Preparing for first confession after many years, and having an issue.

[Anonymous]

You don't have to confess everything all at once!

don't exhaust the Priest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right on the facts as presented by the Roman church. Confession is valid when one has a contrite heart and "full purpose of amendment of life". Obviously you have a soft heart, but you do not intend to conform you life to RC teaching on this issue.

But be comforted. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Roman church may well be wrong on this issue. They say they are infallible on doctrine, but the rest of Christendom disagrees. You are trusting Christ to stand in your place at judgment not only for those sins that you have carefully documented during confession, but also for errors in judgment and weakness of the flesh and will.

Obviously you're not Catholic, if you're calling it "The Roman Church." Catholics don't call it that. Only people dissing it call it "the Roman Church."

I'm obviously not Roman Catholic. But, like many Protestants, I don't think that the Roman Catholic church has a monopoly on the word "Catholic" or even on capitalizing it. I hold the standard Protestant view that all who are in Christ are in the holy Catholic church (to borrow the words of the Apostles Creed). I'm not dissing the Roman Catholic church, but I also don't grant to it the view that it is *the* Catholic church. It is *part* of the Catholic church.

🙄

Who appointed you to declare what is a standard Protestant view?

Jeff Steele. It's in my contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't have to confess everything all at once!

don't exhaust the Priest

You do need to confess all mortal sin and yes, I’m aware of the three conditions needed for something to be a mortal sin.

For someone coming back to the Church, consulting a priest rather than taking advice like “don’t exhaust the priest” is a much better route. A priest can guide a person to examine their conscience using the Church’s teachings and help them to make a good Confession.

[Anonymous]

No, not all at once

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right on the facts as presented by the Roman church. Confession is valid when one has a contrite heart and "full purpose of amendment of life". Obviously you have a soft heart, but you do not intend to conform you life to RC teaching on this issue.

But be comforted. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Roman church may well be wrong on this issue. They say they are infallible on doctrine, but the rest of Christendom disagrees. You are trusting Christ to stand in your place at judgment not only for those sins that you have carefully documented during confession, but also for errors in judgment and weakness of the flesh and will.

Obviously you're not Catholic, if you're calling it "The Roman Church." Catholics don't call it that. Only people dissing it call it "the Roman Church."

I'm obviously not Roman Catholic. But, like many Protestants, I don't think that the Roman Catholic church has a monopoly on the word "Catholic" or even on capitalizing it. I hold the standard Protestant view that all who are in Christ are in the holy Catholic church (to borrow the words of the Apostles Creed). I'm not dissing the Roman Catholic church, but I also don't grant to it the view that it is *the* Catholic church. It is *part* of the Catholic church.

Catholics don't go through these contortions, they just say that they're Catholic and that they go to a Catholic Church. I've visited many protestant denominational churches and no one seemed to have any resentment. Of course, maybe they felt resentful and didn't show it, because they were being kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right on the facts as presented by the Roman church. Confession is valid when one has a contrite heart and "full purpose of amendment of life". Obviously you have a soft heart, but you do not intend to conform you life to RC teaching on this issue.

But be comforted. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Roman church may well be wrong on this issue. They say they are infallible on doctrine, but the rest of Christendom disagrees. You are trusting Christ to stand in your place at judgment not only for those sins that you have carefully documented during confession, but also for errors in judgment and weakness of the flesh and will.

Obviously you're not Catholic, if you're calling it "The Roman Church." Catholics don't call it that. Only people dissing it call it "the Roman Church."

I'm obviously not Roman Catholic. But, like many Protestants, I don't think that the Roman Catholic church has a monopoly on the word "Catholic" or even on capitalizing it. I hold the standard Protestant view that all who are in Christ are in the holy Catholic church (to borrow the words of the Apostles Creed). I'm not dissing the Roman Catholic church, but I also don't grant to it the view that it is *the* Catholic church. It is *part* of the Catholic church.

🙄

Who appointed you to declare what is a standard Protestant view?

DP, but the PP is correct. You act as if there is no unifying vision among Protestants, but there is. If you read their creeds, confessions, councils, synods, catechisms, etc., you will find that there is massive unity on first things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not all at once

You are in error.

The teaching is that you are required to confess all mortal sin that you call to mind during your examination of conscience. If you forget to confess a mortal sin, you’re forgiven but you should bring it up the next time you go to Confession. If you willingly withhold a mortal sin from Confession, it invalidates that Confession—no sins are forgiven and you also commit the sin of making a sacrilegious confession.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the responses.

