What does "General Confession" mean now?

[gakroeger]

I seem to recall that General Confession had a different meaning pre Vatican II.

I did some search engine hunts for information on what I remember as “General Confession”. From Pre Vatican II education it meant making a confession to a priest going back over your whole life reconfessing or remembering sins which may not have been confessed properly, or at all.

Maybe I have the wrong term for this type of confession, however, now “General Confession” seems to mean absolution to a congregation without individual confession.

Can you clear this up for me?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

Your memory is correct. That was and IS what a General Confession is: confessing all the sins you can remember from your past life. Today we have communal penance services with individual confessions.

Should there be some catastrophe as on nine-eleven, a priest may give a General Absolution to a large number of people. But later, even though their sins have been forgiven, those people need to mention those sins the next time they go to Confession as an expression of their sorrow and repentance.

Such General Absolution is NOT to be given at any other time–certainly not at a communal penance service.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.