Confessing our sins

Read the Catechism in a Year

Catechism in a Year: Day 193

Part Two: How We Celebrate the Christian Mysteries
- Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church
-- Chapter One: The Sacraments of Healing -- PENANCE and RECONCILIATION

Question 233: What sins must be confessed?

Under normal circumstances, all serious sins that one remembers after making a thorough examination of conscience and that have not yet been confessed can be forgiven only in individual sacramental confession.

Of course there will be reluctance before making a confession. Overcoming it is the first step toward interior healing. Often it helps to think that even the Pope has to have the courage to confess his failings and weaknesses to another priest—and thereby to God. Only in life-or-death emergencies (for instance, during an airstrike in wartime or on other occasions when a group of people are in danger of death) can a priest administer “general absolution” to a group of people without the personal confession of sins beforehand. However, afterwards, one must confess serious sins in a personal confession at the first opportunity. 

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Question 234: When is a Catholic obliged to confess his serious sins? How often should one go to confession? 

Upon reaching the age of reason, a Catholic is obliged to confess his serious sins. The Church urgently advises the faithful to do this at least once a year. At any rate one must go to confession before receiving Holy Communion if one has committed a serious sin.

By “the age of reason”, the Church means the age at which one has arrived at the use of reason and has learned to distinguish between good and bad. 

Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (1455-1457) and other references here.

Recommended Reading: YOUCAT Prayer Book by Ignatius Press