Confession: A good or bad thing

McGinty

I'm interested to hear on your opinions of confession. I would classify confession into two categories, religious confession and public confessions, such as TV, etc.

Personally I'm a little split on this issue, I do not believe in confession to a priest, even though I am a practising Catholic, but sometimes confession can be healing. However I sometimes think is confession a means to acquire public approval and does it leave you wide open to attack and possibly psychological damage, I'm not referring to religious confession only.

If one looks at the rise of reality TV shows and the types of shows where people confess they have been unfaithful, an alcholic etc., it may be cleansing and inspire others to modify their behaviour, but personally I'm beginning to think there is a downside. Is the confessor seeking to have their acts sanctified by the public, or are they looking to be castigated by society so it confirms their own sense of low worth? What are your opinions on this?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

if you don't believe in confessing to a priest then in what way are you a practising catholic?

simu

Confession on TV is just another trick used to keep viewers tuned in - any benefit to the confessor or the audience is purely accidental and I'd imagine there's no benefit most of the time. You can't solve complex emotional problems by going on TV.

I think private confessions, whether to a priest in a religious context or to a trusted friend, relative or counsellor/doctor/psychologist in a secular one could be beneficial in easing a troubled mind but it really depends on the circumstances.

I know many devout Catholics who don't go to confession - what's the official stance on this, though?

Sleepy

They're going to hell until they confess.

Nevyn

simu wrote:

I know many devout Catholics who don't go to confession - what's the official stance on this, though?

Catholic confession is emtn to but yoru soul in a state of grace before you recieve Holy Communion.

For some this is a complete confession on a friday or saturday before mass on Sunday or for some they view the act of contrition contained in the catholic mass as being enough unless they feel the need for absolution from a priest if thier sins are grievious enough.
There are some sins only a bishop is ment to be able to absolve a person from.

A confession is not a true confession and absolution is not given unless the person really and truely means never to commit that act of sin again.

Admiting you have screwed up is part of forgiving yourself and dealing with what you have done and the type of person it makes you.
That is part of the human condition but not to be mixed up with chirstain sacrement of confession.

layke

Can be good and bad. I have seen far too many an examples of confession making things worse in my 1/4 of a centuary.

On the religion front, well I am from a dirty filthy black Proddy family so no confessions here. Yet I would call myself an athiest.

vesp

layke wrote:

On the religion front, well I am from a dirty filthy black Proddy family so no confessions here. Yet I would call myself an athiest.

With all due respect, you should not run down your family or your familes religion like that. Its not funny. Would a Jew in Germany describe themself as being from dirty filthy black Jewish family ? Or any other minority describe themself as such anywhere ?

McGinty

An act of contrition can suffice place of going to confession. I call myself practising because I go to mass every week and attempt to be as Christian as I can, HOWEVER, I am not a fundamentalist or one for shoving what I believe in onto others, I beleive there are many roads to reaching God, if you believe that is. Anyhow that is my off topic piece.

The more I think about confessing be it in any practise (TV, friends, etc) is 1) to allieviate the guilt and 2) a means of acquiring approval. I just think sometimes these can backfire, and I speak from experience here, not that I've been on tv, but I've often told things about myself in the hope for gaining approval and when it hasn't been forthcoming I've been dissapointed.

CathyMoran

I try to go to confession every 2 months if possible but it can be up to a year, if I have done something that I feel bad about I go more often. For me it is a good way of drawing a line in the sand over things that I have done that I feel bad about.

JC 2K3

Mordeth wrote:

if you don't believe in confessing to a priest then in what way are you a practising catholic?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafeteria_Catholic

Bottle_of_Smoke

I always thought it was the best thing about Catholiscism. CLosest thing to therapy I've ever seen in religion. I understand it's not for everyone but I would hope it's not mandatory.

walrusgumble

like many i believe in god, i dont go to mass as much as i should (like many) but i try to live a decent christain life, i do have an auld pray u]to the man upstairs (more often than not when i am having trouble, strangely it works or its just coincident that everything works out all right in the end i dont know)

however, (i am a young lad so i remember 10 years ago priest coming to the school during relgious holidays giving confesssions) one thing that bothered me then was because i was confessing to a priest i was making up my confession as i go along
eg i was mean to my family
eh i hit my sister
i stole money off my mam to buy my first cigarrette
eh i had unpure thoughts of a girl i know(obviously i didnt say that)

basically simple ones because of fear of judgemental priests (note i doubt i was ever that bad a person)i have a strange feeling that same thing would come out of my mouth today if i went. (i dont think we were all designed to be 100% pure saints)

incidenty can you go to a priest ask for confession and confess your sins(in your mind to the man upstairs) and then tell him your ready for blessing? less then you can be brutally honest eg i cheated on girlfriend, or do you have to verbally tell priest as he acts as an medium to god?

whether religious confessions are relevnt or not i know that if i was dying i would wish t see a priest to cleanse me in case there really is a heavan and hell (i believe there is but i do question it)

charlie haughey's last confession if he had one would make a great book (thats if priests had not taking the vow of silence) lol

turbot

When you feel guilty to begin with (possibly based upon Catholic indoctrination) expressing yourself openly can be therapeutic.

Getting something off your chest, so to speak, is one technique for reducing the emotional intensity of something difficult, and letting go of it.

In conjunction with the mindset that confession "resets" your person and the degree to which you are worthwhile (if you believe this) again, it may be therapeutic.

