Was this Confession Valid?

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Hello Everyone,

Today I went to a nearby monastery, and did a confession to a priest there in his office.

While I was halfway through confessing my sins, the priest interjected (basically stopping me from talking). He then proceeded to give me advise and absolution. I then left his office as I did not want to waste his time as there was a line waiting to see him.

Is this valid, considering I wanted to confess everything but the priest stopped me from saying and proceeded to give absolution?

Doing another confession wont be possible anytime soon, because there are a shortage of priests in my archdiocese, and also there are none nearby who are available, travelling is not an option due to my budjet in the next month.

Would it be ok if I go for communion this sunday?

Please advise,
Thank you
 
Simply put: Yes.

As you point out. the priest was in too much of a hurry to hear you out in entirety. that does not invalidate your intention to make a good confession.

If the opportunity is there it may be worth booking an appointment to see a priest when there is sufficient time to make a full confession if you feel you need more time in the future. You can also make a point of raising the Items you did not articulate in this confession “just to be safe”. - Especially if there are any issues which are serious, or which you are having trouble being repentant about. but remember The Lord sees what is in your heart. if you are sincere in your contrition, His forgiveness is a guaranteed fact.
 
If he gave you absolution in the usual way, then of course it was valid. The problem is, if he stopped you from confessing some mortal sins, you still need to confess them. In that case, I would refrain from receiving Holy Communion.
 
Thank you for the replies everyone. To be on the safe side, I will try to find a priest nearby and arrange another confession, if that fails then I will have no choice but to wait until I am able to travel to another parish where a priest is available.
 
mcw013 said:
Hello Everyone,

Today I went to a nearby monastery, and did a confession to a priest there in his office.

While I was halfway through confessing my sins, the priest interjected (basically stopping me from talking). He then proceeded to give me advise and absolution. I then left his office as I did not want to waste his time as there was a line waiting to see him.

Is this valid, considering I wanted to confess everything but the priest stopped me from saying and proceeded to give absolution?

Doing another confession wont be possible anytime soon, because there are a shortage of priests in my archdiocese, and also there are none nearby who are available, travelling is not an option due to my budjet in the next month.

Would it be ok if I go for communion this sunday?

Please advise,
Thank you
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Look, the priest stopped you “halfway through confessing” your sins. It sounds, to me, that you were confessing a myriad of venial sins.

When you go to confession, the first sins to confess are mortal sins. After you have confessed any and all mortal sins of which you are guilty, you could confess venial sins. However, venial sins do not need to be confessed in confession to be forgiven.

If you only have venial sins to confess, first of all, you do not need to mention the number of times you committed them. Secondly, you would usually just confess the ones that you are having the most trouble with - committing them frequently, almost without thinking about it.

Your confession needs to be clear, concrete, concise, and contrite.
 
Joan_M said:
Look, the priest stopped you “halfway through confessing” your sins. It sounds, to me, that you were confessing a myriad of venial sins.

When you go to confession, the first sins to confess are mortal sins. After you have confessed any and all mortal sins of which you are guilty, you could confess venial sins. However, venial sins do not need to be confessed in confession to be forgiven.

If you only have venial sins to confess, first of all, you do not need to mention the number of times you committed them. Secondly, you would usually just confess the ones that you are having the most trouble with - committing them frequently, almost without thinking about it.

Your confession needs to be clear, concrete, concise, and contrite.
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Although the OP didn’t specify whether these were venial or mortal sins, I’m inclined to agree with you. I had been away from confession for two years and finally summoned up the courage to go on Good Friday. The lines were crazy, crazy long. I spent forever in there, and I had some doozies to confess. Because I was such a nervous wreck, the priest actually helped me by going through the usual “examination of conscience” list with me - “Did you do this?” “How many times?” etc. I had examined my conscience before going but was, frankly, terrified and I was obviously out of practice. But he took the time he needed with me to make sure that I got all my mortal sins confessed.

My face was a mess when I came out of the confessional (red, blotchy, crying puffy eyes and runny nose), but I felt good and clean for the first time in ages. I was mightily embarassed, too, but I thank God for that priest!

I do find it unlikely, that if a penitent was going through a list of mortal sins, and there wasn’t an emergency, that the priest would say, “OK, I’m going to stop you there.” After all, he should know that any unconfessed mortal sins would just have to be confessed later even if absolved. It’s possible that it did happen this way, but I see it much more likely if the penitent is confessing venial sins only, providing too much background info, etc. Thanks to the grace of God, I don’t confess mortal sins too often anymore, but I still go to confession around once a month, and I try to keep it short and sweet - mentioning only the habitual things that are bothering me. I still receive a lot of grace from confession, but if I mentioned every tiny little thing I’d be in there forever!
 
Joan_M said:
Look, the priest stopped you “halfway through confessing” your sins. It sounds, to me, that you were confessing a myriad of venial sins.

When you go to confession, the first sins to confess are mortal sins. After you have confessed any and all mortal sins of which you are guilty, you could confess venial sins. However, venial sins do not need to be confessed in confession to be forgiven.

If you only have venial sins to confess, first of all, you do not need to mention the number of times you committed them. Secondly, you would usually just confess the ones that you are having the most trouble with - committing them frequently, almost without thinking about it.

Your confession needs to be clear, concrete, concise, and contrite.
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Thank you for your advise. I was in the process of confessing mortal sins, so I had no Idea why the priest stopped me.
 
Confession is nothing but accepting of one’s sin.

Don’t worry whether you had told everything or nothing.

See the woman in the Holy Gospel. She is a prostitute and she didn’t said anything to Jesus. But Jesus seen her conversion, her acceptance, which is more important.

And HE saved her from the Pharisees John 8:7

Don’t worry of what happened. But now Pray to GOD for the sustaining of the same faith in you, with the intercessions of Mother Mary, St. Joseph and other saints, who always pray for us.
 
Bookcat said:
Any and all “mortal sins” need to be confessed.
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True, but the OP intended to confess all sins, but was stopped from doing so. Since he had the intention and was stopped by something beyond his control, all sins, even those not specifically confessed are absolved.
 
Rich_C said:
If he gave you absolution in the usual way, then of course it was valid. The problem is, if he stopped you from confessing some mortal sins, you still need to confess them. In that case, I would refrain from receiving Holy Communion.
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This is not correct. The sins are forgiven because he intended to confess them he was not witholding them. It would be proper to confess them the next time the OP has a chance to go to confession but it does not warrant a special trip and should not stop him from receiving.
 
mcw013 said:
Thank you for the replies everyone. To be on the safe side, I will try to find a priest nearby and arrange another confession, if that fails then I will have no choice but to wait until I am able to travel to another parish where a priest is available.
Click to expand...
Please do not skip the sacraments! There is no reason for you to do so. Confess these the next time that you are able to go to confession because doing so is proper, but they are already forgiven!
 
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