Can a priest offer absolution for something that isn't considered a sin?

[Anonymous]

E.g., can an Episcopalian priest absolve you of having an abortion if you regret it and believe you sinned, even though the church doesn't teach that it is?

(Please don't make this about abortion, it's just the first example that came to mind.)

[Anonymous]

Episcopal priests don’t hear confessions and offer absolution. An Episcopal priest can still offer pastoral counseling which might be helpful for someone struggling with guilty feelings.

I had a kid who really struggled with guilt about things that weren’t sins who was told by a Catholic priest that something wasn’t a sin (I know because the kid told me). But even though that particular thing wasn’t a sin, the priest still gave him absolution, presumably because he confessed other things.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t you ask priests? How do we know if we aren’t priests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Episcopal priests don’t hear confessions and offer absolution. An Episcopal priest can still offer pastoral counseling which might be helpful for someone struggling with guilty feelings.

They absolutely do, both corporately as part of the Eucharist, and also privately.

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/reconciliation-of-a-penitent/

[Anonymous]

I do not understand why you can’t go directly to the source? Talk to god and ask for foreignness if you think you need it. I was raised Catholic fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Absolution is the forgiveness of sin by Christ’s power executed through his minister. Absent sin, no absolution is necessary and it might be sacrilege to attempt/simulate it.

In traditional moral theology, sin is determined objectively (“external forum,”) and subjectively (“internal forum,” taking account of all individual circumstances). So breaking another person’s carwindow might objectively be a sin, but if one broke it to save the life of a child abandoned in a car on a hot day, there subjectively would be no sin.

There are people who are misinformed and think things are sins that are not. The remedy in such cases would be instruction, not absolution. However, if the person believed pursuant to a well-formed conscience that something was a sin for them, they might well be bound by that and need to be absolved.

In the case of doubt, the minister should absolve the person.

Views differ on whether Episcopal priests have the power to absolve sins. The Episcopals (to the extent they have agreed-upon defined doctrines) obviously believe they do. Catholics believe Episcopals do not.

[Anonymous]

As for “going to the source,” this is a common dodge of people who confuse the person in the confessional in their human capacity and in their ministerial capacity as another Christ (alter-Christus). The minister dispenses nothing of his own, only what Christ provides. There are many reasons why sacramental confession is superior to interior “confession,” not the least of which is that sacramental confession is the ordinary means instituted by God for the forgiveness of sins.

Many people have had bad experiences with confused, unkind, ill-informed and just plain nasty, judgmental priests who forget their proper place. Shame has no place in the confessional. But people who let a bad experience deprive them of the grace and certainty of sacramental absolution in the future are letting the bad experience have too much power. That said, only serious/mortal sins need to be formally confessed, so it is possible, but unwise, for a person to avoid the sacrament in many instances should they choose to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:E.g., can an Episcopalian priest absolve you of having an abortion if you regret it and believe you sinned, even though the church doesn't teach that it is?

(Please don't make this about abortion, it's just the first example that came to mind.)

I'm just going to pick because this is a bad example. Official statements from the church definitely oppose abortion in certain circumstances:

"we emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience'

They also don't absolve sins, they mostly hear confessions as an assurance of forgiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolution is the forgiveness of sin by Christ’s power executed through his minister. Absent sin, no absolution is necessary and it might be sacrilege to attempt/simulate it.

In traditional moral theology, sin is determined objectively (“external forum,”) and subjectively (“internal forum,” taking account of all individual circumstances). So breaking another person’s carwindow might objectively be a sin, but if one broke it to save the life of a child abandoned in a car on a hot day, there subjectively would be no sin.

There are people who are misinformed and think things are sins that are not. The remedy in such cases would be instruction, not absolution. However, if the person believed pursuant to a well-formed conscience that something was a sin for them, they might well be bound by that and need to be absolved.

In the case of doubt, the minister should absolve the person.

Views differ on whether Episcopal priests have the power to absolve sins. The Episcopals (to the extent they have agreed-upon defined doctrines) obviously believe they do. Catholics believe Episcopals do not.

This is really helpful, thanks!

[Anonymous]

A friend actually ran into this! She confessed to kissing a guy who was engaged. The priest said it wasn’t socially acceptable and was a crappy thing to do, but since the neither person was married, it wasn’t a sin and she didn’t need absolution.
He suggested she pray for the (maybe) happy couple anyway.