What If My Confessor Says It Isn't A Mortal Sin?

[havok579257]

The Church teaches we are bound to follow our conscience sincerely, and that is all I recommended. I suggest caution in blind obedience because I have personally received advise in stark contradiction to Catholic teaching. Even as new convert to the Faith I knew the advise was not part of the Faith.

 

 

no one said blind obiendence.  although we caution against doubting all priests just because.  unless the priest says something obviously against church teaching or you know for a fact, for actual fact that the priest does not teach church teaching, you should not be doubting him just because.  priests know more than the vast majority of lay catholic's.  

[havok579257]

You are very mistaken, I know this personally, I just never excused my responsibility in my sins.

 

no, you are mistaken.  addiction can mitigate sin.  the church teaches just this.  

[havok579257]

And some have been poorly trained. I would not follow the dictates of an incompetant doctor despite their title. We can't remain passive and blindly follow, especially not in these times. We need to study our faith and listen to our Lord in the depths of our hearts.

 

 

and some lay people are extremely scrupulous and demand more from sinners and themselves than the church or our Lord does. 

[i<3LSOP]

I have come to the conclusion that I won't receive communion tomorrow, and that I will go to confession as soon as humanly possible with another even more conservative priest to discuss it. Is that a sin if I hold off confession for that reason? There are a lot of underlying things, it's difficult to explain. 

 

Thanks all! (Thought I completely disagree with Mortify II) 

[mortify ii]

no, you are mistaken. addiction can mitigate sin. the church teaches just this.

Which quote are you referring to?

[NotreDame]

So I've been struggling with some sins/problems lately, which I found out were considered to be mortal sins. I went to Confession last Saturday, and explained to my Confessor (who I meet with every other week and who knows me well, too well!!!) and he said he though I was not in the state of mortal sin for a few different reasons. I committed one of the sins again, so 1.) because he believes I wasn't in the state of mortal sin is it not a mortal sin? 2.) do ya think I can receive communion tomorrow? 

 

Are you saying you went to see your confessor, confessed a sin, got absolution and are not sure if you can receive communion because he told you the sin was venial and you think it might be mortal? 

 

If you confessed the sin and if he gave you absolution, then I am pretty sure absolution is valid regardless whether the sin was mortal or venial and regardless of whether your confessor was correct in his assessment. 

 

You did not withhold any sins during confession.  You received valid absolution.  Therefore you are free to receive communion and have a clear conscience in that regard.  Period.
 

Re. "then I am pretty sure" : Would be nice if someone who has studied the sacrament more closely could confirm all this more officially. 

[i<3LSOP]

Are you saying you went to see your confessor, confessed a sin, got absolution and are not sure if you can receive communion because he told you the sin was venial and you think it might be mortal?

If you confessed the sin and if he gave you absolution, then I am pretty sure absolution is valid regardless whether the sin was mortal or venial and regardless of whether your confessor was correct in his assessment.

You did not withhold any sins during confession. You received valid absolution. Therefore you are free to receive communion and have a clear conscience in that regard. Period.

Re. "then I am pretty sure" : Would be nice if someone who has studied the sacrament more closely could confirm all this more officially.

I confessed last Saturday. I was good for a week, but committed the sin again today. I saw him today, but we got talking and it TOTALLY slipped my mind. Also, we don't really agree on if the sin I repeated is mortal/venial.

He WILL notice tomorrow that I'm not receiving communion, and I might be able to confess then, but I'd like to get another's priest's opinion anyways. Edited March 29, 2014 by i<3LSOP

[havok579257]

I have come to the conclusion that I won't receive communion tomorrow, and that I will go to confession as soon as humanly possible with another even more conservative priest to discuss it. Is that a sin if I hold off confession for that reason? There are a lot of underlying things, it's difficult to explain. 

 

Thanks all! (Thought I completely disagree with Mortify II) 

 

 

its not a sin but its a bad idea.  cause here is the problem you will run into.  if the priest gives you the same advice then you will try to seek out an even more conservative priest.  this is how you develop scrupulosity.  i have scrupulosity.  it is horrible, absolutely horrible.  don't go down this road.  you will regret it.  unless you know for a fact this priest speaks against church teaching, listen to him.  

[havok579257]

I confessed last Saturday. I was good for a week, but committed the sin again today. I saw him today, but we got talking and it TOTALLY slipped my mind. Also, we don't really agree on if the sin I repeated is mortal/venial.

He WILL notice tomorrow that I'm not receiving communion, and I might be able to confess then, but I'd like to get another's priest's opinion anyways.

 

 

so you forgot to mention it but did not purposely withhold it.  the church specifically talks about this.  you are ok to take confession.  you just need to mention it at your next confession.

