The Seal of Confession

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Daniel_Boucher

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Very often, priests are mentioning my sins during homilies after I’ve Confessed them to them in the Sacrament of Confession. I’ve gone from parish to parish in my local community and they keep doing it. What do I do now? I need Confession, but not the kind of Confession that turns into town gossip. Please help.
 
Daniel,

Is it possible that the priests are just mentioning common sins that many people are guilty of? I doubt you’ve come up with some new sins that only you’ve committed unless you’re really creative.

Canon Law states that “A confessor who directly violates the seal of confession incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; if he does so only indirectly, he is to be punished in accord with the seriousness of the offense.”

I doubt priests are announcing during their homilies that "Daniel has done ________ (fill in the blank). But I have heard priests speak of specific sins in homilies, but never mention individuals who confessed those sins.

Perhaps you’re being paranoid?
 
I am sure this is a misunderstanding. No priest can break the seal of confession, let alone talk about someone’s specific sin in public.

Priest may talk in homily about certain sins. For example, “We should not steal”, and that is a general talk. Someone may have just confessed that sin but it does not mean the priest is revealing that particular person’s sin.
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
Very often, priests are mentioning my sins during homilies after I’ve Confessed them to them in the Sacrament of Confession. I’ve gone from parish to parish in my local community and they keep doing it. What do I do now? I need Confession, but not the kind of Confession that turns into town gossip. Please help.
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if a priest mentions your specific sin and identifies you that is one of the gravest violations he can commit, and he can even be removed from the priest hood, so you should report it to the bishop at once.

are you sure the priest is not preaching in a general way on sin, and includes sins that are common, so you and most of the rest of us might see ourselves in that picture?

if you are concerned in general about confidentiality, using your real name on the internet is not the way to keep it
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
Very often, priests are mentioning my sins during homilies after I’ve Confessed them to them in the Sacrament of Confession. I’ve gone from parish to parish in my local community and they keep doing it. What do I do now? I need Confession, but not the kind of Confession that turns into town gossip. Please help.
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God is speaking to you through the mouth of the priest. Listen to Him!
 
Thanks for responding to this post.

No, they don’t have the audacity to say my name or specify me as an individual. Even if priests use the information given to them in a Confession, it is breaking the seal of Confession. That is exactly what has been happening. I may not be the only one this is happening to. A priest cannot go to the pulpit and give a homily on a certain sin because a lot of people are confessing that sin to him, he is only supposed to give the advice during the Confession. Once a Confession is complete, that’s it, the sins are forgiven. When they bring it up again, there is something wrong. Honestly, I think priests should better prepare their homilies so they don’t make the mistake of revealing peoples sins while they improvise a homily.

And about the bishop, he’s even doing it too, it’s like rumors are somehow spreading to him. I don’t like it.

I understand that we are to take inspired messages from people because that is how the Holy Spirit works through us, but the Holy Spirit would not break the Seal of Confession.

I think they get pressure from the local Catholic politicians. That’s the only explanation for it being so widespread that I think would be truthful. If that is the case, how do we stop that?

I still don’t trust the priests enough to have a Confession, now that they have revealed my sins outside of Confession. It makes me feel unsafe to go into the Confessional again. I worry that they will do it again, or something worse.

I feel that if I told anyone of them that they did do that, that they would deny it and blame me for blaming them and saying I’m falsly accusing them or condemning them for simple slip of the tounge. I wish there were other priests during Masses sometimes, so that they could hear what each other is preaching. Then they would benefit from sermons from each other as well as to each other. Then they would be the ones able to correct each other on docrine, rather than the congregation, who, myself included, remains largely silent.
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
A priest cannot go to the pulpit and give a homily on a certain sin because a lot of people are confessing that sin to him, he is only supposed to give the advice during the Confession. Once a Confession is complete, that’s it, the sins are forgiven. When they bring it up again, there is something wrong.
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So priests are not allowed to preach about sin? You’re presuming a lot to say they are preaching about sins because they have been confessed.

I think you’re taking the homilies you’re hearing too personally. If you think this is a widespread conspiracy that involves every priest you’ve encountered and the bishop as well, and these fears are keeping you away from confession, perhaps you need to seek professional help for paranoia.
 
Are you willing to give us a specific example? Say, a specific sin you committed which was then brought up by the priest in his homily?

