Written Confession

[Thoughtfulone]

I think that I have made invalid confessions and I want to go in and make a valid one, including of course all of the sins I confessed during my accidental invalid confessions. I know the catechism and PJP2 states that we must orally confess our sins unless physically unable to do so, but I have typed out all the sins I have previously confessed orally and it is 3 typed pages long. Would it be acceptable to hand this list to the priest after explaining why I am re-confessing them? I really don’t want to have to go through it all again (it took enough guts the first time!). Since I technically already confessed these sins aloud, would this be an acceptable form of confession? After he reads the list I intend to orally confess my new sins. Thanks!

 

[Bookcat]

1. The divine constitution of the Sacrament of Penance requires each penitent to confess to a priest all mortal sins, as well as specifying moral circumstances that he remembers after a diligent examination of conscience.4 For this reason the Code of Canon Law states clearly that “individual and integral confession and absolution is the sole ordinary means by which a member of the faithful who is conscious of mortal sin is reconciled with God and with the Church. Physical or moral impossibility alone excuses from such confession”.5 In specifiying this obligation, the Church has insistently reiterated that “all the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their mortal sins at least once a year”.6 "Energetic efforts are to be made to avoid any risk that this traditional practice of the Sacrament of Penance fall into disuse."7 Indeed, in this Jubilee Year Catholics are called in a particular way “to encounter anew the uniquely transforming experience that is individual, integral confession and absolution”.8 In accord with the law and practice of the Church, the faithful must orally confess their sins (auricular confession)9, except in cases of true physical or moral impossibility (e.g., extreme illness or physical condition inhibiting speech, speech impediment, etc.) This disposition would exclude communal celebrations of the sacrament in which penitents are invited to present a written list of sins to the priest confessor. It should be noted that such innovations also risk compromising the inviolable seal of sacramental confession.

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments March 20 2000

Only physical or moral impossibility excuses from such…(some have argued that say one just keeps breaking out in tears every time they try…and just can’t do it…can be an example of a moral impossibility…they hand the priest the list and say…I confess this…but if it were me…I might be in tears…but I will still get it all out… )

If it where me…I would simply go through the list…it can be done rapidly…“I accuse myself of…murder 6x…etc” …

Can. 988 §1. A member of the Christian faithful is obliged to confess in kind and number all grave sins committed after baptism and not yet remitted directly through the keys of the Church nor acknowledged in individual confession, of which the person has knowledge after diligent examination of conscience.

 

[nicolep]

No, you can’t hand him a sheet of paper. You can use it as a guide to help you make a proper confession.

This is a rhetorical question, but how do you “think” you made an invalid confession? You would have had to say/do something rather serious to invalidate the sacrament.

 

[Myqyl]

I would suggest you discuss the question with your confessor. It will be his call regardless of what us “experts” in a forum may decide.

God bless

 

[runningdude]

I would suggest you discuss the question with your confessor. It will be his call regardless of what us “experts” in a forum may decide.

God bless

This would be the prudent thing to do. Only your confessor (or relevant Church authority) is qualified to judge whether your previous confessions were invalid.

…the sins I confessed during my accidental invalid confessions.

Incidentally, it is impossible to accidentally invalidate a confession, because it is impossible to accidentally commit a mortal sin!

If your mistakes in the confessional were truly accidental, then trust that it is truly Christ acting through the sacrament. Christ is a real and loving person who will accept even an imperfect confession if made honestly.

Be at peace:
Saint John the Evangelist:

For God so loved the world, that he sacrificed his only begotten son that humanity may live.

 

[Bookcat]

I would suggest you discuss the question with your confessor. It will be his call regardless of what us “experts” in a forum may decide.

God bless

Only if such is within his competence.

He cannot for example allow something when that something is not allowed.

See the document from the Church posted above…and my comments. Only a physical or moral impossibility can exempt from an oral confession of mortal sins.

But he can perhaps help judge if such the case with a particular penitent.

But if they can just read the list to the Priest…they can try that …and then if they break down and cannot go further…well…that may be a sign of such…

 

[Barbkw]

It’s your confession. Bring your list and talk with your priest about your need for doing so - prior to your current confession.

 

[Bookcat]

It’s your confession. Bring your list and talk with your priest about your need for doing so - prior to your current confession.