 

also it doesn't matter if the priest says its mortal or venial, it doesn't matter one bit if he gives you absolution. you are absolved from all sins,  the ones you mention, the ones you forgot, the ones you think are worse than others, all sins.  it doens't matter if the priest tells you a obvious mortal sin is a venial sin as long as he uses the proper form of absolution.  it doens't matter what he thinks, the absolution is 100% valid.  don't doubt absolution which was given to us by God.  your falling into scrupulosity here.  if you made a good confession and the priest gave you absolution ALL your sins are forgiven  not some, not only the ones you remember to mention, but all your sins.  God does not expect you to be perfect, only Jesus is perfect.  this doubt comes from scrupulosity.  it is unhealthy and very damaging to a person.

[havok579257]

Which quote are you referring to?

 

 

its in the catechism.  i don't know where specifically and can't look it up right now but if someone can help me on where in the catechism it is, it would be much appriciated.

[Ash Wednesday]

I think Havok has a point here about scrupulosity. I<3LSOP, by any chance do you struggle with scrupulosity and are you familiar with it?

 

The way to handle scrupulosity is to form a correct and well-informed conscience. Have a regular confessor and spiritual director, one that is a good orthodox priest that is loyal to all of the Church's teachings. If this priest is a good and loyal priest, then stick with him and trust him.

 

I will include you and the intentions of all scrupulants in my daily rosary this week.

[AveMariaPurissima]

I think the quote that Havok was talking about was CCC 1735 "Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors." (correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

Just a comment: it's my understanding that if you believe a certain action is a mortal sin, even if it isn't, and you do it anyway, then you committed a mortal sin.  (again, if I'm wrong, please correct me.)

[chrysostom]

I confessed last Saturday. I was good for a week, but committed the sin again today. I saw him today, but we got talking and it TOTALLY slipped my mind. Also, we don't really agree on if the sin I repeated is mortal/venial.

He WILL notice tomorrow that I'm not receiving communion, and I might be able to confess then, but I'd like to get another's priest's opinion anyways.

 

By "we got talking" does that mean you went to confession after committing the sin but forgot to confess it?  If so, you're completely OK for communion and just mention it in confession next time.

 

If you committed the sin after confession or you didn't actually go to confession this week (that is, after last Saturday), I'm not sure.  I mainly wanted to clear up any confusion about the first case I mentioned.

[PhuturePriest]

I confessed last Saturday. I was good for a week, but committed the sin again today. I saw him today, but we got talking and it TOTALLY slipped my mind. Also, we don't really agree on if the sin I repeated is mortal/venial.

He WILL notice tomorrow that I'm not receiving communion, and I might be able to confess then, but I'd like to get another's priest's opinion anyways.

 

Be very careful not to fall into scrupulosity. Scrupulosity is something that is easy to fall into, but hell to get out of.

 

This is what Father Vincent Serpa, OP, told me: If you're not sure something is a mortal sin, then it's not. Mortal sin requires absolute certainty.

 

However, to answer your question, it is not a sin to not go to confession at the nearest opportunity. It's just generally recommended, because despite our fears, this is our soul we're putting at stake here. I committed a rather embarrassing and shameful sin two weeks ago, and instead of waiting until the weekend when I could go to confession to my parish priest who doesn't know me well, I decided to ask my spiritual director (Who knows me very well) if he would hear my confession in the car. He said yes, and although it was kind of unpleasant, it was totally worth it, and God noted and appreciated that I was willing to make that sacrifice with my spiritual director, who for the past two years of knowing me has never had one indication that I even suffered from original sin whatsoever. :P

[i<3LSOP]

This is getting confusing. To try and answer your questions, here you go: 

 

1.) LAST SATURDAY I confessed like, three mortal sins, two being related to physcological probs. ONE was not and that is the one I COMMITTED THIS WEEK. 

 

2.) Even with the sin not related to the physcological probs. my confessor/sd LAST WEEK didn't think I was in the state of mortal sin though he said he thought it was "a good idea I came to confession early." 

 

3.) TODAY I talked to him like a usually do, but I didn't mention confession because we got talking and I forgot. 

 

4.) I know what it is to be scrupulous, and I'm not. I can be once in a while, but in this case I don't know if he's wrong about the mortal so thing, and that concerns me because pretty much everyone knows it's a mortal sin!! 

 

5.) At this point I might just catch him after Mass tomorrow. I'm just nervous to, because I don't want him to think my probs. are kicking in when I have been doing SO SO well. He gets concerned about me sometimes and I feel like this might REALLY concern him because we usually agree on everything: 

 

6.) *sigh* 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2014 by i<3LSOP