sins. While we remain in darkness (or near darkness), we may not recognize all of our sins but by coming closer to the light of Christ through frequent confessions, we are better able to recognize our sins.

I like your wrinkled clothes analogy!