Confessions of a priest
Confession. The time when you confess your sins, perform your penance and are absolved by a priest. One of the common questions I get a lot is "how can I know my confession is truly a secret?" Honestly? Most confessions are so routine and ordinary, we don't even remember them. Oh, I pay attention except the other day when I started nodding off, but there is rarely anything memorable to repeat. Not that I would even if it was memorable...but it's difficult to blab when you don't remember one confession to the next. They all just blur together.
Regardless though, a confession IS safe from being shared under any circumstances. Confess to murder? I won't tell. I'll urge you to turn yourself in, I'll give you a penance that you might consider harsh or unfair...but I won't tell the police. And the police cannot ask me either. It's called the Seal of Confession. I cannot be subpoenaed to divulge a confession in court. It is inadmissible as evidence. There are laws protecting priests and our parishioners on this matter.
Even priests go to confession as well. We rotate who hears confession when, because the priest hearing the confession has almost always been to confession almost immediately prior to hearing others. Even priests are not free from sin, we are still mortal men.
It does perhaps limit dinnertime conversation, but not significantly. Not that I've been eating a proper dinner the past few weeks. School is over for now, but it is still Christmas and I am busier than ever, even though I am devoting all my time at the moment to church duties. I have things for school still to work on, my classes for next semester to prepare for, but with only a couple days before Christmas, there is nothing except the church.
After midnight mass is over, I will go home with my parents for Christmas day. There is no morning mass on Friday, to allow us to be with our family and friends on the holiday (plus, since everyone goes at midnight, no one goes at 8am!). I am looking forward to being able to sleep in, hopefully. And of course, family.
Regardless though, a confession IS safe from being shared under any circumstances. Confess to murder? I won't tell. I'll urge you to turn yourself in, I'll give you a penance that you might consider harsh or unfair...but I won't tell the police. And the police cannot ask me either. It's called the Seal of Confession. I cannot be subpoenaed to divulge a confession in court. It is inadmissible as evidence. There are laws protecting priests and our parishioners on this matter.
Even priests go to confession as well. We rotate who hears confession when, because the priest hearing the confession has almost always been to confession almost immediately prior to hearing others. Even priests are not free from sin, we are still mortal men.
It does perhaps limit dinnertime conversation, but not significantly. Not that I've been eating a proper dinner the past few weeks. School is over for now, but it is still Christmas and I am busier than ever, even though I am devoting all my time at the moment to church duties. I have things for school still to work on, my classes for next semester to prepare for, but with only a couple days before Christmas, there is nothing except the church.
After midnight mass is over, I will go home with my parents for Christmas day. There is no morning mass on Friday, to allow us to be with our family and friends on the holiday (plus, since everyone goes at midnight, no one goes at 8am!). I am looking forward to being able to sleep in, hopefully. And of course, family.