Catholics, what are your beliefs regarding confession?

Question

As a Catholic, do you have to confess everything to go to heaven?

Answer 1

Yes, if you have done something wrong

Answer 2

No, not exactly.

We have to confess all mortal sins. A mortal sin is defined as a serious matter that a person knows is a sin and commits willfully.

As you can plainly see, not all sins are mortal sins. There are sins a person commits that are not a serious matter, perhaps, or are committed under pressure from somebody else or whatever. Sometimes somebody does something and doesn't realize it's wrong -- for example, missing Church on Sunday or in my case, my parents taught me that lying was okay, and I literally did not know it was wrong until I was an adult. Anyway, these are called "venial sins."

We don't *have* to confess venial sins, but it's good to do so. For one thing, it's always good to be held accountable and to strive to become a better person. For another, if you get too comfortable with venial sins, you're setting yourself up to commit mortal sins sometime soon. And finally, the more work we do to correct our venial sins on earth, the less difficult it will be for us to be shed of our attachment to these venial sins when we die and need to be thoroughly cleansed before we enter heaven.

As you may know, the Bible says, "all must stand before the judgement seat of Christ," and "nothing unclean can enter heaven." Since we are all sinners, that means that there is a process that we must go thorough to be thoroughly cleansed of all attachment to sin so that we can go to heaven.

The concept of "attachment to sin" may sound strange to a non-Catholic, but it's really very true. People lie or view pornography or gossip or refuse to share their excesses with the poor or whatever out of habit. They don't even think about it. Some sin becomes so entrenched in our nature that it must be very difficult for some of us to let go of those sins. Going to confession regularly (monthly, say), gets us into the habit of letting go of those sins and adopting the lifestyle that Christ wants us to have well before our deaths.

All Catholics are required to go to confession at least once a year, preferrably during Lent, btw. Some people don't know that, but it's true.

Answer 3

In baptism, your soul is washed clean. It is spotless. Any stain of sin is subsequently your fault. How will you be presented before the Lord?

Tales from Exorcisms tell of the devil challenging the exorcists with the sins they have committed. However, he admitted that he could not see the sins which had been confessed and absolved. These were gone. We may keep them in our mind, but they are erased from our souls.

When you are confessing your sins, you do so to the lord. The priest is a representative of both the Lord and the public. It's very easy to say to yourself "Lord, I apologize!" But how much do you really mean it? To publicly admit your sins and ask for forgiveness from God, even if the public is only a priest, is a humiliating thing. This is good, because you should be humiliated by what you have done. When you resceive absolution, the priest is speaking on behalf of Jesus. When you do penance, you are absolving yourself, because true forgiveness from God is meaningless if you do not forgive yourself.

Someone rap CJ upside the head, his needle is stuck again. CJ, why don't you just make a website that says "Catholics believe in a false gospel of works" and just refer us to it? Your ignorance is bounded only by your mindless repetition.

Answer 4

The Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin."

When a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven.

Catholics also believe that when someone sins they not only hurt their relationship with God, they also injure the entire church, the body of Christ.

Jesus said, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (Luke 20:22-23)

Oral confessing of sins is recommended over and over in both the Old and New Testaments:
+ James 5:16
+ Acts 19:18
+ Matthew 3:5-6
+ Mark 1:5
+ 1 Timothy 6:12
+ 1 John 1:9
+ Numbers 5:6-7
+ Nehemiah 9:2
+ Sirach 4:26

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with a priest ordained in the name of Jesus Christ not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me.

Remember all sacraments are encounters with God. This sacrament is a healing encounter between God and the penitent.

It is practically impossible to confess every sin that we commit. Usually you tell the priest the three or four sins or groups of sins that you feel are hurting your relationship with God the most. Then you say, "For these and for all my sins I am heartily sorry."

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1422 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

Every sin? Yes. We do so with total confidence and trust because we know that our confession is being heard by God through the priest, and that what we reveal in confession can never be told to anyone else. Priests are bound by a seal of silence; they can never tell anyone what was told to them in confession. If they do, it's a mortal sin.

Most confessional are anonymous; there is usually a curtain that conceals your identity thus insuring your privacy.

Confession is one of my most cherished sacraments. I wasn't Catholic all my life and I remember when I finally learned what confession was in RCIA, how the Holy Spirit works through the priest to forgive my sins. I told the priest, "Forgive me, father, it's been 15 years since my last confession."

He listened to my sins - two pages, typed print, single-spaced and small print. It took me while, but at the end I remember the words that made warm love trickle through me and tears come to my eyes, "By the authority of the Church, I absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

When I walked out I was light-headed and teary-eyed. It was like I'd lost track of where I was.