But it must be done according to the Church…we cannot just do what we like of course (not that you are saying such)

(see my posts above)

 

[Thoughtfulone]

To those asking how I accidentally invalidated my confessions:

1.) In one instance, I omitted a mortal sin. I didn’t believe it was really a sin (cohabitation with my fiance) and I didn’t know that this would invalidate the sacrament because nobody ever told me.

2.) I wasn’t fully resolved to avoid a certain sin in the future at another confession.

3.) When I finally did confess cohabitation before marriage, I thought just being afraid of hell was sufficient for attrition, but I found out later that I had to be truly sorry and regret that it had ever happened, which I am still struggling with.

The thing is, I have ALREADY confessed all of these sins to a priest aloud. I was hoping to be able to tell him that and give him the list and move on. I cannot fathom going through a lifetime of sins again in the confessional.

 

[Barbkw]

Talk with your priest about your concerns. He’ll probably talk with you about the three requirements for mortal sin.

Please check out this adult examination of conscience. At the front of it, Fr. Altier writes about the three requirements and then he details mortal sins pg. 1-4 and then the venial sin pg. 3-9.

catholicparents.org/oxcart/Examination%20of%20Conscience.pdf

P.S. Unfortuneately, many Catholics don’t have a concise or complete examination of conscience. Thankfully the online examinations are becoming very helpful.

P.S.S. Please do let your priest know about the failure of their RCIA program or the Church to properly catechize you in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It’s the only way that programs will be changed.

 

[Myqyl]

So you are saying do not question the authority of the Church, while you question the authority of the Church…

Trust your priest…

God bless

Only if such is within his competence.

He cannot for example allow something when that something is not allowed.

See the document from the Church posted above…and my comments. Only a physical or moral impossibility can exempt from an oral confession of mortal sins.

But he can perhaps help judge if such the case with a particular penitent.

But if they can just read the list to the Priest…they can try that …and then if they break down and cannot go further…well…that may be a sign of such…

 

[Bookcat]

To those asking how I accidentally invalidated my confessions:

1.) In one instance, I omitted a mortal sin. I didn’t believe it was really a sin (cohabitation with my fiance) and I didn’t know that this would invalidate the sacrament because nobody ever told me.

2.) I wasn’t fully resolved to avoid a certain sin in the future at another confession.

3.) When I finally did confess cohabitation before marriage, I thought just being afraid of hell was sufficient for attrition, but I found out later that I had to be truly sorry and regret that it had ever happened, which I am still struggling with.

The thing is, I have ALREADY confessed all of these sins to a priest aloud. I was hoping to be able to tell him that and give him the list and move on. I cannot fathom going through a lifetime of sins again in the confessional.

As I noted one does need to confess all ones mortal sins in number and kind…and if one makes a bad confession…by hiding a mortal sin…then yes one needs to confess again those mortal sins that were in fact confessed…and the mortal sin that was hidden…and the fact of hiding it…but having said that.

A couple of thoughts for you.

1. It can perhaps be the case that if in your first confession that you mentioned here…back with all the sins from over the years…was made without any intent to hide a mortal sin…but one merely did not realize such something was a mortal sin but intended to confess all your mortal sins…then it would seem that only that which was omitted would need to be confessed…(not all the rest) …for it would be like a “an honestly forgotten mortal sin” …

and of course any other confessions afterward that were invalid would then (if such is the case) not have to then include the all sins from that first big confession…just the ones since the last valid confession…one would need to discuss this with the Priest…this is just a possible thought…it may or may not be the case here…

1. Another possible thing to discuss…in terms again of the long first confession…if it was invalid…I have seen it in an older moral manual noted that if the confessor is the one to whom one confessed the bad confession to…and if he “remembers at least indistinctly what was confessed” then a “generic” confession of all those sins again in the confession will suffice…along with the omitted ones …but again this is a thought…(from an older work from 1961) something that could be discussed perhaps with a Priest who of course “thinks with the Church”.

 

[Thoughtfulone]

You know, honestly, I am just sick of confessing and re-confessing all these sins. There are just too many and I’ve already confessed them and I don’t know if I have it in me to go over all these horrible things from my past again just because of a technicality.

 

[nicolep]

You know, honestly, I am just sick of confessing and re-confessing all these sins. There are just too many and I’ve already confessed them and I don’t know if I have it in me to go over all these horrible things from my past again just because of a technicality.

