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Dec 29th, 2019
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People do share their impressions of confessors. The kids here do not want to go to one priest because he takes sin much too seriously and hands out penances. They look for the easy priests who laugh it all off. I once went to confession at the local RC cathedral. Expecting to see one of the parish priests enter the confessional, I was shocked when the RC bishop entered and sat down. My first thought was, "O Lord, I'm doomed!"  But it turned out well, and he was actually a wonderful confessor.
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Dear ByzanTN,
Funny story! God obviously isn't cutting you any slack! HEHEHE! :p
In Christ,
Alice
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I really do prefer anonymity in the confessional, though one of the finest priests I've ever known would always recognise my voice in the confessional and begin calling me by name.
Funniest confessional story I ever heard was obviously made up. Bill Maher who cracks me up said, "I'm half Irish, half Jewish and was raised Catholic, which means I would go to confession, but I'd bring a lawyer with". Then he explained how he would say "Bless me father I have sinned, I assume you know my attorney Mr Cohen".
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When I was a young boy I went to confession regularly, always secure in my anonymity until the pastor addressed me by name! I don't think I made an honest confession after that until I returned to the Church in my mid-twenties.
The weirdest experience I ever had was at a Franciscan friary, which had confessions every day. I confessed my sins to an old friar, who proceeded to chew me out royally; I don't mean just someone who took sin seriously [so did I] but someone who was disgusted by the wretch on the other side of the screen. I walked out absolutely discouraged, ready to throw in the towel and go sin some more. I couldn't leave the church in that state, so I went to the other confessional and told the other priest my sins and what had just happened. He said what I had done was no sin and not to worry about it. At that point I started laughing out loud and informed the priest that no, I had sinned, and his permissiveness was as bad as the other guy's harshness. I walked away shaking my head, and felt like I had just gotten a sample of the extremes of confessors.
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Originally posted by iconophile:
When I was a young boy I went to confession regularly, always secure in my anonymity until the pastor addressed me by name! I don't think I made an honest confession after that until I returned to the Church in my mid-twenties.
The weirdest experience I ever had was at a Franciscan friary, which had confessions every day. I confessed my sins to an old friar, who proceeded to chew me out royally; I don't mean just someone who took sin seriously [so did I] but someone who was disgusted by the wretch on the other side of the screen. I walked out absolutely discouraged, ready to throw in the towel and go sin some more. I couldn't leave the church in that state, so I went to the other confessional and told the other priest my sins and what had just happened. He said what I had done was no sin and not to worry about it. At that point I started laughing out loud and informed the priest that no, I had sinned, and his permissiveness was as bad as the other guy's harshness. I walked away shaking my head, and felt like I had just gotten a sample of the extremes of confessors. I have been to a few of those priests you mentioned - both types, permissive and outraged. I often wondered if either realized the harm they were doing. I suspect the outraged types drove many away from the Church in anger or hurt, and the permissive types might have caused a loss of faith in those individuals.
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