Catholic Confession

[Reshbod]

I am writing a story and I want to begin it with a traditional Catholic. All I know about it is what I see in movies and on TV. Can someone give me a brief synopsis of what happens after the person finishes their confession. For example, someone goes on a weekend bender and ends up in a gang bang with a dozen or so people. Would the punishment be somthing like 50 hail Mary's?

Thanks

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

Depends whether the priest was involved in the gang bang or not

 

[kendo1]

Depends whether the priest was involved in the gang bang or not

Speaking as one who would know.

 

[Reshbod]

Depends whether the priest was involved in the gang bang or not

OOPS. I meant to add that the Priest is not involved in any way. In this case he is actually doing what he is supposed to be doing, hearing a confession then tells her what she has to do for penance.

 

[kendo1]

The Doc, if I remember right, is of a different persuasion.


Ask English Lady, I'm sure she could help.

 

[Weird Harold]

OOPS. I meant to add that the Priest is not involved in any way. In this case he is actually doing what he is supposed to be doing, hearing a confession then tells her what she has to do for penance.

I don't have any direct experience with Confession, but as I understand it, the penance assigned is strictly up to the priest hearing the confession; there is no "pricelist for sins" that sets a quantitative penance for any given infraction.

Fifty Hail Marys is as realistic as Five Hundred Hail Marys and depends entirely on how strict you write the priest's characterization and on whether your main character is a "chronic sinner" who regularly confesses gang-bangs or a "first time-offender;" The former would likely get a stiffer pennance assigned than the latter.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

I don't have any direct experience with Confession, but as I understand it, the penance assigned is strictly up to the priest hearing the confession; there is no "pricelist for sins" that sets a quantitative penance for any given infraction.

Fifty Hail Marys is as realistic as Five Hundred Hail Marys and depends entirely on how strict you write the priest's characterization and on whether your main character is a "chronic sinner" who regularly confesses gang-bangs or a "first time-offender;" The former would likely get a stiffer pennance assigned than the latter.

That would be incorrect, there are official guidelines for penance--it is not wholly subjective, with regard to the officiating priest.

 

[SlickTony]

I am writing a story and I want to begin it with a traditional Catholic. All I know about it is what I see in movies and on TV. Can someone give me a brief synopsis of what happens after the person finishes their confession. For example, someone goes on a weekend bender and ends up in a gang bang with a dozen or so people. Would the punishment be somthing like 50 hail Mary's?

Thanks

I'm glad to see someone asking questions like this. Some of the characters in the stories I write are Catholic, or they were raised that way in the beginning, but since my knowledge of Catholicism is based on stuff I've read in books as well as movies and TV, I figure it's best to portray most of them as lapsed.

Can anybody point me to some information on Lutheranism? There were some in my family, but I never got any info from them. I've attended one Lutheran church service and one Lutheran memorial service in my life, and the Lutheran service struck me as being more like a Catholic service than any other kind of church I've ever gone to. I guess it was the signs of the cross traced through the air and the sung responses that did it--plus, the fact that I was raised in an extremely no-frills Protestant church myself.

 

[Weird Harold]

That would be incorrect, there are official guidelines for penance--it is not wholly subjective, with regard to the officiating priest.

Guidlines, yes; a non-negotiable "pricelist," no.

I learned that much from being briefly married to a catholic -- who turned out to be a possible model for the story being considered, but that's another story.

 

[MagicaPractica]

"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been ______ since my last confession."

"What sins have you to confess my child?"

"Twice I took the name of the Lord in vain, etc. etc."

Your penance _________ Absolution blah blah blah. Go and sin no more.

I'll see if I can pull it up. Its got to be somewhere on the net. If not, I can probably get my hands on a copy.

She also goes to confession in Moonstruck.

Confession used to be done behind a screen but now you sit in a room with the priest face to face, or nearly so.

ETA: This is a good little script of how it goes. http://www.catholic.org/frz/examen/confession_how.htm

If you search google for "Sacrament of Penance" or "Sacrament of Reconciliation" you will find quite a lot.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I'm glad to see someone asking questions like this. Some of the characters in the stories I write are Catholic, or they were raised that way in the beginning, but since my knowledge of Catholicism is based on stuff I've read in books as well as movies and TV, I figure it's best to portray most of them as lapsed.

