Would your confession be valid in this situation?

[agr749]

This is strictly a hypothetical situation: say you go to a parish that isn’t your normal one and you see a green light by the confessional and you go in and confess your sins anonymously, receive absolution, and then you leave. Unbeknownst to you, however, it was not actually a priest on the other side of the screen, it was an imposter who managed to sneak in there who just said all the right things and you never suspected that it wasn’t a priest.

Would your confession/absolution be valid in this situation?

 

[Ad_Orientem]

The absolution would be invalid, but theologians hold that the penitent acting in good faith would nonetheless receive all the graces including forgiveness. If he later learned that the confessor was an impostor, I believe he would be obliged to repeat his confession to a real priest.

 

[jpotato]

this is extremely unlikely. these days, if a room has a door it has to be locked when not in use (in church owned buildings not in general) and if there is an old style confessional that just has a screen you can usually see that there is at least a priest in there. if you are just interested academically that’s cool, but in general, it’s crazymaking to worry about stuff like this.

 

[Neofight]

I know you said your question is hypothetical, but you could go to confession at a church where they do face-to-face confession if it is a real concern.

 

[FrDavid96]

The absolution would be invalid, but theologians hold that the penitent acting in good faith would nonetheless receive all the graces including forgiveness. If he later learned that the confessor was an impostor, I believe he would be obliged to repeat his confession to a real priest.

Exactly.

 

[FrDavid96]

this is extremely unlikely. these days, if a room has a door it has to be locked when not in use (in church owned buildings not in general) and if there is an old style confessional that just has a screen you can usually see that there is at least a priest in there. if you are just interested academically that’s cool, but in general, it’s crazymaking to worry about stuff like this.

Unfortunately, it’s very likely.

I’ve experienced that situation myself on too many occasions. Many Anglican “priests” (and others who call themselves “Catholic” without being such) go around pretending to be Catholic priests.

While it’s not likely that they can get away with this in an actual confessional, it can and does happen in hospitals.

Here’s an example: I find out that a parishioner just came back from the hospital. I ask “why didn’t someone call me?” and the answer is “Father so-and-so was visiting someone in the next bed, and when he was there he saw me and offered to hear my confession…”
It can happen with teens too. They get invited to a youth group event (innocent enough), and “confession” is offered there. They go. In both examples, the Catholic simply does not know any better.