confession question

mmgsxxxx

Hello all,
I was wondering do we have to confess to a priest always?
If so why?

geomike

In the book of James it tells us to confess our sins to one another. That's why the idea of confession exists. As for confessing to a priest: It is part of the priest's job to take confessions. You aren't confessing to him and he isn't the one forgiving you, but he is just a witness in front of God. The reason we always confess to a priest is because as already said it is part of his job description, and also it is more convenient socially. If people would just confess with their friends and people who aren't priests then there will always be the risk of gossip about what you have told them therefore it is just not practical to do this. Also, your confession to a priest is protected by law (at least it is here in the US). It works the same way as client confidentiality with lawyers or therapists. These are a few reasons why it is done.

Are you having certain issues with your priest? or is there an underlying problem we can help with?

mmgsxxxx

thank you for your reply

well my priest doesn't really speak that well english, and I don't speak that well arabic
so when I do confess to him, it takes a very long time for him to understand me
I find that I'm not able to confess all my sins because I have to word it differently for him to understand which leads me to not really explaining my actual sin

geomike

Are there other churches or priests in the area?

mmgsxxxx

the closest is 40 minutes away but I don't have any relationship with that church

geomike

Well, that's not too bad of a drive. You can go like once a month to confess to that Abouna over there and see if you like him better for confession. You don't really need to have a relationship with that church to be able to confess. You can call their priest and ask when he takes confession to save you time so you don't just make the trip for nothing.