This priest REALLY hurt my feelings!

[Nathan]

[quote name='zabbazooey' date='Oct 8 2005, 05:27 PM']I walked out and just collapsed on the floor in the fetal position bawling my eyes out and EVERYONE just STARED.[/quote]

Really?!

Not to be harsh, but I would have been staring too, zabba! I know you're a very passionate young lady and this priest's behavior toward you must have been disappointing, but c'mon... try to grow a thicker skin. This is not the last priest like this you will run into.

[zabbazooey]

Nathan, to be told I'm totally wrong in my faith to be doing something for the greater glory of God, I had a right to be that upset.

[Christie_M]

[zabbazooey]

I realize I'm very sensitive, but I've never run into clergy who have told me I'm WRONG to be doing something like SELF DENIAL.

I'm newer to the faith.

[franciscanheart]

i dont know. ive never run into a priest like that. i dont think theyre really as common as some people are making them sound. i of course could be wrong about it but i honestly have never met a priest like that in my life. ever.

maybe her reaction was a bit much to some people but it was a reaction and a real one all the same. different people react differently. why criticize something we didnt witness? lets pray for both parties involved.

hope you meet some priests that might be a bit more polite in the future zabba.

[Sinner]

I am sorry this happened to you...... but unfortunately it could happen again. You missed an excellent opportunity to just bear the iniquity and offer it to Christ (I don't know if I would have been able to do that either). If it happens again, I know you can avoid the scene on the floor.
The fact is you are right. And so was Christ...... you know what happened to him.

The vast majority of Catholics today do not know that there is an existing obligation to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. While it is true that the Code of Canon Law allows for the substituting of another penitential practice, authorized by the NCCB, one has not been defined. As a consequence the abiding custom of the Church has been set aside. Neither bishops nor priests, with rare exception, inform the faithful of their obligations. Laxity and indifference have become the rule throughout most of the American Church.

If the average Catholic were asked if they abstain from meat on Fridays, they would say no. If asked what penitential practice they have substituted in place of not eating meat, they would commonly say none.

It should be noted that even Pope Paul VI's variance in Paenitemini of 17 February, 1966 did not abrogate (terminate) the obligation to at least substitute another form of penitential practice.

[Old_Joe]

Awww... zabby

Self-denial and self-mortification aren't about seeking glory for yourself. It's about purifying and strengthening yourself through sacrifice. If I were you, I'd consider talking to another priest (one you know and can trust) about it. You don't even have to give the other priest's name. confession is about healing and forgiveness.

[Proud2BCatholic139]

[quote name='zabbazooey' date='Oct 8 2005, 05:27 PM']Okay, so I go to confession today and I sit in front of the priest. I start confessing my sins, and i just mention that I didn't abstain from meat on friday. And he said "That's not a mortal sin. It doesn't matter to God if you abstain from meat. You should stop being stingy and donate money or time. God doesn't care if you deny yourself things because it doesn't help anyone but yourself and that is glorifying yourself"

I was bawling! And I said, "Father you're really hurting my feelings, can we just please get on with confession?"

So I confessed the rest of my sins, and one of them was lying or something and he stops me and says "God cares about that!" after every sin. 

So I say my act of contrition and I go to leave and I didn't hear him give me a penance. So I said, "Father, can you please give me a penance?"

and he replied, "I already gave you one, to think about what I said. You weren't listening, are you even sorry for your sins?"

I walked out and just collapsed on the floor in the fetal position bawling my eyes out and EVERYONE just STARED. No one stopped to ask if I was okay or anything like that. Just looked at me as if I were a disease.

I donate money AND time, but isn't self denial important? My friend said abstaining from meat on Fridays is a mockery of Lent, and it makes Lent seem less important and reinforces Catholic stereotypes.

I don't care if people agree with me or not, but they could at least be charitable.

I offered it up. 
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[/quote]

My friend Claire G. abstains from meat on Fridays. A lot of my friends do.
I should try that.
However, I'm sorry that it happened.
Pray for your priest. He needs prayers like you and me.
God loves you!!!

[journeyman]

From Parish, by Robert F. Keeler
Chapter 6, The Spirit of Reconciliation
page 78-79

But some people do carry away scars. "I can remember having a very bad experience as a child going to confession," said Mary Kennedy, a co-coordinator of the parish's small Christian communities, who still goes to confession three or four times a year. "It upset me terribly, and it was a long time before I could really go to confession. The priest was extremely nasty, and he screamed at me and yelled at me. He complained I was not speaking loud enough, and he couldn't hear me, and didn't I realize he had a war disability."

[i][b]Priests themselves condemn that kind of behavior. When Costa was in the seminary, one of his teachers offered this advice to any penitent who encounters an angry, abusive priest in the confessional box: "If a priest yells at you in confession, get up and walk out. And if he asks you where you're going, tell him, "I'm going to find a priest."[/b][/i]

So, for Costa and many others, there is no excuse for harshness in the sacrament of God's gentle mercy. "If I'm a priest and I'm supposed to be there continuing the mission of Jesus and receiving sinners the way Jesus would receive them, how could I possibly yell at someone?" Costa said. "I also think it's a tragedy that people would deprive themselves of the benefit of the sacrament because one priest had a bad day and yelled at them."

[zabbazooey]

Pham, you truly are a blessing. Thank God for PM'ers!!!

[Norseman82]

This almost sounds like a priest I've had sometimes in confession. He would interrupt me in the middle of confession like he did you . I advise you to do what I did - not go back to him if at all possible.

[zabbazooey]

I don't plan on going back to him. In fact, I'm going to another church altogether for confession.

Just a really unfortunate thing to happen because I kind of liked that church.