When you forget to confess a sin, do you need to confess it next time you go to confession?

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ShaunH

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When you go to confession, aren’t you absolved from all sins (the ones that you’ve confessed AND the ones you’ve truly forgotten)? So would it even be necessary to bring them up at your next confession?
 
if it is a mortal sin, you are still absolved, but need to confess the sin at your next confession.
 
Thank you for your response. The reason I ask is because about a year ago, I tried using a ouija board, and I was ignorant to the gravity of using it. I have gone to confession many, many, many times since then, but I have never confessed it, because I never knew it was a sin until recently. Should I mention it next time I go to confession?
 
I have had mixed messages in the confessional on this matter. Year ago, having told the priest that I had confessed about one month previously, I started to say “many years ago Father I…” when he stopped me and said that unless I had intentionally left unconfessed what I was about to say then I should forget it and treat every absolution as total. He asked me whether I had made a conscious decision not to confess the matter I was about to disclose at the confession following the sin and I said (honestly) that I had not. He told me that it had been forgiven and to move on.

However, when I returned to the Church after many years of not practising, I had a lot to confess, omitting nothing I could remember at the first confession. The following confession I told the priest that my conscience was really ‘kicking in’ and my memory of sins not confessed at the first one were coming thick and fast and asked him about it. He told me that every serious sin should be confessed, he told me to tell him about every serious matter that I now recalled that I had omitted from the first confession (after my return) and I did so. I then asked if I could treat this absolution as complete and he said that I could so long as I had omitted nothing that I now recalled that was serious. I was left a little confused but I think that my lapsing might have made a difference in the latter case.
 
ShaunH said:
Thank you for your response. The reason I ask is because about a year ago, I tried using a ouija board, and I was ignorant to the gravity of using it. I have gone to confession many, many, many times since then, but I have never confessed it, because I never knew it was a sin until recently. Should I mention it next time I go to confession?
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If you did not know at the time that using the ouija board was sinful, or gravely so, then one of the necessary components for mortal sin was missing, namely full knowledge. So it could not have been a mortal sin. You are free to mention it at your next confession, but it is not strictly necessary. If you’re just horrified that you did it, and you want to apologize to God in a formal setting, go for it.

Betsy
 
Last summer there were several “old” things that had made their way into my consciousness. I had never confessed them, but never intentionally omitted them, either. I knew they were forgiven. yet I still felt like I should at least tell Jesus I was sorry. My thought was that if it was a friend whom I’d offended, and had just realized that what I had done had hurt his or her feelings, I would apologize. Why would Jesus be different?

I asked the priest if there was any “statute of limitations” on things that could be confessed. He assured me there was not. He listened, had a few words of encouragement, gave me a penance and absolution. And I left touched once again by God’s merciful love.
 
Yes it’s necessary - because it’s an expression of our sorrow over having committed those sins. It makes it sink in to us that this particular behaviour was something wrong and something we resolve never to do again.

If I say something mean to you, forget to apologise for it but instead apologise to you for a whole bunch of other stuff, it doesn’t mean I can just forget about apologising specifically for saying that mean thing, does it? 🤷
 
This wasn’t a mortal sin (because you didn’t know) and it has already been forgiven. However, I highly recommend that you confess it. The involvement in anything to do with the occult does open the door to the influence of Satan. Perhaps God has brought this to your mind now so that you could bring it to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to break any hold Satan may have on you through this. So, while it is in no way necessary to confess this, it may be to your benefit to do so.
 
From the The Baltimore Catechism … “If you should forget a mortal sin in confession and remember it the same day or evening, or while you are still in the church, it will not be necessary to wait and go to confession again. It is forgiven already, because it was included in your forgotten sins; but you must tell it the next time you go to confession, saying before your regular confession: In my last confession I forgot this sin.”
 
Further, no man profits by neglect. Now a man cannot forget a mortal sin without neglect, before it is forgiven him. Therefore he does not profit by his forgetfulness so that the sin is forgiven him without special mention thereof in confession. Moreover he is bound to confess the sin when he calls it to mind. – “The Summa Theologica”.
 
Thank you all for your responses. But, isn’t it true that those who are scrupulous (which is me) should not bring up old sins in confession? I have been told that one who is scrupulous should never make a general confession and never make an examination of conscience. In this case, should I just forget about the sins of the past that I have forgotten in previous confessions??
 
ShaunH said:
Thank you all for your responses. But, isn’t it true that those who are scrupulous (which is me) should not bring up old sins in confession? I have been told that one who is scrupulous should never make a general confession and never make an examination of conscience. In this case, should I just forget about the sins of the past that I have forgotten in previous confessions??
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Any thoughts?
 
ShaunH said:
Any thoughts?
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Who told you that? A scrupulous person should have one and only one confessor, who is experienced in dealing with scruples, and should obey him in everything. If that’s who told you, then do what he says. If not, you need to find that priest for yourself and ask.

Since you did not know the sinfulness of what you were doing at the time, you did not commit a mortal sin, so it does not need to be confessed. However, since you are sure you have not confessed it before, you may confess it if you really want to. Unless your regular confessor as described above has told you not to.

Betsy
 
ShaunH said:
Thank you all for your responses. But, isn’t it true that those who are scrupulous (which is me) should not bring up old sins in confession? I have been told that one who is scrupulous should never make a general confession and never make an examination of conscience. In this case, should I just forget about the sins of the past that I have forgotten in previous confessions??
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The only person that you have to listen to is your confessor. If you are suffering of scrupulosity you better follow his instructions, otherwise do not listen to people that give suggestions that are clearly in disagreement with the Church doctrines or disciplines.
 
ShaunH said:
Thank you all for your responses. But, isn’t it true that those who are scrupulous (which is me) should not bring up old sins in confession?
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IF they have already been forgiven.
ShaunH said:
I have been told that one who is scrupulous should never make a general confession and never make an examination of conscience.
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How does one what to confess if they haven’t examined their conscience to see how they might have offended God?
ShaunH said:
In this case, should I just forget about the sins of the past that I have forgotten in previous confessions??
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Any sin that has been confessed and absolved should be forgotten.
 
baltobetsy said:
A scrupulous person should have one and only one confessor, who is experienced in dealing with scruples, and should obey him in everything.
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Unless that confessor is telling a person something which conflicts with Church teaching.
 
marleelynn said:
if it is a mortal sin, you are still absolved, but need to confess the sin at your next confession.
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thank you so much because my son forgot to confess mortal sin and the next day is his first communion 👍
 
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