Turned down for confession

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Jesus did not exclude God from forgiving sins and hand it over to the Apostles exclusively.

Many theologians believe that what Jesus gave the Apostles is the authority to discern what is sinful, not that a Christian could only be forgiven by a priest exclusively.

Jim
 
Back to answer the OP’s question (this thread got hijacked). Yes, I like the bathroom idea, personally. I simply can see this happening to me.Or maybe he had something else on his mind that was a dire situation that needed a few minutes of his time.
The point is, don’t take it personally. There was no reason to assume the priest was mad at you, or purposely denied you confession. That would be outrageous.
One way to look at such an annoyance, even when you were being righteous and correct in wanting to confess your sins, is that this was obviously the will of God for you at the moment. St. Therese of Lisieux and other saints of the “little way” would see this as something of a grace-filled moment, a small test coming to you from God, to try your patience, fidelity, joy, perseverance. The greatest suffering for many of us in life is often these seemingly “small” things, but they can be joyfully offered to God and gain us more merit than if things had gone smoothly for you, as you had planned.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
They’re not going now.

Two pastors ago, he cancelled scheduled Confession on Saturdays, because he was sick of sitting in the confessional week after week with no penetants.
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Sorry but I’m not seeing that when I go. Most churches I visit have Confession on Saturday, a few have it on Sunday during the Mass, there is almost always a line, and the lines can get quite long especially on First Saturday.

The only places where there isn’t a line are the ones that have Confessions on a weekday afternoon, for example there is one cathedral that does them Friday at Noon and another church I found that does them Thursday at 5 pm and the church is located in a rather bad area. Even at those places I was not the only one going - there were one or two other people.

Maybe it’s different wherever you live, but around here, people go to confession.
 
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I’m referring to the scheduled Saturday Confession time, not weekdays.

My parish, we never see others going to Confession. It is a small parish

It’s not much better in the larger parishes near me, where my wife and myself have gone in the past.

We had a good confessor about 10 years ago, but he retired and moved to another part of the country.

As St Teresa of Avila wrote, “if you find a good confessor, hang on to him for dear life.”

Jim
 
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Make confession more available, God’s heart is always open, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Hear confession every time someone asks, Pope Francis said, and don’t ever put limited hours on the sacrament of reconciliation.

“Please, let there never be those signs that say, ‘Confessions: Mondays and Wednesdays from this time to that time,’” he told hundreds of confessors and other participants attending an annual course sponsored by the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court that handles issues related to the absolution of sin.

“Hear confession every time someone asks you. And if you are sitting there, praying, leave the confessional open because God’s heart is open,” he said March 17.


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Jim
 
Jim that is not absolution for mortal sin.
however the penitent in such a state could use it to make a perfect act of contrition.
Then he may receive Communion with the intention of getting to Confession asap.
 
BlackFriar said:
however the penitent in such a state could use it to make a perfect act of contrition.
Then he may receive Communion with the intention of getting to Confession asap.
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Isn’t that only in special cases? Canon 916 requires that sacramental confession be made before receiving unless there is a “grave reason”. Also referenced in CCC 1457.
 
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spoke directly with the priest, today.

All is well.

That’s all I have to say on the subject.
 
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kmaaj said:
There is such a thing as righteous anger.
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You have come here for guidance.
Its pretty clear that we are more or less politely advising you we believe your anger is wrongious and you as an adult need to move beyond your childhood/teenage Catechesis re mechanical Sacraments.

By all means go your own way … but then don’t expect us, or your priest, to agree.
And why continue to post here if its really only for us to confirm you in your own limited views.
 
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spoke directly with the priest, today.

All is well.

That’s all I have to say on the subject.
 
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This happened to me repeatedly. I was extremely saddened, dismayed, depressed, despaired. The year of mercy I waited in many lines. Mass always started before the line ever moved. Many, many times there was no priest taking confessions. I gave up trying. I am not angry, though, just sad for the state the church is in. Lord, have mercy on us.
 
Then clearly vent. Don’t ask
Should this priest have heard my confession? Is my anger justified?
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and then get the pip when people answer you negatively and then try and self-justify.
Just admit we are right and say you feel hurt - that will get you empathy, not this mewling self-righteousness in the face of a loyal, harried priest doing his reasonable best in a difficult but trivial situation.

Most of us oldies have been in similar situation. Suck it up as future penance. Such humility before God will certainly earn you more brownie points than the actual confession ever likely would.
 
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spoke directly with the priest, today.

All is well.

That’s all I have to say on the subject.
 
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You are right there, you cannot pull the wool over the eyes of us born and bred Catholic curmudgeons, we’ve seen it all (or most of it), been there and done that…and been ticked off as well by generations no longer with us, God bless them.
 
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So basically no Confession? Only absolution?

The Armenian Apostolic Church does it that way, but they have a publically read, standardized confession. I don’t think that would be good for my soul.
 
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spoke directly with the priest, today.

All is well.

That’s all I have to say on the subject.
 
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spoke directly with the priest, today.

All is well.

That’s all I have to say on the subject.
 
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