Q: Could you please go over the laws and minimum requirements for the valid celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. I fear that a lot of Catholics go to confession and hear all kinds of things in place of the standard prayer of absolution. Could you please tell us what the minimum requirements are? And whether it is valid if the priest says, “your sins are forgiven,” and nothing more, or “I absolve you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” and nothing more, or “Jesus absolves you of your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” or, mumbles his words or silently prays them so that the penitent does not even hear them?
Must the word “absolve” be used, or can the word “forgive” be substituted?
Is the sacrament valid if it takes place in the church parking lot or another public place? For example, the priest is walking out to his car (you’re running late to confession) and you catch him in the parking lot before he leaves and ask him to hear your confession and he does, is it valid? Are you forgiven? If the priest hears your confession in his office? Or a penitent sees a Catholic priest in an airport and asks him? –Mike Continue reading