Please, please, please talk to a priet. Don’t let the responses of some random people on a forum sway you one way or the other.

 

[Di_bear]

But it must be done according to the Church…we cannot just do what we like of course (not that you are saying such)

(see my posts above)

True, but I think it is a greater sin to focus on listing sins as the point of Reconciliation. It is not the sacrament of Confession.

Consider this quote from American Catholic:

Of course the new Rite does concern itself with the confession of sins. But one’s sinfulness is not always the same as one’s sins. And, as a sacrament of healing, Reconciliation addresses the disease (sinfulness) rather than the symptoms (sins). So, the sacrament calls us to more than prepared speeches or lists of sins. We are challenged to search deep into our heart of hearts to discover the struggles, value conflicts and ambiguities (the disease) which cause the sinful acts (the symptoms) to appear.

What’s the difference between Confession and Reconciliation?

The fact that Reconciliation is a sacrament is the reason why many Catholics partake in penance services, which are followed by private confessions. Sacraments are done in the community, so it makes sense that we celebrate this sacrament as a community.

See How to Celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation Today

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret…” (CCC #1456)

“Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church.” (CCC #1458)

“Strongly recommended,” but NOT REQUIRED. If you committed a venial sin and it is weighing on your conscience, then many would argue that you need to confess it, not because you committed the sin, but because the sacrament of Reconciliation is about healing. Priests are there to help you, not make you feel like poo.

The sacrament is about penance. Christ called us to repent, which means “convert.” He calls us to a conversion, and confession is only one part of it. The point of confession is to help you forgive yourself so you can move on and become a better person. Repenting is not something you do in a confessional, it is something you live.

Above all, when you receive absolution, you are absolved. It’s a done deal. The exception is if you confess something that you really do not feel sorry for and have no interest in including in your repentance. If you forget to include a venial sin, you are still absolved.

One of the biggest issues with confession is that God forgives you, but you do not forgive yourself. If you do not forgive yourself, if you dwell on your past sins, then you are not repenting. You are living in the past, not focusing on a conversion. You need to be active about becoming more holy, not dwelling on your past sins.

Ask yourself which is the greater sin:

• Forgetting to mention a sin in your confession and dwelling on it even though God has already forgiven you; or
• Not having faith in God that He has forgiven you, and allowing yourself to move forward, to convert, to repent, as Christ called us to do in the Gospel?

God knows what you do. It is also evident from this forum that you feel bad about what you’ve done. He knows that, too. If you go back to the confessional, don’t give your priest a list of sins for which you’ve already been absolved; talk to your priest about how you are having a difficult time living out your faith by accepting God’s forgiveness, and ask him how you can move forward.

 

[Bookcat]

Y There are just too many and I’ve already confessed them and I don’t know if I have it in me to go over all these horrible things from my past again just because of a technicality.

I addressed this above…(in the last post…and in the first ones…perhaps it can fit the moral impossibility…and thus not need to be oral)…but it is not a “technicality”.

Confession of mortal sins is an all or nothing event. One simply either repents or not.

But as I noted above…perhaps your first confession did this…and the omitted things were not known to be mortal sins at that time…(one can read the post…I will spare you “repeating” the post on repeating confessions )

Often when one returns to the Church…one simply does not remember or know a certain thing was a mortal sin…but yet one makes a good confession…and if it was an actual mortal sin and one realizes that one forgot it…one just mentions it in the next one…this I am sure happens with many who have been away for awhile…and there is great rejoicing in heaven when they return!

 

[Bookcat]

I addressed this above…(in the last post…and perhaps it can fit the moral impossibility…and thus not need to be oral)…but it is not a “technicality”.

Confession of mortal sins is an all or nothing event. One simply either repents or not.

But as I noted above…perhaps your first confession did this…and the omitted things were not known to be mortal sins at that time…(one can read the post…I will spare you “repeating” the post on repeating confessions )

Often when one returns to the Church…one simply does not remember or know a certain thing was a mortal sin…but yet one makes a good confession…and if it was an actual mortal sin and one realizes that one forgot it…one just mentions it in the next one…this I am sure happens with many who have been away for awhile…and there is great rejoicing in heaven when the return!

 

[Thoughtfulone]

I addressed this above…(in the last post…and in the first ones…perhaps it can fit the moral impossibility…and thus not need to be oral)…but it is not a “technicality”.