I went to confession today. I am glad I went but was essentially told to resolve the birth control issue before having relations with my spouse again. So I'm in a challenging situation now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses.

I went to confession today. I am glad I went but was essentially told to resolve the birth control issue before having relations with my spouse again. So I'm in a challenging situation now.

Doesn't sound challenging at all. You'd be nuts to go off birth control.

[Anonymous]

I'm reminded of my time in CCD. Around 7th grade, we had a year that was focused on sex ed. A member of the church who worked as an RN led the class that year. Each week, the first 10 minutes were spent on the Catholic Church's official stance on the topic at hand. The remaining hour and 20 minutes were spent on reality.

We spent a lot of time talking about birth control methods, including all of the reasons you should never trust the Catholic-approved forms of "family planning."

Abortion even came up, although she walked a pretty delicate line that week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reminded of my time in CCD. Around 7th grade, we had a year that was focused on sex ed. A member of the church who worked as an RN led the class that year. Each week, the first 10 minutes were spent on the Catholic Church's official stance on the topic at hand. The remaining hour and 20 minutes were spent on reality.

We spent a lot of time talking about birth control methods, including all of the reasons you should never trust the Catholic-approved forms of "family planning."

Abortion even came up, although she walked a pretty delicate line that week.

That’s kind of wild.

Although I taught CCD for a few years, and it’s surprising how little instruction you get on what to teach every week.
I’m a psychiatrist and work with chronically suicidal patients who go in and out of the hospital a lot. I did a lot of DBT and was really impressed with how meditation helped my patients. So, I taught the CCD kids to pray the rosary and took them to the adoration chapel. We talked a lot about how to control your mind and how to use prayer to quiet your mind.

Anyway, OP, I am sorry that you had such a difficult confession with your priest. It’s tough to talk about sex with someone who has chosen a life of celibacy. In theory, you and your husband would focus on the children you do have and not on your romantic life with each other. In practice, that doesn’t typically make for a very happy home. Most Catholics I know, even ones who go to mass multiple times a week, have a Mary statue in their garden, and have a van full of kids, end up with some kind of permanent birth control.

What does your husband say about all of this? Did he bring it up in confession as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses.

I went to confession today. I am glad I went but was essentially told to resolve the birth control issue before having relations with my spouse again. So I'm in a challenging situation now.

Congrats on making it to Confession and welcome home. In terms of resolving issues regarding birth control, I would encourage you to talk with your priest outside Confession (maybe make an appointment to see him) and ask for some guidance/resources on learning about the Church’s teachings on birth control/contraception. I would also encourage you to pray throughout this for understanding. On this forum, you will get a lot of posters who advocate for not following the Church’s teachings. I would suggest disregarding their remarks and work instead on beginning to live your Catholic Faith again within the Church. You are in my prayers. God bless you.

[Anonymous]

There is no hell. It is a story created by power hungry people to keep everyone else in line. So no need to stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right on the facts as presented by the Roman church. Confession is valid when one has a contrite heart and "full purpose of amendment of life". Obviously you have a soft heart, but you do not intend to conform you life to RC teaching on this issue.

But be comforted. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Roman church may well be wrong on this issue. They say they are infallible on doctrine, but the rest of Christendom disagrees. You are trusting Christ to stand in your place at judgment not only for those sins that you have carefully documented during confession, but also for errors in judgment and weakness of the flesh and will.

Obviously you're not Catholic, if you're calling it "The Roman Church." Catholics don't call it that. Only people dissing it call it "the Roman Church."

I call it The Roman Church all the time and almost nobody’s more Catholic than me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are right on the facts as presented by the Roman church. Confession is valid when one has a contrite heart and "full purpose of amendment of life". Obviously you have a soft heart, but you do not intend to conform you life to RC teaching on this issue.

But be comforted. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Roman church may well be wrong on this issue. They say they are infallible on doctrine, but the rest of Christendom disagrees. You are trusting Christ to stand in your place at judgment not only for those sins that you have carefully documented during confession, but also for errors in judgment and weakness of the flesh and will.

Obviously you're not Catholic, if you're calling it "The Roman Church." Catholics don't call it that. Only people dissing it call it "the Roman Church."

I call it The Roman Church all the time and almost nobody’s more Catholic than me!

Where were you raised? Did you call it that as a child?