For example: let’s say you confessed to the sin of masturbation. And the following Sunday, the priest gave a homily about the sin of masturbation. That would not be breaking the seal of the confessional because - believe it or not - a lot of other people besides you probably confessed the same sin, that same day!

On the other hand, suppose you confessed that you had robbed a local bank, at gunpoint, and gotten away with $575.50, which you then used to buy booze and porn. And the following Sunday the priest gave a homily in which he cautioned about the dangers of stealing $575.50 from banks and spending the money on booze and porn. Now that would be breaking the seal of confession - because it’s using specific information from your confession; and chances are slim to none that no one else confessed the exact same sin (except perhaps your accomplice 😉 ).

Do you see the difference?
 
No, the truth is that it does not matter if priests generalize or are specific about your confessed sins. Use of ANY information gained from Confession outside of confession is breaking the seal. Even if they bring up information from one Confession during another Confession and it’s only to you, it is breaking the seal.

Besides, the priests should be preaching about the readings, and how we are to understand them. The Liturgy of the Word is structured that way. To attack an individual by revealing sins which have been confessed and forgiven is saying that they don’t forgive you, which hurts the individual even more, and hurts Jesus (the One Whom we confess to). Even if they are trying to help us, which you may think as a valid excuse, is not a valid excuse. The sins are forgiven, and any mentioning of them by the priest insults the Sacrament itself.
 
So does anyone have any advice?

I would want to go to a good confessor, and if I found a confessor who didn’t publicly announce my sins, I would consider him a trustworthy confessor. That’s the only solution I have. I am having difficulties with that, though. This is keeping me from Confession. I feel threatened and hurt by their lack of reverence and respect.

Most of you aren’t taking me seriously. Thank you for your replies, anyways.
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
No, the truth is that it does not matter if priests generalize or are specific about your confessed sins. Use of ANY information gained from Confession outside of confession is breaking the seal. Even if they bring up information from one Confession during another Confession and it’s only to you, it is breaking the seal.
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That’s two separate issues, right there:
  1. A priest revealing your particular sin in a homily, and
  2. A priest discussing your sins from a past Confession in a current Confession.
Would you please provide us with an example of each of these instances? I could believe that it was happening with one particular priest that you went to a lot, but to be honest, when you tell us that it happens “from parish to parish”, sorry, but that is really hard to believe.
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
So does anyone have any advice?

I would want to go to a good confessor, and if I found a confessor who didn’t publicly announce my sins, I would consider him a trustworthy confessor. That’s the only solution I have. I am having difficulties with that, though. This is keeping me from Confession. I feel threatened and hurt by their lack of reverence and respect.

Most of you aren’t taking me seriously. Thank you for your replies, anyways.
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My advice is that you need to recognize the problem is with you, and not with all the priests, Catholic politicians and the bishop in your diocese. Once you confront yourself with the truth that the problem lies in your skewed perception of things rather than in reality, then you can take steps to managing your fear and hurt feelings.

What is needed here is a therapist or psychiatrist to help you work through your irrational fear that priests are revealing your personal sins in homilies.

I recommend visiting CatholicTherapists.com and finding someone locally to talk to.
 
Daniel,
Take a deep breath. Really. You have gotten some good advice here. The priest is not talking about you and your sins specifically, I am sure. There are some sins I commit over and over. One day a priest (whom I have never confessed to) mentioned those same sins in a homily said those very sins were the ones most often confessed. By everyone, Daniel. I listened to his advice during the homily so I could commit those sins less often. We are all pretty much the same as human beings. While some of us struggle with certain sins more than others, we all struggle with some. Don’t you think you just might be like the rest of us and have fairly common sins to confess? I think the priest is just doing his job trying to help people do a better job of following the commandments. If it still bothers you, confess behind a screen to a priest you don’t know. If you still think you are being hurt, you really might want to talk to a professional who can help you sort out your feelings and fears. If I may say so, I am afraid you are letting your own guilt cause you to blow this way out of proportion. Priests would have to do penance their whole lives for breaking the seal of confession. They would rather die than break the seal. Your confessions are safe. Your sins, honestly confessed, are forgiven. No priest wants to remember your sins, let alone talk about them in a homily.
I hope you can find some peace over this issue…
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
No, the truth is that it does not matter if priests generalize or are specific about your confessed sins. Use of ANY information gained from Confession outside of confession is breaking the seal. Even if they bring up information from one Confession during another Confession and it’s only to you, it is breaking the seal.

