Unable To Attend Confession, What Can I do?

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DevotedCatholic

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After my move seven months ago, my current residence may not be permanent and I have not been able to join a church, recently I start going to a different church because of the time, and because of having the luxury of going on Saturday, my main concern is I have not been to confession, and wondered if anyone has been in this position before, if this is so what did one do? I am eager in a way to go back but because I do not have a church home anymore I am resorting to silent prayers as my confession.

What can I do?
 
Why can’t you go to confession at the church you attend. You don’t have to attend confession at your “home” parish. Any Catholic church is fine. You don’t have to have the same confessor either.
 
I am not able to attend because of attending the Catholic Churches that are around me, does one not have to be a member of a Parish before they can attend confession?
 
DevotedCatholic said:
I am not able to attend because of attending the Catholic Churches that are around me, does one not have to be a member of a Parish before they can attend confession?
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No. You can go to confession at any parish. In fact some people deliberately go to a different parish because they don’t want to confess to priests they see regularly.
 
Any Catholic may go to Confession at any Catholic Church on the earth!! We are members of the Universal Church 👍
 
DevotedCatholic said:
I am not able to attend because of attending the Catholic Churches that are around me, does one not have to be a member of a Parish before they can attend confession?
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Absolutely not!! People go to different parishes for confession for all kinds of reasons. Some cannot go at the time scheduled in their home parish. Some are heavily involved in their home parish and feel more comfortable confessing where they are not known. Some just want a different perspective from a different priest from time to time, or all the time. You are free to confess to any priest who has faculties (permission) to hear confessions in your diocese at any time.

Go for it!

Betsy
 
Okay I will have to remember that, but what can I do since I am unsure about my husbands job situation? I want to go, and I think it is going to get harder for me, am I really helping or hurting myself?
 
DevotedCatholic said:
Okay I will have to remember that, but what can I do since I am unsure about my husbands job situation? I want to go, and I think it is going to get harder for me, am I really helping or hurting myself?
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What does your husband’s job situation have to do with getting over to the church on Saturday afternoon and going to confession? Just go!
 
DevotedCatholic said:
Okay I will have to remember that, but what can I do since I am unsure about my husbands job situation? I want to go, and I think it is going to get harder for me, am I really helping or hurting myself?
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GO!!! The sacramental grace always helps. There is no obligation to make a permanent commitment to a parish or a confessor. It can be a one-time thing whenever you need it.

When you settle somewhere, if you find a compatible confessor, you can go regularly to him, but the graces are there for you wherever and whenever you need or want them.

GO!!! You’ll be so happy you did!

Betsy
 
I appreciate your response however, let me explain something here, with my husband searching for work, there is a chance that one day I will have to pack up and move, i don’t want to get into something I know I have to stop doing for a short period of time, I want to keep doing what I am. It is not simply this easy.
 
DevotedCatholic said:
Okay I will have to remember that, but what can I do since I am unsure about my husbands job situation? I want to go, and I think it is going to get harder for me, am I really helping or hurting myself?
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Just do it. Find a Catholic Church and if you can’t go to confession during the times listed make an appointment to go and talk to the priest and make a confession where you don’t have to rush through it. Any Catholic can go to any Catholic Church and make confession.

I know in my own personal life, that the procrastionation is not from God. God wants me to do things that I should do like confession and get right with Him as soon as possible. The enemy doesn’t want me to get right with God, so he is the little voice saying, you can wait until next Saturday to go to confession or you can call tomorrow to make an appointment to talk to a priest. That is the time I make myself do what I know God wants me to do and I find that I always feel so good afterward. That is why I say just do it.

You don’t have to join the church to make confession. But you can still go to church to make the sacraments. We have a duty as Catholics to go to Mass every Sunday even if we don’t live in that community long term. I don’t really like where I am living or the church nearest to me, so I switch between 2 Catholic churches. I am not allowing the enemy to get me to say to myself, I will wait until I move back to MA or the next place he would have me move to, before I am active in a church. I am active where I am for as long as I am here. I may not be explaining this very well, but just do it and stop making excuses. The excuses are not from God.

God Bless
Chrisy
 
If you go to a different Priest and different Parish for Confession every single week for the rest of your life, that is okay.

Go to Confession, check www.masstimes.org and see if a parish where you are today has confessions available today or tomorrow, if not, find out where you can go this weekend.

Next week, if you are in another town and need Confession, check that website again to find another Parish.

Continue until you get to Heaven!
 
DevotedCatholic said:
I appreciate your response however, let me explain something here, with my husband searching for work, there is a chance that one day I will have to pack up and move, i don’t want to get into something I know I have to stop doing for a short period of time, I want to keep doing what I am. It is not simply this easy.
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I think that there is something relevant that you’re not saying here. You are allowed to confess to any Catholic priest in good standing anywhere in the world. It is totally irrelevant whether or not you live in a city for one year, one month or one week. There is absolutely nothing to stop you confessing, you are not ‘getting into’ anything by doing so but receiving absolution and attendant graces. You may want to keep doing what you’re doing but this is not a sacrament.
 
DevotedCatholic said:
I appreciate your response however, let me explain something here, with my husband searching for work, there is a chance that one day I will have to pack up and move, i don’t want to get into something I know I have to stop doing for a short period of time, I want to keep doing what I am. It is not simply this easy.
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You’re Catholic, right? There are Catholic churches virtually everywhere. If today you’re living in one town and next week you move to another one, there will be a church in the next town as well. And the new parish will offer the sacraments just as well as the old one did.

You go grocery shopping, don’t you? When you need a loaf of bread you go buy it. You don’t put it off because sometime in the future you may move to another city and will have to shop at a different store. You do what you need to do now and plan that when you are in a different place you’ll be able to do what you need to do then.
 