Confession of mortal sins is an all or nothing event. One simply either repents or not.

But as I noted above…perhaps your first confession did this…and the omitted things were not known to be mortal sins at that time…(one can read the post…I will spare you “repeating” the post on repeating confessions )

Often when one returns to the Church…one simply does not remember or know a certain thing was a mortal sin…but yet one makes a good confession…and if it was an actual mortal sin and one realizes that one forgot it…one just mentions it in the next one…this I am sure happens with many who have been away for awhile…and there is great rejoicing in heaven when they return!

I wish I could say I didn’t know it was a mortal sin…I knew that the Church taught that if you have pre-marital sex, you go to hell, I just didn’t believe it (tbh, I still question it, but I’m married so it doesn’t really matter now). What I DIDN’T know was that you had to confess every sin that the Church considers to be mortal for the confession to be valid. I was never taught this, in fact, I was taught never to confess something for which I wasn’t sorry or that I didn’t think was a sin, so I omitted it, not knowing this would invalidate my whole confession

 

[Bookcat]

I wish I could say I didn’t know it was a mortal sin…I knew that the Church taught that if you have pre-marital sex, you go to hell, I just didn’t believe it (tbh, I still question it, but I’m married so it doesn’t really matter now). What I DIDN’T know was that you had to confess every sin that the Church considers to be mortal for the confession to be valid. I was never taught this, in fact, I was taught never to confess something for which I wasn’t sorry or that I didn’t think was a sin, so I omitted it, not knowing this would invalidate my whole confession

Bottom line…there is the need to address this (and whatever else…) with a Priest in confession…a good faithful Priest should be able to guide one in what needs be done…

 

[Silver_Spring]

This is probably as a good a place as any to raise this issue. I’m in the midst of reading St. Faustina’s “Diary of a Soul” (I highly recommend it to all!), and I just came across the following passage St. Faustina wrote about Confession. And as it turns out, I recently had an experience somewhat similar to what she describes below (and please note, I’m not blaming the priest who heard my confession whatsoever):

A few words about confession and confessors. I shall speak only of what I have experienced and gone through within my own soul. There are three things which hinder the soul from drawing profit from confession in these exceptional moments.

…

[Second thing] The confessor does not allow the soul to express itself frankly, and shows impatience. The soul then falls silent and does not say everything [it has to say] and, by this, profits nothing.

Two weeks ago, I went to confession as part of my return to the Church after being a lukewarm Catholic for quite a few years. I gave a general confession that spanned roughly the last 25 years of my life.

I was probably in the confessional for a solid 45 minutes. I had my sins written down on paper prior to the Confession, although in retrospect I could have organized them better. I started writing the sins down by each Commandment, but after I did that I just kept thinking of more and more of them, and I kept writing them down.

Well, as time wore on during my Confession, we were reaching the end of the time allotted for Confessions, and the priest gently encouraged me to cut to the chase, so he could give me my penance and some parting words. Time was tight at that point. I suppose I was rambling a bit, but I just had so much ground to cover. Again, I’m not blaming the priest. He was very pleased that I had returned to confession, and that was nice. But once I sensed that he wanted me to wrap things up, I got nervous and locked up. (My fault, not the confessor’s.) I said a bit more, but once I felt the urgency to wrap up, I named a couple more sins in very general terms, and told him that’s all I had.

The final sins I named, I could have given him a better feel for the frequency and specifics. And I also looked again after the Confession at my written list, and realized there were some things I just didn’t get to.

To make a long story short, I left the confessional feeling somewhat concerned that my confession was invalid, despite going into the Confession with the intention of routing sin out of my soul. And reading the above entry from St. Faustina really hit me. Could it be that this Confession “profited nothing?”

I want to go back to Confession at a minimum to tell sins I forgot to tell during this Confession, but also to come back with a bucket full of trust in The Lord, as St. Faustina suggests.

I’m wondering if the group has any thoughts about my situation, particularly in light of St. Faustina’s journal entry above. I’m willing to confess all my sins again, but couldn’t that be an insult to the Sacrament if my last Confession was valid?

I’d appreciate any guidance you can provide. I’m also torn as to whether I should return to the same priest, since he might remember me (at least somewhat) and express my concerns to him, or whether I should start from scratch with a different priest, and explain my situation. Thanks in advance.