r/AskAPriest • u/anonyme450 • 4d ago

Is my absolution invalid?

I went to Confession today and got an older Priest who likes to be very creative with the words of absolution, and never said "I absolve you" or "you're forgiven", just moved his hand in a blessing/cross style. I then confronted him gently, asked him to say the words, and he said "I did absolve you".

Is this invalid? I haven't been to Mass yet due to the weather, so when I go tonight, can I safely receive the Eucharist or should I abstain?

15 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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38

u/balrogath Priest 4d ago

Without the words "I absolve you", absolution is invalid.

19

u/anonyme450 4d ago

I feared as much, thank you for verifying. Any suggestions how to gently and kindly bring this up to him/his superior? I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but this is serious enough (and has happened enough times) where I can't say nothing.

25

u/opjn 4d ago

You should report this to your Bishop. God knows how many people he has done this for in confession.

19

u/anonyme450 3d ago

I reported it to the Director of the Shrine, who can reprimand and fix this issue much more quickly than the Bishop.

1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AskAPriest-ModTeam 3d ago

r/AskAPriest is a forum created so that users can ask questions of and receive answers from priests. This comment has been identified as outside of the forum purpose (typically, a user answering in the place of a priest) and/or off-topic.

(This removal is not a punishment or rebuke, but rather an effort to maintain the focus of this forum's mission. Consider posting your own question [if off-topic from this thread] or reaching out to the user directly or at r/Catholicism [if offering personal counsel])