Can anybody point me to some information on Lutheranism? There were some in my family, but I never got any info from them. I've attended one Lutheran church service and one Lutheran memorial service in my life, and the Lutheran service struck me as being more like a Catholic service than any other kind of church I've ever gone to. I guess it was the signs of the cross traced through the air and the sung responses that did it--plus, the fact that I was raised in an extremely no-frills Protestant church myself.

That makes sense since the Lutheran church is the least removed from the Catholic church. It was the first off shoot.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Just want people to know, for accuracy's sake that, "price-list" aside, both...

the penance assigned is strictly up to the priest hearing the confession;

...and...

Fifty Hail Marys is as realistic as Five Hundred Hail Marys and depends entirely on how strict you write the priest's characterization

...are not correct understandings of the sacrement of Confession.

I learned that from formal religious studies (and being Catholic).

 

[Guest]

I'm glad to see someone asking questions like this. Some of the characters in the stories I write are Catholic, or they were raised that way in the beginning, but since my knowledge of Catholicism is based on stuff I've read in books as well as movies and TV, I figure it's best to portray most of them as lapsed.

Can anybody point me to some information on Lutheranism? There were some in my family, but I never got any info from them. I've attended one Lutheran church service and one Lutheran memorial service in my life, and the Lutheran service struck me as being more like a Catholic service than any other kind of church I've ever gone to. I guess it was the signs of the cross traced through the air and the sung responses that did it--plus, the fact that I was raised in an extremely no-frills Protestant church myself.

Lutheran services, with their congregational call and response, are definitely part of the "stand-up, sit-down, fight-fight-fight" type of church service.

Martin Luther took the Catholic Mass and translated it into German to allow people to understand what the calls and responses actually meant. He was in favor of liturgical uniformity so he kept a great deal of the service intact.

 

[Weird Harold]

...are not correct understandings of the sacrement of Confession.

I learned that from formal religious studies (and being Catholic).

I bow to your more intimate and detailed knowledge. I did qualify my intital post with "As Far as I know."

Exwife #1 and her friends were always more concerned about which priest was hearing confessions than they were about what they had to confess when guessing how long their confession and penance would take. Perhaps their hyperbolic laments affected my understanding of the latitude priest have in assigning pennances.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

I bow to your more intimate and detailed knowledge. I did qualify my intital post with "As Far as I know."

Exwife #1 and her friends were always more concerned about which priest was hearing confessions than they were about what they had to confess when guessing how long their confession and penance would take. Perhaps their hyperbolic laments affected my understanding of the latitude priest have in assigning pennances.

Could be. I didn't mean to be too exacting, either--its just that as much pop-culture approximations (movies, television, etc.) as Catholicism gets, its very easy to propogate error.

 

[rgraham666]

I should get back to work on that story about the woman with the priest fetish.

 

[Guest]

I should get back to work on that story about the woman with the priest fetish.

(just as soon as you get your passport . . . )

 

[Liar]

Just want people to know, for accuracy's sake that, "price-list" aside, both...

...and...

...are not correct understandings of the sacrement of Confession.

I learned that from formal religious studies (and being Catholic).

So, for the sake of something constructive to the thread started, instead of just saying "No, that's wrong"...

What would you say could be correct, or at least plausible, in the situation given?

 

[MagicaPractica]

Just want people to know, for accuracy's sake that, "price-list" aside, both...

...and...

...are not correct understandings of the sacrement of Confession.

I learned that from formal religious studies (and being Catholic).

Could you clarify your understanding?

I will say for myself, as a kid a few Hail Mary's and Our Father's were the extent of the penance but as you get older the discussions become more in depth and the penance becomes more about how you are going to live your life and really make up for something you did than a few rote prayers. A priest could easily assign a rosary so fifty Hail Mary's is not that much really but he's more likely to tell you to do something to really make up for things.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Was I the only one who got Glory Be's tacked onto the Our Father's and Hail Mary's?

