I was recently told by a SSPX priest that it is okay to go to a NO priest for Confession, but only Confession. The way he explained it, to the best of my understanding, is that Confession is a "personal" sacrament, where as the Mass or Communion is for the Church. He warned me not to attend the NO Mass however, because it can cause the loss of faith, and that the sacrament of Communion may not be valid, and it wasn't worth the risk.
Does this sound right to you guys? It seemed to make sense to me as he explained it, but I am a bit unsure now.
I once many years ago went to a NO priest because that was all that was available here in Utah. He denigrated Tradition, told me I was behind the times and that I 'needed to come into present time' with the church and on and on. He basically mocked my "silliness" in wanting to lead an authentic Catholic life. Needless to say, that is the last time I went to a NO priest for confession. :cry:
It seems to me that telling a Novus Ordo priest in confession anything about your
normal attendance at the CTLM is a mistake. It's not a sin to go to the Traditional
Mass, so why tell about it when you're supposed to be talking about your sins?
When you bring it up, you may be opening a can of worms, because the priest is
likely prejudiced against the CTLM for any one or a combination of reasons.
Now, there's a possibility that he will sense something is 'different' about you, due
to your description of your sins. If you tell him, for example, that you started to
eat meat on Friday by mistake but finished it anyway, that may be a red flag for
him. Even though it shouldn't, really, because Friday abstinence is still the norm,
you're just told you can 'substitute' an equivalent penance, and so on. But he
probably never hears about that, so he'll start asking questions, like "Where do
you normally go to Mass," and the like.
So you can avoid that whole thing by being more circuмspect, provided it doesn't
conceal a mortal sin. You're not obliged to tell the confessor every venial sin for
which you seek absolution, you know. You can get absolution for venial sin by
making a devout sign of the cross with holy water, and asking God for
forgiveness. You can even get it by kissing your brown scapular and asking the
same thing.
The last time I went to a Novus Ordo priest for confession, my daughter was in
line in front of me. When she went in, there was some noise audible from inside,
and then she emerged with tears in her eyes. I left the lineup (about 5 people)
for a few minutes and spoke to her about it privately. She said that the priest
asked her where she went to Mass (it was in regards to some sin she had
confessed in connection with Mass, but I didn't want to know what it was
because that's under the seal) and she had told him it was the "old Mass, the
traditional Mass." That's when the priest got loud, and scolded her for going
to a Mass that is not 'approved' because that's a mortal sin! That must have
been the noise I had heard. I assured her that he had been wrong, and that
I would take care of this for her. Let me put it this way: the priest had picked
on the wrong child that day.
So I got back in line, and when it was my turn, I went in and did the preliminaries,
and then at last, I said that I had taken my daughter to an older liturgy Mass. I
could hear him sit up straight and take notice. His tone changed. He was
gearing up for battle with me! He asked me a question and I answered it, and
he started to get very cross and angry. Right in the middle of his diatribe, which
made very little objective sense, for it was a bunch of Novordien doublespeak, I
interrupted him by saying that I had taken her "to an Armenian Orthodox Divine
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom." It was true, for I had actually done this with
her, only a few weeks prior to this time. I was dumbfounded by his reaction!
He stopped dead in his tracks, audibly releasing pent-up air, sank into his seat,
and hemmed and hawed for a moment, then meekly assured me that was okay,
and nothing to worry about! It was a 180-degree about-face! He entirely
reversed his manner and message, as if he were utterly terrified of the prospect
of having anything critical to say of the Orthodox. Most instructive.
I'm telling you this to demonstrate that what you tell a Novus Ordo priest in
confession has to be within his own sphere of expertise. Do not expect him to
handle something outside his area of knowledge. You are going there for his
absolution (provided it's valid) and you are not looking for erroneous
indoctrination.
Additionally, your purpose in confessing is not to instruct the ignorant priest.
You are not going in there to wage war with the enemy. That is, you're waging
war with the Adversary, not with the priest who hears your confession! And
that is actually why that was my last time, because I realized, I went in there
with a double purpose, to confess my sins, and to put the priest into his place.
I may have succeeded, but I did not want to make a habit of abusing the
sacrament. After all, I wasn't the one who started that, and I had to defend
my dear daughter who was a victim of his abusive lie. I said a few prayers for
him, and my daughter was okay after I explained it all to her. It worked for her
spiritual maturity beyond words can describe. So all is well...............
Topic: Novus Ordo Confessions (Read 8263 times)