Valid Confession??

[ABCD123]

Hello,

After confession today, I couldn’t remember what the priest had told me to do for Penance. The priest did say that I made a “good confession.” I think the penance may have been to pray an Our Father and Hail Mary, and to think about how to become the person I want to be, or something along those lines, but the truth is that I don’t know that for sure. I was trying to pay attention, and thought I was paying good attention, and I was sincerely sorry for my sins, but for whatever reason I still haven’t been able to remember for sure what he said to do for penance. I did pray some Our Fathers and Hail Marys in church after confession, and I also prayed a rosary on tape in my car before mass started.

However, I wanted to go to Confession before receiving the Eucharist, so I did not receive the Eucharist at mass just to be “on the safe side.” In any case, I have a couple questions:

1. Was my Confession valid?
2. If not, should I just re-confess the same sins to be sure that they have been forgiven? And should I, or do I need to, mention that I had forgotten the penance last time, and so I’m kind of “re-confessing” those sins?

Thanks so much if anyone can help clarify this situation for me.

 

[Damase]

Hello,

After confession today, I couldn’t remember what the priest had told me to do for Penance. The priest did say that I made a “good confession.” I think the penance may have been to pray an Our Father and Hail Mary, and to think about how to become the person I want to be, or something along those lines, but the truth is that I don’t know that for sure. I was trying to pay attention, and thought I was paying good attention, and I was sincerely sorry for my sins, but for whatever reason I still haven’t been able to remember for sure what he said to do for penance. I did pray some Our Fathers and Hail Marys in church after confession, and I also prayed a rosary on tape in my car before mass started.

However, I wanted to go to Confession before receiving the Eucharist, so I did not receive the Eucharist at mass just to be “on the safe side.” In any case, I have a couple questions:

1. Was my Confession valid?
2. If not, should I just re-confess the same sins to be sure that they have been forgiven? And should I, or do I need to, mention that I had forgotten the penance last time, and so I’m kind of “re-confessing” those sins?

Thanks so much if anyone can help clarify this situation for me.

The validity of the sacrament has nothing to do with whether the “satisfaction” (or what we commonly call the “penance”) has yet been performed. The absolution given by the priest to a penitent who confesses his sins with the proper dispositions remits both the guilt and the eternal punishment of mortal sin. The penitent may receive another sacrament (e.g., Holy Communion) *immediately *after confession, since absolution restores him to the state of grace. He is nevertheless under obligation to continue the performance of his penance until it is completed. (See Catholic Encyclopedia for The Sacrament of Penance and scroll down to the part about Satisfaction.)

I would not worry about this—don’t fall into the trap of being overly scrupulous. And certainly don’t rob yourself of the graces of a holy and worthy Communion in the future!

Maybe in your next confession, mention your lack of attention to the priest and ask him to add a bit more to your next penance. I find it helpful to immediately write my penance down so I won’t forget it.

 

[ABCD123]

Thanks! Your explanation and the link were both very helpful.

 

[Bookcat]

Hello,

After confession today, I couldn’t remember what the priest had told me to do for Penance. The priest did say that I made a “good confession.” I think the penance may have been to pray an Our Father and Hail Mary, and to think about how to become the person I want to be, or something along those lines, but the truth is that I don’t know that for sure. I was trying to pay attention, and thought I was paying good attention, and I was sincerely sorry for my sins, but for whatever reason I still haven’t been able to remember for sure what he said to do for penance. I did pray some Our Fathers and Hail Marys in church after confession, and I also prayed a rosary on tape in my car before mass started.

However, I wanted to go to Confession before receiving the Eucharist, so I did not receive the Eucharist at mass just to be “on the safe side.” In any case, I have a couple questions:

1. Was my Confession valid?
2. If not, should I just re-confess the same sins to be sure that they have been forgiven? And should I, or do I need to, mention that I had forgotten the penance last time, and so I’m kind of “re-confessing” those sins?

Thanks so much if anyone can help clarify this situation for me.

Nothing you described would invalidate a confession.

You did note:

“I think the penance may have been to pray an Our Father and Hail Mary, and to think about how to become the person I want to be”

So make sure you do that…

In your next confession you can also say simply that you could not remember exactly what the penance was…and that you therefore did X (the penance…not the sins).

No need to abstain from Holy Communion on that account…It is not like you rejected the penance at the time of confession!

 

[Rafaela]

Hi! I have a similar question.

This was the situation: I went to Confession. I confessed in English, priest made no remarks. No penance. Prayers and absolution in Latin. I learned only recently that the priest I confessed to might not understand English.

Was my last Confession valid?

 

[MarkThompson]

Hi! I have a similar question.

This was the situation: I went to Confession. I confessed in English, priest made no remarks. No penance. Prayers and absolution in Latin. I learned only recently that the priest I confessed to might not understand English.

Was my last Confession valid?

Confession cannot be valid or invalid. The question is whether the absolution was valid, and the answer is that yes, it was, even though given in Latin. Giving absolution doesn’t require that the priest understand everything you’ve said, and it doesn’t depend on assigning you penance.