Confession used to be done behind a screen but now you sit in a room with the priest face to face, or nearly so.

I'd almost prefer doing them in Latin.

 

[slyc_willie]

Could be. I didn't mean to be too exacting, either--its just that as much pop-culture approximations (movies, television, etc.) as Catholicism gets, its very easy to propogate error.

And I think, for the most part, that most readers wouldn't really care if you got it 'exactly right,' so long as you conveyed the spirit of things.

In my Pretty Baby stories, I had my heroine go to confession to absolve herself of her guilt over something she had done. That ended in a decidedly unrealistic but hot scene, but the basic dialogue was more or less accurate.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned" . . . yada, yada.

Being born and raised Lutheran, I can attest to earlier comments that the Lutheran church is very close to the central Catholic church in function. While we do not cross ourselves in prayer, nor do we rise and accept sacrament, we still hold to the ceremonies and hymns as laid out in the Bible.

Personally, I have never gone to confession; I never saw the need for it. If God is truly omniscient, I don't need to go to a priest to seek absolution (if, even, that is what I want). Confession is something like a convenient form of free therapy. Hollywood likes to depict it as a function of Maffia hitmen and repentant prostitutes to make themselves feel better for their actions.

There are many different 'layman's' takes on the practice of confession and absolution in the Catholic church. With that in mind, if you stick to the basics, I doubt you'll truly offend anyone.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

And I think, for the most part, that most readers wouldn't really care if you got it 'exactly right,' so long as you conveyed the spirit of things.

In my Pretty Baby stories, I had my heroine go to confession to absolve herself of her guilt over something she had done. That ended in a decidedly unrealistic but hot scene, but the basic dialogue was more or less accurate.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned" . . . yada, yada.

Being born and raised Lutheran, I can attest to earlier comments that the Lutheran church is very close to the central Catholic church in function. While we do not cross ourselves in prayer, nor do we rise and accept sacrament, we still hold to the ceremonies and hymns as laid out in the Bible.

Personally, I have never gone to confession; I never saw the need for it. If God is truly omniscient, I don't need to go to a priest to seek absolution (if, even, that is what I want). Confession is something like a convenient form of free therapy. Hollywood likes to depict it as a function of Maffia hitmen and repentant prostitutes to make themselves feel better for their actions.

There are many different 'layman's' takes on the practice of confession and absolution in the Catholic church. With that in mind, if you stick to the basics, I doubt you'll truly offend anyone.

Concern over the propogation of error was with regard to this thread, and those reading it. We're not adding accuracy to people's understanding should errors go unaddressed.

Surely, /that/ is sensible?

 

[3113]

Confession used to be done behind a screen but now you sit in a room with the priest face to face, or nearly so.

Well, this really takes out all the drama. Whose going to confess to murder under those circumstances? How can you have a scene where it turns out the priest in the confessional is not a priest...or is dead or something? (I've watched too many movies, haven't I?)

 

[Liar]

Concern over the propogation of error was with regard to this thread, and those reading it. We're not adding accuracy to people's understanding should errors go unaddressed.

Surely, /that/ is sensible?

Ah, but as I said, you could go further than just adressing errors and saying "that is incorrect", by contributing with a non-error, telling us what IS correct. Or else we'll just keep on guessing wrong. Right?

 

[FluteMaster]

Ah, but as I said, you could go further than just adressing errors and saying "that is incorrect", by contributing with a non-error, telling us what IS correct. Or else we'll just keep on guessing wrong. Right?

lol - Actually, there is a gradual sea change in understanding certainly in both Catholic and Anglican churches as to the role and conducting of "confession".

Confession is no longer strictly seen as about getting "the slate wiped clean"; ie - confess, absolution, do your time (penance). As already pointed out, it's about reparing the confessee's relationship with God, and identifying what prompted the sin in the first place and resolving those issues.

In the Anglican church, for example, (my own home), there are a growing number of Spiritual Directors who incorporate confession as a way of enabling just that.

Don't know if that helps, but that is my penny's worth.