General confession in the sort you are referring to is regarding mortal sins already confessed in number and kind etc…not about those which where confessed for the first time. Sins that are not required to be confessed at that time…for they were already.
Such is not what the person is referring to here.
I’m not understanding your answer. It sounds like the first confession the OP had might have been a general confession if the OP did not have to recount the number of times, or was not asked.
And no, a general confession is when the number of years that has passed since the last good confession, or because of the inability by the penitent to verbalize, or being overwhelmed by the gravity of sin, requires the assistance of a priest who guides you through a series of questions. And then absolves you.
Even in general confession, the priest said the sins cannot be reconfessed in a subsequent confession – which I confirmed.
A general confession is no different in receiving absolution – it’s merely that the priest guides the confession. And those sins cannot be reconfessed. I know because I checked with two priests on this in two parishes. So, if the confession that the OP is asking about was general confession , I’m “guessing” or “suggesting” that it might have been a general confession, because he was not asked for the number of times, then he cannot reconfess those sins.
Usually the penitent says “I want to make a general confession” and the priest knows what to do. Depending on the sin, the priest may ask how ongoing this is, but generally does not say “how many times” because the gravity of the sin is enough of it’s own. I don’t know the mind of the priest, but I was not asked because of the sin being confessed.
In any case, once a past sin is absolved it cannot be reconfessed. If it happens again, then it’s confessed again.
Let’s say it’s been years since my last confession. I go and make a general confession and I say it’s been 5 years since my last confession and I want a general confession. When the issue of missing Mass comes up and I confess “yes”, and the priest absolves me (I can clarify that it’s been many times during 5 years, the priest knows that it’s an ongoing or repetive sin. He then absolves me. I cannot go to another priest and say I missed dozens or a hundred Masses previously because I am absolved.
Now, if I then miss Mass again in the upcoming weeks, after that general good confession, I must confess that I missed Mass one time – but not repeat the already absolved missed Masses that I have already confessed to during the general confession. I must say “I missed Mass one time.”
General confession and the regular confession confer absolution – it’s the method of getting to the sin that differes.
The question that seems to come up with general confession, since the first priest brought this up right away after conferring absolution, is that the person may be tempted to reconfess those sins, again. Remember, the usual wording is “it has been one month since my last confession” and those are the sins that are to be confessed since the last good confession. Othewise, I’d be confessing sins from every general confession if I never thought I was absolved.
