Ask Father: If a person goes to Confession and forgets to confess a sin, is there a consequence? Is the Confession true and acceptable if a person does not confess a particular sin because they did not know it actually was a sin?
Dear friend in Christ,
Excellent questions! If a person genuinely forgets to mention a sin during Confession, they are still forgiven from it. The same is true if a person didn’t know it was a sin and didn’t mention it. It’s forgiven. God is merciful, not looking to catch us on technicalities.
We should remember that there is a difference between genuinely forgetting a sin and intentionally withholding it. Intentionally withholding a sin in Confession is worse than actually doing the sin because it means the person has come all the way to Confession but at the least moment is refusing to accept the mercy of God! We should also remember that we a duty to inform our consciences about what the Church teaches on important matters.
Check out our Facebook video from February 6 as we walk you through the Sacrament of Confession step-by-step: https://bit.ly/2Vu6ZnH