Thanks for posting the site about mass times. I saved it, as it is a good resource for all of us to have.
 
DevotedCatholic said:
I appreciate your response however, let me explain something here, with my husband searching for work, there is a chance that one day I will have to pack up and move, i don’t want to get into something I know I have to stop doing for a short period of time, I want to keep doing what I am. It is not simply this easy.
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Get into something you’ll have to stop? I don’t mean to joke, but considering that the length of time a parish priest tends to hear confessions is about an hour, and even if you take up the entire hour, is it possible that your husband is going to be notified and you’ll have to pack up within that hour?

Even if you planned on going to one parish on Saturday, and moved unexpectedly during the week, most likely there will be a parish nearby that’ll also be hearing confessions.
I am not able to attend because of attending the Catholic Churches that are around me, does one not have to be a member of a Parish before they can attend confession?
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Absolutely not. I’m glad that’s not the case.
This past Saturday, I was in Atlanta for their Eucharistic Congress. I pretty much decided to go during the week, got a great deal on a hotel, and just figured why not. Sure, I thought about it before then, but it wasn’t until a few days before that I was now committed and had a hotel room.
Now, I know I was in a state of mortal sin, and planned on going to confession, which I knew they would be hearing at the convention. I’m not even a resident in the archdiocese, let alone a parish. And I not sure the priest that heard my confession was from there either, since not every priest there was from the archdiocese.
So I’m glad I don’t have to be a member of the parish, since if that was the case, I wouldn’t have been able to confess my sins for another week and receive the Eucharist.

Go. It’ll be great, at least afterwards. I’m always nervous before, but feel great after. Use masstimes.org to find a parish, even if you more. If it’s got a website that lists the times for confession, even better. But since there’s already a thread on the lack of website updates, I also check for a bulletin online, that the bulletin is recent, and most times all that information for the upcoming week is in the bulletin. At the very least, there’ll be a phone number so you can call.
 
DevotedCatholic said:
After my move seven months ago, my current residence may not be permanent and I have not been able to join a church, recently I start going to a different church because of the time, and because of having the luxury of going on Saturday, my main concern is I have not been to confession, and wondered if anyone has been in this position before, if this is so what did one do? I am eager in a way to go back but because I do not have a church home anymore I am resorting to silent prayers as my confession.

What can I do?
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Most parishes have confession directly before the Saturday Mass. If you can get to church 10 or 15 minutes before mass, you may be able to get to confession. Also, any priest will set up a convenient time for your to receive the sacrament of reconciliations. Just call the parish office.
 
DevotedCatholic said:
I appreciate your response however, let me explain something here, with my husband searching for work, there is a chance that one day I will have to pack up and move, i don’t want to get into something I know I have to stop doing for a short period of time, I want to keep doing what I am. It is not simply this easy.
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Devoted Catholic, your responses here are at odds with your sign-on name!

As devoted Catholics we will go to Confession regularly - at least once per month, if not more frequently. While it is highly recommended that we have a regular confessor, that should not stop us from going to Confession. Wherever we are, if there is a Catholic Priest available, we can confess our sins and obtain absolution.

Beware of the Devil - he may be the one suggesting all the irrelevant excuses you have listed here in your posts. Nothing, absolutely nothing that you posted as reasons why you cannot or will not go to Confession are anywhere close to real reasons for not going!

You need to go to Confession? Well, then - GO.
 
**I truly understand now that you don’t have to give a confession at the same church, Question is has this always been around since the starting of confession within the Catholic Church?

I would like to think I am not making excuses, but maybe there is a chance I am in denial, or now I am afraid to go back. I realize the weight on my shoulders will only get heavier, this is difficult for me.

The fact that I am a convert does not make it any better, certainly would use this as an excuse.

I hope that I did not give anyone a reason I did not want to go back. I am not familiar with the practice and choice of choosing a confessor, before my conversion to Catholicism, there was was no such thing as confession. simply because I went to a different church who did not practice confession the way the Catholic Church does. It was simple we prayed to God for everything we did, especially for forgiveness, which is why it is hard for me to swallow the fact I am obligated to go to confession.**
 
Joan_M said:
Devoted Catholic, your responses here are at odds with your sign-on name!

As devoted Catholics we will go to Confession regularly - at least once per month, if not more frequently. While it is highly recommended that we have a regular confessor, that should not stop us from going to Confession. Wherever we are, if there is a Catholic Priest available, we can confess our sins and obtain absolution.

Beware of the Devil - he may be the one suggesting all the irrelevant excuses you have listed here in your posts. Nothing, absolutely nothing that you posted as reasons why you cannot or will not go to Confession are anywhere close to real reasons for not going!

You need to go to Confession? Well, then - GO.
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**What is wrong with my sign in name, I am very much a Devoted Catholic, granted that I am not perfect in any shape or form. I was recently thrown a curve ball and it was hard to take, I had it easy where I used to live, I was in walking distance from the church and if I had a problem that I knew I need help with or simple question I asked one of the two priest at my previous parish, now that I am at a different location it is been very difficult for me and believe me I have not stopped thinking about what an opportunity it gives Satan to come after me which is why I am feel I am trying my best.

I have seen people with confession problems get better responses. No offense, but I am still new at this. I need a little room to take it all in. I would hope you are not implying I am not a Devoted Catholic, which would be silly if you were. I got to church on Saturdays and then there is an occasional Sunday where I attend church on Sunday, so it seems to me like everyone in here including you are saying if I can attend a different Church then I can have a different Confessor.

I know my questions are do not seem to make since but I try, I am sorry people are getting the wrong impression, I certainly hope one does not have any impression about me and my moral
**
 
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