*HOWEVER*

As an ex-catholic, I now have a completely different understanding.

Confession, in conjunction with the processes of propaganda that convince everyone anything said is between yourself, the priest, and God served for many years as one of the smartest spy networks ever conceived.

Confession was an ingenius device for gathering information about all the key goings on of the population.

For many years, the Church was in collusion with the state, and during this time, confession served as a way of gathering information on behalf of the king or queen of the day, and helping the church to become dramatically more powerful, choose whom to instigate witch hunts against, and so forth. Information is power after all.

Secondly, I do not believe the Chuch is spiritually authorised to admonish peoples bad actions, nor do I think the notion that you can sin, confess and be ok, is healthy or appropriate or good for the World as it discourages responsibility. I think catholics who believe this have been tricked, and in the afterlife, may get a surprise. Given the sheer number of abuse cases, many people mistakenly assumed that a priest who was less moral than they were, could offer absolution.

Thirdly, many of the things people feel they have done wrong, are natural actions, though the rules determining what is wrong make it humanly impossible to live without sin. This, I think, is a trap.

Fourth, believing that God will solve everything for you, and thus subjugating your power to the church, is a way of avoiding taking responsibility and harnessing your full ability to grow, learn and develop as a human. Again, in the same way the church blocked many aspects of education and controlled what could be taught, this mindset, of which confession plays a part, is a trap that disempowers people.

Nowadays we have echelon (that simply records all your conversations and communications over any digital / electric medium) to gather information for the governments.

walrusgumble

interesting theory. i don't for a second believe that if i went to confessions got a blessing, it would be bang my soul is cleaned and god on judgment day checks his list, sees i aint wearing trainers or a hoody and not drunk lets me into club heaven (joking, if anyone finds this offensive and crude)

as far as the quick pray for help, i agree if i have problems i do take resposibility, i know god cant be there 24/7 (the film bruce almighty showed this, again jokin and influenced by the show fr ted) but it is just out of habit from listening to the teachers/nuns/and priests when i was young.

as for confessions, i am a tad bit suspicous. do most christain faiths have confession or just a catholic idea? what about other religions, regardless of how many gods they believe in, so long as they are good and dont commit horrible deeds they will go to their believed destination in the afterlife, so is confession relevant, or just a case of individual's opinion?

i remeber when once going to mass, during a homily, a priest was preahing about society and morals today and inadvertingly referred to a confession he heard, almost telling the congeragtion everything bar the person's name or identity, it turned out it was my gran's neighbour (she told gran gran told me) that person never went to that priest again.

vesp

walrusgumble wrote:

as for confessions, i am a tad bit suspicous. do most christain faiths have confession or just a catholic idea?

Just the Roman Catholic church introduced it of course. Its not the only rule they made up themselves in Rome.

Aedh Baclamh

I love vesp

what?

walrusgumble wrote:

i remeber when once going to mass, during a homily, a priest was preahing about society and morals today and inadvertingly referred to a confession he heard, almost telling the congeragtion everything bar the person's name or identity, it turned out it was my gran's neighbour (she told gran gran told me) that person never went to that priest again.

That was unnaceptable.
Sin creates a barrier between you and God, from your end, God is always there. It`s just that when we sin, we reject God, and knowledge of that rejection can lead us to further distance ourselves due to self impossed guilt.
The priest is a minor but vital role in any sacrament, he is merley the physical vessel for Gods grace and love and like us, all priests are flawed weak and sinners. You dont confess to the priest but are merly voicing your sins and recieving the scarament via the priest. If a priest starts at you, tell him that you are not talking to him but to his boss!

Blessings..................................

Gurgle

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote:

I always thought it was the best thing about Catholiscism. CLosest thing to therapy I've ever seen in religion. I understand it's not for everyone but I would hope it's not mandatory.

I've mixed feelings on it. I agree with the above, it can take a load off your mind just to hear youself say aloud what you feel bad about.

But I think its highly inappropiate in a modern secular society for a priest to assume the power to 'forgive' criminal acts.

- Father, I raped my neighbour's daughter
- Ah sure, 3 Hail Marys then go home and forget about it

The priest has an obligation to secrecy. He also has a ritual to follow, which includes the words 'Your sins have been forgiven'.

The priest should equally have an obligation to follow the laws of society, 'penance' should be 'Come with me to the gardai and tell them about it'.

If you don't accept the penance, it wasn't a true confession and the obligation to secrecy doesn't come into it - the priest should take the information he has to the gardai.

In a nutshell, the penance should fit the act. If your sin was betraying your wife, then pray. If your sin was shoplifting, then pay the priest for what you stole and he will return it to the shop in secrecy. If your sin was murder, then pray every day at the Mountjoy chapel for the next 15 years.

Confession should be a starting point on the route to forgiveness, not absolution in 10 minutes flat.

Victor

turbot wrote:

Secondly, I do not believe the Chuch is spiritually authorised to admonish peoples bad actions, nor do I think the notion that you can sin, confess and be ok, is healthy or appropriate or good for the World as it discourages responsibility.

Part of Catholic forgiveness is that you aren't allowed do it again - "Go in Peace and Sin no More".

Thirdly, many of the things people feel they have done wrong, are natural actions, though the rules determining what is wrong make it humanly impossible to live without sin. This, I think, is a trap.

You fail to give examples. Of course, murder, rape and theft are natural. They have happended forever. That doesn't make them acceptable.