What makes a priest "a good confessor"?

[Tis_Bearself]

Well, there are a whole bunch of churches that have memorials to the unborn near the outside of the church, and I doubt that makes every pastor who authorizes one a bad confessor.

Part of accepting absolution is making peace with what you did and perhaps understanding that your victim’s feelings and your victim’s memory is more important than your own hang ups.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If being insensitive to the sinner makes one a bad confessor, then that’s what he is.

Jim

 

[po18guy]

1. That he has parishioners going to him for absolution.
2. That he validly and licitly absolves them.
3. The rest is personal preference.

The Sacrament of Penance/Confession is not about spiritual direction, advice or counseling. It is about the bearing up of sin to the Father for destruction. Both priest and penitent do penance, but some form of spiritual direction has become fairly common.

 

[JimG]

It may be an obvious truism, but it is true: A good confessor is a validly ordained priest who has faculties from his bishop and can absolve my sins through the power of Jesus Christ. What more could I ask? I don’t care if he is curt or cordial, or personable or not or whether he gives advice or not. He can absolve my sins.

 

[anon10271182]

Absolutely right, and it doesn’t make any of them a “bad confessor.”
To assert or imply that monuments to the unborn are constructed to humiliate or otherwise punish women who have had abortions is absurd, if not an affront to all those parish priests who have approved such memorials. And to hide such memorials because somebody might be offended? Yeah, right.