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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Whom do I confess to?	Stephen	Sunday, September 7, 2014
Question: Dear Sir, I am a former member of Jehovah Witness and recently started catechism classes to join the Catholic faith. I have been a member of my former faith from infant having been introduced by my parents. I was breed through this faith together with my siblings. My decision to leave this faith was after a lot of intense scrutiny of its doctrines after becoming an adult. Most of what I came to find out is that a lot of what they preach is not as it is in the Bible.I began a journey to find God on my own and he direct me to the Catholic faith where I found out its originality is in the Apostles. Having this confidence I was in the right church I enrolled for Catechism where I am continuing to learn about the church as part of the body of Christ. Now, I have been bothered so much about the grave sins that I had committed before and I needed deliverance from my former ways. I also wanted to be cleansed of a generation curse that has been in our family. I tried praying to God on many time but I always feel like I am not forgiven or I am fully cleanse of this sins or being free of this curse and this always leads me to continue sinning. The need to find a way to be fully cleanse lead me to this site where I found this wonderful article about 7 steps to self deliverance. Under the first step there is an issues about confession and that the bible guide us in James 5:16 we need to confess our sins to someone to be fully forgiven. According to what i know in Catholic tradition one is supposed to confess to a priest. Now, according to my status of not being a baptized catholic I do not have this privilege according to the catholic tradition. Now my question is if i want to be fully forgiven of my former sin and be able to position my self in Christ what should I do? Whom do I confess my sins to?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC Dear Stephen: I praise God that you have come to the Catholic Church, the Church personally founded by Jesus Christ. Now that you are in RCIA or its equivalent (classes in preparation for baptism), you come under the protection and the grace of the Church. When you are baptized next Easter Vigil not only will you be cleansed of original sin, but you will be cleansed of every single sin you have very committed throughout your entire life. You will be squeaky clean when you are baptized. In the meantime you can ask God's forgiveness by direct prayer to him. Offer a prayer of contrition such as: In the name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. Forgive me O God of my sins of _______, _______, ______, and of the the sins that I do not now remember. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. In the name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. This prayer restores you to a state of grace. All the sins you listed and all those you have forgotten are wiped clean. This prayer presupposes that you will follow with baptism. (1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. After you are baptized you then have access to the Sacrament of Confession whenever you need it. One practice that some people do, I have done it, is what is called a General Confession. This type of confession takes some time so one needs to make an appointment. The General Confession is a life review, discussing with the priest the ark of your life, where you have been and what lead you to now. It discusses the sins that you have had trouble with and struggle with. Before the General Confession is done usually the person has already been to confession for all their sins. Thus, the General Confession mentions already confessed sins for the purpose of examining one's life. But, if there are any outstanding sins to be confessed this can be done too. This practice can be very therapeutic and helpful in understanding oneself. Again, I praise God for your conversion. Welcome to the Catholic Church. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Whom do I confess to?

Stephen

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Question:

Dear Sir,
I am a former member of Jehovah Witness and recently started catechism classes to join the Catholic faith. I have been a member of my former faith from infant having been introduced by my parents. I was breed through this faith together with my siblings.

My decision to leave this faith was after a lot of intense scrutiny of its doctrines after becoming an adult. Most of what I came to find out is that a lot of what they preach is not as it is in the Bible.I began a journey to find God on my own and he direct me to the Catholic faith where I found out its originality is in the Apostles. Having this confidence I was in the right church I enrolled for Catechism where I am continuing to learn about the church as part of the body of Christ.

Now, I have been bothered so much about the grave sins that I had committed before and I needed deliverance from my former ways. I also wanted to be cleansed of a generation curse that has been in our family. I tried praying to God on many time but I always feel like I am not forgiven or I am fully cleanse of this sins or being free of this curse and this always leads me to continue sinning. The need to find a way to be fully cleanse lead me to this site where I found this wonderful article about 7 steps to self deliverance.

Under the first step there is an issues about confession and that the bible guide us in James 5:16 we need to confess our sins to someone to be fully forgiven. According to what i know in Catholic tradition one is supposed to confess to a priest. Now, according to my status of not being a baptized catholic I do not have this privilege according to the catholic tradition.

Now my question is if i want to be fully forgiven of my former sin and be able to position my self in Christ what should I do? Whom do I confess my sins to?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC

Dear Stephen:

I praise God that you have come to the Catholic Church, the Church personally founded by Jesus Christ. Now that you are in RCIA or its equivalent (classes in preparation for baptism), you come under the protection and the grace of the Church.

When you are baptized next Easter Vigil not only will you be cleansed of original sin, but you will be cleansed of every single sin you have very committed throughout your entire life. You will be squeaky clean when you are baptized.

In the meantime you can ask God's forgiveness by direct prayer to him. Offer a prayer of contrition such as:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. Forgive me O God of my sins of _______, _______, ______, and of the the sins that I do not now remember. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near
occasions of sin.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This prayer restores you to a state of grace. All the sins you listed and all those you have forgotten are wiped clean. This prayer presupposes that you will follow with baptism.

(1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

After you are baptized you then have access to the Sacrament of Confession whenever you need it.

One practice that some people do, I have done it, is what is called a General Confession. This type of confession takes some time so one needs to make an appointment. The General Confession is a life review, discussing with the priest the ark of your life, where you have been and what lead you to now. It discusses the sins that you have had trouble with and struggle with. Before the General Confession is done usually the person has already been to confession for all their sins. Thus, the General Confession mentions already confessed sins for the purpose of examining one's life. But, if there are any outstanding sins to be confessed this can be done too. This practice can be very therapeutic and helpful in understanding oneself.

Again, I praise God for your conversion.

Welcome to the Catholic Church.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.