Should I tell my priest about a previous confession

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PrayPsalm51

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I made a general confession recently with a priest i know well who is not my pastor(who is typically my confessor). I need to confess something(s) that I realize now i didn’t fully confess in the general confession. This category of mostly old sins is going to come out of the blue if i just say, by the way in want to confess x years of this sin…Should I mention to him that I recently made a general confession and think I omitted the following sins, in order to explain where I’m coming from? I know it’s not a sin to go to a different priest and I had specific reasons for doing so, but it did feel a little disloyal. Part of me thinks its good for my confessor to know I have done this life changing confession but he may wonder why I didn’t just go to him. PS I’m NOT scrupulous but this is bothering me. And, I can’t go back to the other priest he’s too far away.
 
I think you can be at peace in speaking to any priest in your parish in Confession.
It is Christ whom you are confessing to in any Confession, Christ who knows your soul and your intentions, Christ who absolved.
It is the Person of Christ in the priest to whom you confessed so it isn’t an issue which priest you go to in your concerns. It is Christ in each priest in Confession.

You don’t need to feel disloyal as it’s not like going to a different doctor than your own, which is simply going to different person, and even that is not disloyal as your health is the primary concern.
Your spiritual health is also more important than personalities also.
You are trusting in Jesus to heal and bless your soul and good intentions.

God bless you,
Trishie
 
PrayPsalm51 said:
I made a general confession recently with a priest i know well who is not my pastor(who is typically my confessor). I need to confess something(s) that I realize now i didn’t fully confess in the general confession. This category of mostly old sins is going to come out of the blue if i just say, by the way in want to confess x years of this sin…Should I mention to him that I recently made a general confession and think I omitted the following sins, in order to explain where I’m coming from? I know it’s not a sin to go to a different priest and I had specific reasons for doing so, but it did feel a little disloyal. Part of me thinks its good for my confessor to know I have done this life changing confession but he may wonder why I didn’t just go to him. PS I’m NOT scrupulous but this is bothering me. And, I can’t go back to the other priest he’s too far away.
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Firstly did you intend to omit the sins or did you honestly forget to mention them? Secondly are the sins venial or mortal? If you honestly forgot to mention the sins then you have not committed a sin. If you intentionally omitted sins then the confession I believe was void and you will have to do the general confession over again. If you omitted the sins by accident and the sins are venial then you you are not obligated to confess them, yet lets not forget it is still very good to confess them since we receive great graces in confession to fight those sins in the future. If the sins were omitted by accident and the sins are mortal then tell your priest you forgot to mention them by accident in your general confession, and that you would like to confess them now.

Priests know you are not obligated to stick with one confessors so be not afraid. 🙂
 
Of course you are not *obliged *to mention the general confession, but doing so will be helpful.

AS Trishie said, it’s like seeing a doctor. If you don’t mention that you’ve been to another doctor then he may not understand your condition as well as he could. So, it’s in your own interest to mention that you have made a general confession.

Priests are certainly used to their penitents “shopping around” for confessors, and he won’t take offence, but it also might help to say just a few words on why, such as “I felt a bit embarrassed going over my whole life with you”. Of course, don’t say anything like “He’s more orthodox than you” :).

Either way, don’t sweat it.
 
Thanks Everyone
I know that I am confessing to Jesus but there IS that human element. I have a great relationship with my current priest/pastor but he has only been with us a year. I did the general confession with my previous pastor who was very beloved. I think current pastor tires of hearing…when Fr x was here he did it this way…Fr x used to say/do this. I just want to be sensitive. I think if I very briefly explain I did a general confession because I wanted to " come clean" with my previous confessor who had heard 5 years of confessions which , frankly, weren’t all good, then i can confess the sins which I unintentionally omitted in the general confession. He’s a good and holy man and I know he will help me find my way to full reconciliation.
 
You can just say that you forgot them in a previous confession rather than saying “general” confession. Seems that that may ease your mind.
 
PrayPsalm51 said:
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I think if I very briefly explain I did a general confession because I wanted to " come clean" with my previous confessor who had heard 5 years of confessions which , frankly, weren’t all good, then i can confess the sins which I unintentionally omitted in the general confession. …
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Thanks for responding to our advice. This sounds like a simple and good plan.

As you say, there is a human element, and I think that you are being wise in both making your general confession to the priest who heard your previous confessions, and giving respect and loyalty to the new priest.
 
. I think if I very briefly explain I did a general confession because I wanted to " come clean" with my previous confessor who had heard 5 years of confessions which , frankly, weren’t all good, then i can confess the sins which I unintentionally omitted in the general confession.

Thanks Everyone. I thought I’d post an update on how it all turned out. I went to confession today and told my pastor what I had said (above). I started out by saying " i know it’s not a sin to go to another priest for confession but…" I think he grinned a little at that. I confessed the mortal sin(s) that I forgot …the ones really stressing me out…and a few venial sins and he spent all his time talking about the little stuff 🙂 after absolution I thanked him and told him it was important to me that he knew I did the general confession since i have new responsibilities in the parish. It didnt seem to matter to him one way or another. I’m so relieved. Many thanks
 
Thankyou for telling us how it turned out! It always help for future questions if the OP returns to the thread.

Well done, and I’m glad that you at peace about all this now!
 
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