What is erroneous conscience?

[Chris19]

Our priest told me that I was having an erroneous conscience.

I had my examination of conscience days before the confession.

Last Monday I went to the Church to confess my sins. I’ve waited for almost 2 hours because of the long line of confession and there was only one priest at that time.

When I finally had the chance to confess my sins, I told the priest of my sins, and most of them was mortal sins.** But then what bugged me is that I kinda heard a “giggle” while I was saying my sins, and then my mind wandered off during the whole confession. “Did he just laugh?” that’s what entered in my mind. But It was really no big deal about it. The problem is my mind was not fully focused during confession.** I heard his advice and the penance I should do.

But because** I was not fully focused during the whole confession, I never got to fully hear and didn’t understand his words of absolution because it was in different language that I’m not used to.** but I sincerely did my penance.

**The reason why I was not fully focused is because the whole time, I was actually thinking if the priest had a small giggle and for some reason I kinda want to giggle too. **

So I fear for my soul, for not doing a proper confession which I should do. And most of the sins were Mortal or if I could say “All were Mortal Sins” So the Next day I was thinking about it and eventually felt sorrow and sadness. And decided to re-confess again my sins the Next day.

I said to the priest that I had a bad confession last Monday but then the priest refused to give me a confession because I was suffering from erroneous conscience and it is a sin. But I still fear for my soul because as I would say “All Sins I have to say were Mortal”

**But even though I had a doubt in my mind. I still went to mass and received the Holy Eucharist even though I was unsure if my Mortal Sins were forgiven. **

I’ve been away from the Church for almost 3 years.
Please pray for me. Godbless!

 

[DavidFilmer]

Sorry, I giggled too (although I would characterize it as a “chuckle”).

The thing is - we cannot know if our sins are actually mortal (according to the Council of Trent). Nobody (not even ourselves) knows if any particular sin is mortal or venial - only God knows for sure. We can be pretty sure, but we cannot know with certainty. There can be “mitigating circumstances” which reduce our culpability for any given sin. For example, a drug user (or any sort of addict) who abuses drugs may not be guilty of mortal sin because of the nature of the addiction (but only God knows for sure).

And, in Confession, you are not required to categorize your sins as mortal or venial. Only God can do that. You might confess that you suspected you were in a state of mortal sin and yet received the Eucharist anyway (an unwise action), but you cannot determine if you actually were in a state of mortal sin at the time.

It was improper for the priest to giggle/chuckle during your confession. Sometimes we have a hard time controlling our reactions. He was not reacting to YOU, but to the idea that any of us can know whether we are in a state of mortal sin.

All sin must meet three (and no less) conditions to be considered mortal:

• It must be a serious sin (such as a violation of one of the Ten Commandments)
• It must be undertaken with knowledge of the seriousness of the sin at the time
• It must be done with freewill consent

The third condition is usually the “get out of hell free” card. Does an addict freely consent to his drug abuse, or are there circumstances beyond his consent that compel him to abuse the drugs? (nobody knows for sure what God thinks about this, but one could make a strong case that the addict may not be acting entirely of his own free will).

If you made a good Confession, and tried (to the best of your ability) to fulfill the penance, then you are fully absolved. I once went to a Polish priest whom I could barely understand (and I doubted how well he could understand me). I was not really sure what my penance was, but I’m pretty sure he used the word “rosary” so I left the confessional and prayed a rosary. Whether he had assigned me a particular mystery, I did not know - but I am sure that I fulfilled the penance and was completely absolved (even if I was wrong about the use of the word “rosary” and he had assigned me something completely different).

We are only required to fulfill our penance to the best of our ability. If we misunderstand, or forget some aspect, it would not matter.

 

[cyejbv]

The thing is - we cannot know if our sins are actually mortal (according to the Council of Trent). Nobody (not even ourselves) knows if any particular sin is mortal or venial - only God knows for sure. We can be pretty sure, but we cannot know with certainty. …

And, in Confession, you are not required to categorize your sins as mortal or venial. Only God can do that. You might confess that you suspected you were in a state of mortal sin and yet received the Eucharist anyway (an unwise action), but you cannot determine if you actually were in a state of mortal sin at the time.
.

I thought you had to confess number and kind? I know about the Trent writings, but my understanding is that this was not quite apologetics, but still defining the nature of God as per the type of sins, rather than a dictum: (“you don’t know what’s what, so …”.) yes, only God knows but The Church has defined which is which, and your answer seems at odds with what I’ve been taught. ? Number and kind…

Pax

 

[Chris19]

Thank you for your answers .

Yes I really did my penance.
And about the “Mortal Sins” I know it was mortal because I was fully aware. And It was part of the “Ten Commandments”

I am really confused of this “erroneous conscience.”
What is erroneous conscience?
What are the examples of erroneous conscience? (aside from my situation)
How can I avoid it?

 

[DavidFilmer]

I thought you had to confess number and kind?

Yes, this is true to the best of your ability:

Canon 988 – §1. A member of the Christian faithful is obliged to confess in kind and number all serious sins committed after baptism and not yet directly remitted through the keys of the Church nor acknowledged in individual confession, for which one is conscious after diligent examination of conscience.

