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Confession Experiences


Brother Adam

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I freaked out ... it was important for me to know WHY I was doing it. Maybe you can start talking about your own confession experiences. Not specific details of what you confessed, but why you did it and how you did it and how it made you feel.

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Yeah, I have and I will... but she just takes a long time to warm up to people, especially men. If it could be with our priest, I think she'd be okay. It's the idea of some stranger...

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Thy Geekdom Come

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Sep 22 2004, 03:54 PM'] probably, but i don't want to set a messy precident, KWIM? [/quote]
You won't set a precedent. You have a right to choose your confessor and so does your daughter. ;)

:)

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Ah, yes, the right to choose. I locked horns about that with my DRE a number of times. She wanted my 8th graders to go to a certain priest and I wanted them to be able to choose, arguing that a) it was their right, and b) that it might lead them into sin if they weren't comfortable with a particular priest and thus concealed a sin out of embarassment or whatever. She argued that a) Priest X was good with teens, and b) that she needed to keep things moving or there'd be a priest with a line a mile long and others with no one.

The last night I taught there and we had confessions I let my kids choose and got an evil eye and innocently said, "oh I was trying to distribute the kids..." :ph34r:

I loved my DRE, don't get me wrong, but on this we disagreed.

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Thy Geekdom Come

[quote name='Birgitta Noel' date='Sep 22 2004, 06:59 PM'] Ah, yes, the right to choose. I locked horns about that with my DRE a number of times. She wanted my 8th graders to go to a certain priest and I wanted them to be able to choose, arguing that a) it was their right, and b) that it might lead them into sin if they weren't comfortable with a particular priest and thus concealed a sin out of embarassment or whatever. She argued that a) Priest X was good with teens, and b) that she needed to keep things moving or there'd be a priest with a line a mile long and others with no one.

The last night I taught there and we had confessions I let my kids choose and got an evil eye and innocently said, "oh I was trying to distribute the kids..." :ph34r:

I loved my DRE, don't get me wrong, but on this we disagreed. [/quote]
A Catholic has the right by baptism to choose this matter.

Good for you, stick to your guns. ;)

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Sorry, Adam... I didn't mean to hijack your thread... should have started a new one... But...

You're right, Raphael. And really, what's to keep us from going to confession at the regular time the week before and doing it? It just seems weird to me. They are going to be bringing in priests from the neighboring parishes... many of whom are excellent with children, I'm sure. But all of whom are complete strangers to these kids. Something about instructing my little girl to go a strange man and tell him her deepest, darkest secrets just seems weird. And while this may seem perfectly normal for adults (I don't have a problem with going to an unknown priest), I can't for the life of me figure out how this is going to fly with 8 year olds. And for hsdaughter, the whole idea of sacramental confession is still somewhat foreign to her.

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Raphael, could you further elucidate on that right by baptism thing? Do you have a reference? I don't teach CCD anymore, but I know I wasn't the only one with this concern...

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Thy Geekdom Come

[quote name='Birgitta Noel' date='Sep 22 2004, 11:21 PM'] Raphael, could you further elucidate on that right by baptism thing?  Do you have a reference?  I don't teach CCD anymore, but I know I wasn't the only one with this concern... [/quote]
Certainly.

Baptism is what enters a person into the Church and makes that person a member of the Body of Christ. Therefore, it also makes them a "citizen" of the Church, and the Church, its laws and customs, are extended to them (CCC 1269).

In particular, the Catechism notes:

[quote]Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the Church:  to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.[/quote]

Baptism confers a certain series of rights, two of which apply together to this situation:

1. To receive the sacraments-the baptized Catholic has the right to receive sacraments at the proper time.

2. To be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church-this, applied to Confession, means that wherever possible without breaking the Commandments of God or working against His Divine Will, the Church should accommodate the faithful in their needs to seek and strive for salvation.

The second in particular means that if there are priests available, and going to those priests over others does not violate God (which it wouldn't), then the Church should work as best it can to allow the faithful to access any priest requested.

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Thy Geekdom Come

[quote name='Birgitta Noel' date='Sep 23 2004, 08:35 AM'] Makes sense! Thanks, I'll pass it along to a friend :-) [/quote]
You're welcome. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote]Now that you're Catholic, along with all the wonderful graces comes the "Catholic guilt". haha[/quote]

This is totally true :) I know i have the Catholic guilt....my first confession was fabulous, I felt so clean. It was awsome, now 6 months later i'm finding it harder and aharder because i have these reoccurring sins that are haunting me :) Before I was Catholic, I never had to be accountable to any person. If i screwed up I was the only one who knew about it (usually) so I asked God to forgive me and forced myself to put it in the back of my mind. I believe I have become a master at this "putting it away" action...I'm very good at forgetting about stuff....for a time, then it comes back. But not only do i have to confess it now i have to explain it, mill over it, talk about why i did it, etc. etc. It's tough most of the time i don't wannna go, but i know afterward i'll feel great. Plus I've found this priest who is GREAT for confession. He let's you knwo you did wrong but he is not condeming or judgemental he makes me feel like with God i can get out from under my sin :) it's a very good feeling

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  • 2 weeks later...

Its not just you, Bro.

Everytime I go into confession I seem to confess the same sins.

HOWEVER, when I was on my journey to becoming Catholic and discovered the true meaning/importance of confession, I was able to completely eliminate one habitual sin from my repetoire. The horror and humiliation of having to confess it to another person helped me to fight it off (unfortunately that was more scary to me than confessing it to God - I'm glad I don't feel that complacent anymore). I also make a habit out of telling my sins to my husband as well. I find that if he also knows my failings he can help me in my daily spiritual journey.

One thing I've noticed in becoming Catholic is I've taken my sins a lot more seriously. I am also more able to recognize them as well as my other faults and correct myself.

I don't know how to describe it...but maybe when I wasn't Catholic I didn't feel as if I was accountable for my sins...that maybe if I forgot about them and felt sorry they would go away. Now I feel accountable for everything. I guess that is the Catholic guilt but I would rather have it this way than the other (and possibly getting burned in the end).

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I am struggling with this...I often go to confession once or week or even twice a week. They say that if it becomes habitual it leesens the severity of the sin and it may or may not be mortal...but once a week or even twice is not a habbit in my eyes...and each time I knew what I was doing and still allowed it to happen knowing I was betraying God!!! I hate sin. Going into confession stinks...walking out is refreshing and amazing. Ho-pefully this theme will not keep occuring

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