Was My Confession Valid?

[Guest]

Just got out of Confession. The Priest had just got done with a wedding. He didn't have me say an Act Of Contrition or give me a Penance. Am I still in mortal sin? 

Edited May 28, 2016 by Guest

[Era Might]

Nah.

[Guest]

Just found this topic on Catholic Answers. It's valid. 

[Nihil Obstat]

As long as the priest used the minimal form ("ego te absolvo") you are all set. Assuming the rest of the conditions are in place.

[Guest]

Yes he did. Do you have time to list those conditions? I think one of them would be /is to make a firm resolution to not commit the sins again. This is one is always tough for me because I feel like it's bound to happen. Yet before I went to Confession today I went over this in my head and told myself I would try my best. Otherwise I wasn't going to go to Confession and unfortunately I've let that stop me in the past from going.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Guest

[dUSt]

28 minutes ago, Josh said:

Yes he did. Do you have time to list those conditions? I think one of them would be /is to make a firm resolution to not commit the sins again. This is one is always tough for me because I feel like it's bound to happen. Yet before I went to Confession today I went over this in my head and told myself I would try my best. Otherwise I wasn't going to go to Confession and unfortunately I've let that stop me in the past from going.

I think there is a difference between knowing you will sin again with a desire to stop, and knowing you will sin again without a desire to stop. I'm pretty sure nobody on earth thinks they will stop sinning after confession (because we are not Jesus or Mary), but hopefully we all have a desire to stop sinning.

[Nihil Obstat]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

Yes he did. Do you have time to list those conditions? I think one of them would be /is to make a firm resolution to not commit the sins again. This is one is always tough for me because I feel like it's bound to happen. Yet before I went to Confession today I went over this in my head and told myself I would try my best. Otherwise I wasn't going to go to Confession and unfortunately I've let that stop me in the past from going.

For any sacrament to be valid it requires valid matter, form, and intention (on the part of the minister of the sacrament). For confession, valid matter would be your sins, then your own contrition (the condition of contrition, not strictly speaking the Act of Contrition, though the Act of Contrition is used to establish you being contrite, if that makes sense), the actual confession of your sins, and your formal acceptance of your penances.. The intention is broadly speaking for the priest to intend to do as the Church does, as a very minimal standard. He does not necessarily have to understand the intricacies of what the Church intends for him to do. The form, which is the crux of your question, is very minimally literally just "ego te absolvo". That is it, nothing further. However the bare minimal form is not licit. To be licit the priest would have to follow what the texts actually say for him to do 

Getting back to the lack of the Act of Contrition, it may well be required for the priest to ask you to make an Act for him to act in a licit manner (or perhaps it is not, I do not know the laws on the subject). But whether or not the priest made a mistake in not asking it of you, the fact that you were contrite suffices for validity. If you had not been contrite, the matter of the sacrament would not have been valid. Likewise, for instance, if you simply sat in the confessional saying nothing and communicating nothing, then the priest said the words of absolution, it would seem that valid matter would be lacking. If the priest had simply said "God forgives you, go in peace", form may very well be lacking and that might be invalid. Examples abound.

Yours is covered.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Nihil Obstat

[tinytherese]

In the book, Understanding Scrupulosity by Thomas M. Santa, a similar question was asked about what to do in your situation. Say an act of contrition and do whatever penance you were given the last time you went to Confession.