Can converts receive the Sacrament of Confession?

[MagisterMusicae]

An Act of Perfect Contrition will forgive sins, even mortal sins, if it is truly a Perfect Act, which means it is a hatred of all of our sins because of the offense to God (and not some lesser motive), and it includes the intention to confess and receive absolution as soon as reasonably possible.

An act of perfect contrition doesn't have to be a "perfect act". It is true that in an act of perfect contrition we must hate at least all our mortal sins because they offend God, but the presence of a less noble motive alongside this does not imply we don't have perfect contrition.

I'm using "perfect act" as a shorthand substitute for "Act of Perfect Contrition", not in the philosophical sense of "perfection of act".

[MagisterMusicae]

There are priests in the Society who reject the validity of Novus Ordo sacraments.

Say who they are, and we'll see tomorrow whether they are "in the SSPX".

I know of plenty of SSPX priests who have serious doubts about various of the new rites of the Sacraments as performed, not in themselves.

Msgr Lefebvre himself had serious questions about Confirmation due to its change (and hence the SSPX practice of near-universal offering of Conditional Confirmation to those not Confirmed in the traditional rite, is from him). He also had doubts about the new Mass, not because of form and matter, but due to intention, since the GIRM and seminaries were teaching the Mass as a meal (an heretical concept), and not as the Council of Trent did, as a Propitiatory Sacrifice. Given the poor instruction in the seminaries and bad Catechesis, he thought that eventually the changes would affect the attitude of the priests and bring into question validity from a lack of intention.

I know of no SSPX priests who openly say that any Novus Ordo sacrament is categorically invalid. I am quite confident that if they did publicly say this, they would not be "in the SSPX" for very long afterward.

[MagisterMusicae]

But my admittedly small “firestorm” hypothesis has been proven nonetheless.

I'm not sure a handful of responses amounts even to a smoldering ember.

Certainly, there's no firestorm.

[ChairmanJoeAintMyPresident]

I know of plenty of SSPX priests who have serious doubts about various of the new rites of the Sacraments as performed, not in themselves.

That is a good distinction.

Is it acceptable for a priest to advise lay Catholics that, if the Novus Ordo is the only Mass available, they should stay home and substitute an appropriate amount of prayer and scripture readings instead of attending that Novus Ordo Mass?

I'm not asking this question as a "gotcha". I believe that even a reverent, ad orientem Novus Ordo has some issues, but I always figured it was better to go than not to go, and I'm wondering what reasoning justifies the position.

[jack89]

It's possible for someone who is baptized but not confirmed to receive absolution.  Otherwise, the vast majority of kids in Novus Ordo parishes would be making invalid confessions for about half a dozen years in between their first confession and their confirmation.

Yep.  I was one of those kids. :)

When I was a kid it was baptism, confession, communion, and then confirmation.

[VoxClamantis]

All four Baltimore Catechisms, the Catechism of Trent, and a slew of other catechisms are available in the FishEaters library:  https://www.fisheaters.com/catholiclibrary.html

[Pandora]

But my admittedly small “firestorm” hypothesis has been proven nonetheless.

I'm not sure a handful of responses amounts even to a smoldering ember.

Certainly, there's no firestorm.

Hence the use of the adjective and the quotation marks

And the additional bolstering responses... :)

[MagisterMusicae]

I know of plenty of SSPX priests who have serious doubts about various of the new rites of the Sacraments as performed, not in themselves.

That is a good distinction.

Is it acceptable for a priest to advise lay Catholics that, if the Novus Ordo is the only Mass available, they should stay home and substitute an appropriate amount of prayer and scripture readings instead of attending that Novus Ordo Mass?

I'm not asking this question as a "gotcha".  I believe that even a reverent, ad orientem Novus Ordo has some issues, but I always figured it was better to go than not to go, and I'm wondering what reasoning justifies the position.

I think you will find lots of opinions here on that, so perhaps a different thread is better, but it has been discussed at length here before. Some of us think it is fine, some would object. That's usually where it all ends, and we draw a stalemate.

It is the SSPX official position that one should avoid the Novus Ordo even if it be the only Mass accessible because it presents a possible and proximate danger to the Faith in most cases. Again, that does not consider specific instances where it might rarely be made so orthodox by the celebrating priest that this danger is no longer present. The merits of that position, though, I think ought to be discussed in a different thread.

[Sword of St. Michael]

Marmot, if only one could so easily know the hour of one's death... or not. Maybe not something that would actually be beneficial knowing, especially for the procrastinators among us. Best that they always have death before their eyes.

Momento Mori, remember death. Always a good mentality to have. Not to revel in death or fear it, but accept it and remember that eventually we will die and meet our judgment.

[Marmot]

That is a good distinction.

Is it acceptable for a priest to advise lay Catholics that, if the Novus Ordo is the only Mass available, they should stay home and substitute an appropriate amount of prayer and scripture readings instead of attending that Novus Ordo Mass?

An SSPX priest I talked to said that he advised the faithful to go the NO Mass said by a particular priest he knew to say it well, if the old Mass is unavailable. Relations between SSPX and ED priests here are very good.

The only time I would "stay at home" is if I had reason to believe the Mass would be said in an irreverent way. This has rarely happened to me except when I've been to England or Belgium.