I went home, and the one thought that kept coming to me over and over was, "I'm forgiven, I'm forgiven...."

Later, I began to realize more what that meant. I'd done things that most people to this day ridicule me for; they won't let the past die and bring my sins to my face. But with God, i thought, it's over. As far as He was concerned, my sins were gone and I was His clean, spirited, beautiful child, and that He loved me. I nearly cannot express how liberating, how healing that was for me.

I go to confession often, usually once a month, sometimes more. At times there's nothing that can compare to the grace and mercy I feel when I leave the confessional. I still struggle with my sins, but God still loves and forgives me everytime. Is there any greater gift?

God bless.

Answer 6

You must confess all Mortal sins.

Here's some Biblical basis for it Confession:

John 20:21 - before He grants them the authority to forgive sins, Jesus says to the apostles, "as the Father sent me, so I send you." As Christ was sent by the Father to forgive sins, so Christ sends the apostles and their successors forgive sins.

John 20:22 - the Lord "breathes" on the apostles, and then gives them the power to forgive and retain sins. The only other moment in Scripture where God breathes on man is in Gen. 2:7, when the Lord "breathes" divine life into man. When this happens, a significant transformation takes place.

John 20:23 - Jesus says, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained." In order for the apostles to exercise this gift of forgiving sins, the penitents must orally confess their sins to them because the apostles are not mind readers. The text makes this very clear.

Matt. 9:8 - this verse shows that God has given the authority to forgive sins to "men." Hence, those Protestants who acknowledge that the apostles had the authority to forgive sins (which this verse demonstrates) must prove that this gift ended with the apostles. Otherwise, the apostles' successors still possess this gift. Where in Scripture is the gift of authority to forgive sins taken away from the apostles or their successors?

Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:10 - Christ forgave sins as a man (not God) to convince us that the "Son of man" has authority to forgive sins on earth.

Luke 5:24 - Luke also points out that Jesus' authority to forgive sins is as a man, not God. The Gospel writers record this to convince us that God has given this authority to men. This authority has been transferred from Christ to the apostles and their successors.

Answer 7

You have to confess mortal sins. These are sins of grave matter...such as adultery, murder, theft, receiving Eucharist unworthily etc. The really big stuff.

You do not have to confess venial sins but it is good to do so.

You have to make a good confession, you have to be truly contrite and sorry for offending God. It's actually a wonderful sacrament which so many do not take advantage of and thereby miss out on the grace that is conferred through it.

It is biblical by the way. The Jewish traditions also required confession.

http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/confess.html

Answer 8

confession is one of the seven sacraments....one i need to use more more often....one must confess ALL sins...its not as easy as it sounds....try it....it works!...however be aware you r not confessing to another human being (priest..he is a vehicle used by God for our benefit) your confession is to God and He already knows you intimately so if you deliberately hold something back u will not FEEL the total forgiveness this sacrament will bring. Sacraments are God-given not man-made up

Answer 9

http://www.catholic.com/library/Forgiveness_of_Sins.asp

God had sent Jesus to forgive sins, but after his resurrection Jesus told the apostles, "‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’" (John 20:21–23). (This is one of only two times we are told that God breathed on man, the other being in Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul. It emphasizes how important the establishment of the sacrament of penance was.)

Christ told the apostles to follow his example: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (John 20:21). Just as the apostles were to carry Christ’s message to the whole world, so they were to carry his forgiveness: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).

This power was understood as coming from God: "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). Indeed, confirms Paul, "So we are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20).

Some say that any power given to the apostles died with them. Not so. Some powers must have, such as the ability to write Scripture. But the powers necessary to maintain the Church as a living, spiritual society had to be passed down from generation to generation. If they ceased, the Church would cease, except as a quaint abstraction. Christ ordered the apostles to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." It would take much time. And he promised them assistance: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt. 28:19–20).

If the disciples believed that Christ instituted the power to sacramentally forgive sins in his stead, we would expect the apostles’ successors—the bishops—and Christians of later years to act as though such power was legitimately and habitually exercised. If, on the other hand, the sacramental forgiveness of sins was what Fundamentalists term it, an "invention," and if it was something foisted upon the young Church by ecclesiastical or political leaders, we’d expect to find records of protest. In fact, in early Christian writings we find no sign of protests concerning sacramental forgiveness of sins. Quite the contrary. We find confessing to a priest was accepted as part of the original deposit of faith handed down from the apostles.

Answer 10

CJ always pops up whenever a question contains the word "Catholic." He is working double time for Satan. Poor soul.

Answer 11

Only mortal sins must be confessed to a priest, but it is a good idea to confess the lesser, veniel sins. All sins, even mortal sins are forgiven, even if you honestly do not remember all of your sins.