Confession Confusion

[Poorly Catechized Convert]

So I got told two different things in confession and I'm scared if I pick the one that I like better I will invalidate my most recent confession. So I asked a priest at my Newman center in confession if I could watch a certain show. I told him how I avoided the sinful content and that at worst it would make my OCD spike up. This priest wasn't my confessor, nor was he assigned to the Newman Center but he knew me better than the more recent priest and we talked every so often over the last year and a half (mostly in confession). He told me it was fine. I have grown to really trust the priests at my Newman Center to give good advice. But then I got worried if some thoughts were OCD or real sin so I mentioned it in confession. This priest who I've only confessed to twice before told me I shouldn't and it was at least a near occasion of sin. Who should I listen to? In confession I wanted to listen and was planning on listening to the first priest so I'm worried I invalidated the confession. I would contact my confessor but I won't see him much anymore since I graduated. Alternatively, I could continue watching until I can ask the priest at my home parish since he knows me fairly well also. Sorry, it's just hard sorting through things when you get different opinions. 

[Gabriela]

Your question and situation in general are not very clear, but it is clear that you didn't invalidate the confession. It's normal for different confessors to have different opinions on things. What that tells you is that the situation you're in is not clear-cut and there's room for interpretation and variation. It doesn't have to be that one priest is right and the other is wrong. Sometimes it's simply up to how you look at it. In such a case, you should go with what your conscience tells you is the better way. Don't agonize over whether it's your conscience or your sinfulness making the choice: Ask God to help you make a good choice, listen quietly for a bit, and then make the choice and move on with life.

PCC, it sounds to me like maybe your OCD is accompanied by scrupulosity. If you think that might be so, you probably want to get a proper spiritual director, or at least a Catholic counselor, who can help you work through these things. A confessor really isn't up to such tasks; they don't have the time. It'd be great if your confessor would also be willing to be your spiritual director, but those are two different jobs and the latter takes a lot more time, so he may not be able. In any case, you should start asking some people you trust to be your spiritual director, if you don't already have one.

That's my two cents, anyway.

[McM RSCJ]

What do you think?  Your conscience is sacred, and the dictates of your conscience are your link to the Spirit of God acting within you.  

You are striving to unite yourself to Jesus, God who became human for our sake. If we unite ourselves to Jesus, then we are pushed, ourselves, to become more and more human,  for His sake.  That could well include being more open to popular culture in TV shows, movies, etc.

Alas, and is so typical, unfortunately, for too much of Phatmass, you do not say what TV show you are watching and wondering/worrying about.  Is it Hugh Hefner, Playboy's delight?  I doubt it.  Rather, I suspect it is a show about the complexity of human experience and relationships.  If YOU know this show helps you develop empathy (and if the plot is not so syrup-y, gag-worthy, magical-thinking or otherwise not worth the time so as to remove you from your reality to delusion), then why do you worry if it is "sinful" or nearly sinful, as in a "near occasion of siavior?  As opposed, for example, to a colossal waste of time.  

 If you enjoy the show, because it refreshes you after a long day of work, even though you know the plot is ridiculous beyond words (the way I feel about "Scandal" or "How to Get Away With Murder"), why would you think you are engaged in sinful or  near sinful behavior?

 

[Maximilianus]

This place has helped me.

http://scrupulousanonymous.org/

Pax Christi.

[Gabriela]

14 minutes ago, Maximilianus said:

This place has helped me.

http://scrupulousanonymous.org/

Pax Christi.

Wow. This is fantastic. Not that I need it (at.                all.               ), but I will favorite it for future recommendation to the scrupulous masses on PM.

Thanks, Max!

[WhiteLily]

I had a similar issue. I brought it up with my SD in confession. He just reminded me to invite Jesus to watch TV with me and talk with Him during the show...This really helped me conscience on how much I spend watching TV and what I watch. 

[Oremus Pro Invicem]

You said in the past you avoided the sinful content? Meaning in the past you've known this show to have sinful content but you've skipped the parts with sinful content and continued watching?  What is the show? What parts are sinful?  Most TV shows and movies nowadays are pushing a very anti-Catholic agenda, so I doubt you need to watch such garbage in order to be more human and united to Christ.