This is based largely on the teaching of The Council of Trent:

To obtain the saving remedy of the sacrament of penance, according to the plan of our merciful God, the faithful must confess to a priest each and every grave sin that they remember after a diligent examination of conscience" (cf. sess. XIV de poenitentia cc. 7-8: COD 712).

But, by the term “kind,” the Church does not expect us to categorize our sins as either mortal or venial. Rather, the Church expects us to understand why our sin is a violation of (which) Divine Law - such as murder, fornication, gluttony, etc (the culpability of which is left to God alone to decide).

 

[steve_b]

The thing is - we cannot know if our sins are actually mortal (according to the Council of Trent). Nobody (not even ourselves) knows if any particular sin is mortal or venial - only God knows for sure. We can be pretty sure, but we cannot know with certainty.

Just a few comments.

Mortal sin is knowable.

From the CCC (18 entries)
ccc.scborromeo.org.master.com/texis/master/search/mysite.html?q=mortal+sin±1008%2C±2819&prox=line&rprox=1000&sufs=0&order=r&n=10

From scripture, any sin that keeps one from inheriting heaven if they die in that sin, is by definition, mortal

Example: (not complete)

• Ephesians 5: 3-5 fornication, covetousness……5 Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
• Hebrews 10:25-26 missing mass deliberately, no sacrifice for sin for THEM but a fiery judgement that consumes the adversaries of God.
• Hebrews 12: 16 - 17 immoraliy, is selling your inheritance
• Galatians 5: 19 - 21 sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, will not inherit heaven
• Romans 16:17… dividers don’t serve our Lord but themselves. Stay away from them. Satan will soon be crushed under your feet
• Colossians 3: 5-6 immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry, …rath of God is coming
• 1 Corinthians 6: 9 - 10 no sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Notice how often sexual sins are mentioned.

It doesn’t matter if a person disagrees with this list. Paul teaches this under the influence of the HS. Therefore God is telling us how He will judge these sins.

Conditions for a person to commit mortal sin

• serious matter (there’s no question, the preceeding defines those sins as serious)
• knowledge that it is serious matter (one would have to work hard to ignore this )
• freely commit the sin (that’s not hard to do)

DF:

And, in Confession, you are not required to categorize your sins as mortal or venial. Only God can do that. You might confess that you suspected you were in a state of mortal sin and yet received the Eucharist anyway (an unwise action), but you cannot determine if you actually were in a state of mortal sin at the time.

**1493 **One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins (mortal) he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience. The confession of venial faults, without being necessary in itself, is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church.

The CCC, and scripture don’t think mortal sin is elusive, or that no one can know they commit it or not. After a person is told, then they are knowledgable.
DF:

It was improper for the priest to giggle/chuckle during your confession. Sometimes we have a hard time controlling our reactions. He was not reacting to YOU, but to the idea that any of us can know whether we are in a state of mortal sin.

If he DID think that, he needs to be retrained.
DF:

All sin must meet three (and no less) conditions to be considered mortal:

• It must be a serious sin (such as a violation of one of the Ten Commandments)
• It must be undertaken with knowledge of the seriousness of the sin at the time
• It must be done with freewill consent

The third condition is usually the “get out of hell free” card. Does an addict freely consent to his drug abuse, or are there circumstances beyond his consent that compel him to abuse the drugs? (nobody knows for sure what God thinks about this, but one could make a strong case that the addict may not be acting entirely of his own free will).

**1749 **Freedom makes man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to speak, the father of his acts. Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosen in consequence of a judgment of conscience, can be morally evaluated. They are either good or evil.

At one point the addict wasn’t an addict. Knowing what drugs do to a person, and he goes ahead and freely chooses to pollute himself anyway, he gave consent to a gravely disordered act.

1791 Ignorance is not innocent when a man “takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.” In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.

 

[fred_conty]

What is erroneous conscience?
What are the examples of erroneous conscience? (aside from my situation)
How can I avoid it?

Hi,
An erroneous conscience is a conscience which thinks a thought, word, or deed, is a sin but in reality it is not. Or just the opposite, seeing no sin where in reality there is a sin.
Or making a mortal sin out of something that is really a venial sin, or just the opposite, making a venial sin out of something that is really a mortal sin.

An erroneous conscience judges wrongly for one reason or another.

As a side bar, you do not have to mention whether a sin is mortal or venial unless it is not clear. For example, a bad thought. If is referring to lusting after a woman, then that needs to be said. If it is small impatience at someone, then it should be said that way. The circumstances are only needed if it changes the gravity or the nature of the sin. Carnal relations with someone. Was it a man or woman? If woman, married or not married? Are you married or single? Sodomy? Fornacation? Adultery?
I lied. Usually small sin. But I lied giving testimony on the stand. Big sin.

I got angry. This could mean a person just got upset and said some rude words, or it could mean a knock-out/drag-out affair.
I got intoxicated. But they didn’t mention that they drove a car while intoxicated.