General confession

[SicutColumba]

Is a priest who hears a general confession (ie at which you confess all the sins of your past life ≠ general absolution) bound by the seal of confession? 

[Lea]

2 hours ago, SicutColumba said:

Is a priest who hears a general confession (ie at which you confess all the sins of your past life ≠ general absolution) bound by the seal of confession? 

I'm sure he is. Even incase it wasn't a "formal" sacrament of confession - which I doubt - the priest would still be bound through pastoral secrecy (sorry if this is not the correct english term). 

Edited May 10, 2021 by Lea
Typo.

[chrysostom]

Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[NonNovi]

General or not, confession is confession.

@SicutColumba , what made you doubt?

[SicutColumba]

6 hours ago, NonNovi said:

General or not, confession is confession.

@SicutColumba , what made you doubt?

Idk I guess it was a stupid question but for a sec I wasn’t really sure if you’d get absolution for it (since you’ve presumably already been absolved of those sins) or if it was actually a sacrament. Now I see that it is 

[NonNovi]

It is possible to confess sins that are already forgiven, and you will get absolution again for that. Making a general confession is more about reminding you what sins you commited in a certain period of time and renewing an attitude of remorse. Sometimes it's just good and needed to take a look back and see what happened and wich tendencies you can discover. I make a general confession every Easter, going back to the last general confession. Around New Year is also useful, to round up the year and get ready for the new one with resolutions based on what you discovered about the past time.

It's just important to realise that the earlier confessed sins are really already forgiven and that you don't make a general confession "just in case".

[SicutColumba]

On 5/11/2021 at 6:20 PM, NonNovi said:

It is possible to confess sins that are already forgiven, and you will get absolution again for that. Making a general confession is more about reminding you what sins you commited in a certain period of time and renewing an attitude of remorse. Sometimes it's just good and needed to take a look back and see what happened and wich tendencies you can discover. I make a general confession every Easter, going back to the last general confession. Around New Year is also useful, to round up the year and get ready for the new one with resolutions based on what you discovered about the past time.

It's just important to realise that the earlier confessed sins are really already forgiven and that you don't make a general confession "just in case".

So would you have committed a sacrilege if you had decided to hide sins that you'd already confessed in a general confession? On one hand, I don't think you would, because they've already forgiven, but on the other you might because it actually is a sacrament. I have a hard time imagining, however, that someone who undertakes a general confession would be the type to hide sins. 

It's an interesting topic, because before I thought general confession was just a spiritual exercise. I kind of want to make one now; I bet you would feel so amazing afterwards. 

Edited May 12, 2021 by SicutColumba
tenses

[NonNovi]

I think it's important to realise that you are only obligated to confess mortal sins. If you hide one of those in the first confession afterwards, yes, then you have a problem.

With a general confession you don't have to worry to forget something, because as you said, you were already forgiven (unless you ad some unconfessed sins to your list, wich is a good thing to do, to be as complete as possible). You can not "hide" what isn't there anymore You can consider it as a spiritual exercise, to remind yourself of your past sins, and to do more penance. It can be hard sometimes, when you feel the same shame as when you first confessed a certain sin. But on the other hand, it's also the real sacrament. You get absolution and a penance, it's not just a pro forma pious thing to do.

Anyway, I would just advice to not worry too much. Choose a period of time (your whole life, since last general confession, the past 6 months), examine your conscience and figure out the main lines of your sins. It's not necessary to try to remember exactly how many times you commited wich sin, wich will be very hard to do. That can easily lead to scrupulosity. If you can recall the number, fine, if not, also fine. It's more about the mindset ("I'm a sinner and I beg God to forgive me for all I did wrong") than about numbers and details in a general confession (unless you confess a mortal sin for the first time, that's something else).

You can always ask a priest to help you to prepare for a general confession. In my experience, the "feeling" afterwards isn't that different of a regular confession, but it always helps me to focus on what I'll have to work on. Examining a longer period of time makes you realise in wich areas you might have more problems than in other ones at that point in time.