Besides, the priests should be preaching about the readings, and how we are to understand them. The Liturgy of the Word is structured that way. To attack an individual by revealing sins which have been confessed and forgiven is saying that they don’t forgive you, which hurts the individual even more, and hurts Jesus (the One Whom we confess to). Even if they are trying to help us, which you may think as a valid excuse, is not a valid excuse. The sins are forgiven, and any mentioning of them by the priest insults the Sacrament itself.
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Welcome to the forum!

What you are describing is not breaking the confessional seal. Priests need to be able to preach about sin, and lots of people commit the same sin.

If you take just five sins: missing Mass, fornication, masturbation, contraception, and lying, that’s probably 80% of the serious sins a priest hears. If he hears these sins over and over again in the confessional, he must think, “Wow, lots of people need help with these sins”. He probably also thinks that lots of other people are committing them and not confessing. So, he rightly decides to preach on the topic. Not to harm anyone, but to help them.

Not violation of the seal. No conspiracy.

Hope that helps.

God Bless
 
Ok, one last time. If a priest makes use of the information given to him in a Confession in anyway outside of the Confession it is Confessed, he is breaking the seal of Confession. If you are denying that, please do not respond. If you do not believe what I am saying, please do not respond, either.

How do you get a priest or priests to stop revealing your sins during the homilies? They won’t stop or even acknowledge their fault in doing so. Should I tell them that they are doing so?
 
Daniel_Boucher said:
Ok, one last time. If a priest makes use of the information given to him in a Confession in anyway outside of the Confession it is Confessed, he is breaking the seal of Confession. If you are denying that, please do not respond. If you do not believe what I am saying, please do not respond, either.

How do you get a priest or priests to stop revealing your sins during the homilies? They won’t stop or even acknowledge their fault in doing so. Should I tell them that they are doing so?
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I’m sorry, you’re just wrong.

A priest preaching about particular sins you may have committed and confessed, is not breaking the seal, unless he mentions your name, or sufficient details to identify you.

They won’t acknowledge their fault, b/c there is none.

Maybe you should talk to a good priest, or better yet a Canon Lawyer if our answers don’t satisfy you.

God Bless
 
No, because your perception is probably not accurate, Daniel. You need to get some help with this issue, but we can’t help you on a forum. I think it is YOUR issue, and not an issue of all the priests in your area. I’m sorry if you find this offensive, but there really is no gentle way to say this. You are mistaken. What you are describing is not breaking the seal of confession in any way. Posters have tried to help you, Daniel, but you aren’t hearing what people are saying. You aren’t being persecuted by the priests in all the parishes you visit nor by the people on this forum. The priests are just preaching about sin in general. No one thinks the priest is talking about you except you. You are not accurately viewing the situation. We can’t agree with you that this is violating the seal of confession because you are mistaken. Please talk to someone who can help you see reality. People on a forum can’t give you the advice you need to deal with this appropriately. I will pray for you that you can come to understand this and can approach the sacrament of confession again in peace.
 
If priest were not allowed to teach about sins, how would anyone know that they had to go to confession in the first place?

What is said in the confessional is confidential, but that doesn’t mean the priest can’t teach about the sin in the general sense, which everyone commits and can relate to.

Jim
 
Daniel, I personally do not know all the details about what exactly constitutes violating the seal of the confessional.

However, I have a question. Just to clarify your situation.

You have been saying that priests “publicly announce [your] sins” and are “revealing your sins during homilies.” So, when one of the priests in your area does this, what exactly is he doing?

Do they say things like, “People often confess the sin of to me, and I will address the challenge of overcoming that sin now”?

Or do they say something like, “A certain individual in this parish who <vague but *potentially *revealing personal details here> confessed the sin of yesterday to me, and people often do this. I will now preach on the challenge of overcoming this sin.”

Which is closer to the truth of how it is happening? The former is not a violation of the seal of confession.

I’m asking because you don’t seem to be claiming merely that they’re preaching on sins which you happen to have confessed, and that they’re saying someone confessed that particular sin. You also seem to be claiming - correct me if I’m wrong, please! - that they are somehow basically identifying you personally - or nearly doing so - in their homilies. Everything short of actually stating your name.

Is that the case? Or do they simply mention, “Someone confessed to me this weekend, and I will now address the challenge of overcoming this sin.”

I think that clarification will make all the difference in the world.
 
Ok, I told you not to post again under those two conditions and you still did. Please do not.
 
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