1. I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me.
-Do I give God time every day in prayer?
-Do I seek to love Him with my whole heart?
-Have I been involved with superstitious practices or have I been involved with the occult?
-Do I seek to surrender myself to God’s Word as taught by the Church?
-Have I ever deliberately told a lie in Confession or have I withheld a mortal sin from the priest in Confession?
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
-Have I used God’s name in vain: lightly or carelessly?
-Have I been angry with God?
-Have I wished evil upon any other person?
-Have I insulted a sacred person or abused a sacred object?
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
-Have I deliberately missed Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation?
-Have I not kept Sunday as a family day and a day of rest?
-Do I do needless work on Sundays?
-Do I make others work on Sundays?
4. Honor your father and your mother.
-Do I honor and obey my parents?
-Have I neglected my duties to my spouse and children?
-Have I given my family good religious example?
-Do I try to bring peace into my home life?
-Do I care for my aged and infirm relatives?
-Do I respect elders?
-Do I respect my pastor, bishop, and the Pope?
5. You shall not kill.
-Have I had an abortion or encouraged anyone to have an abortion?
-Have I physically harmed anyone?
-Have I abused alcohol or drugs?
-Did I give scandal to anyone, thereby leading them into sin?
-Have I been angry or resentful?
-Have I harbored hatred in my heart?
-Have I been sterilized for reasons of birth control?
-Have I encouraged or condoned sterilization?
6. You shall not commit adultery.
-Have I been faithful to my marriage vows in thought and action?
-Have I engaged in any sexual activity before marriage or outside of marriage?
-Have I used any method of contraception or artificial birth control?
-Has each sexual act in my marriage been open to the transmission of new life?
-Have I respected all members of the opposite sex, or have I thought of other people as objects?
-Have I been guilty of any homosexual activity?
-Do I seek to be pure in my thoughts, words, and actions?
-Am I careful to dress modestly, so as not to tempt others?
-Have I been guilty of masturbation with myself?
7. You shall not steal.
-Have I stolen what is not mine?
-Have I returned or made restitution for what I have stolen?
-Do I waste time at work, school, or at home?
-Do I gamble excessively, thereby denying my family of their needs?
-Do I pay my debts promptly?
-Do I seek to share what I have with the poor?
8. You shall not bear false witness.
-Have I lied?
-Have I gossiped?
-Have I harmed someone’s reputation?
-Have I spoken behind someone else’s back?
-Am I critical, negative, or uncharitable in my thoughts of others?
-Do I keep secret what should be kept confidential?
9. You shall not desire your neighbor’s wife.
-Have I consented to impure thoughts?
-Have I caused them by impure television, movies, books, magazines, or internet?
-Do I pray at once to banish impure thoughts and temptations?
-Do I listen to, or engage in, impure conversations or jokes?
10. You shall not desire your neighbor’s goods.
-Am I jealous of what other people have?
-Do I envy other people’s families or possessions?
-Am I greedy or selfish?
-Are material possessions the purpose of my life?
-Do I trust that God will take care for all of my material and spiritual need?
The Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as Penance, or Penance and Reconciliation) has three elements: conversion, confession and celebration.
In it we find God's unconditional forgiveness; as a result we are called to forgive others.
Saturday 4:00-5:00 PM or by appointment
Emergency Call - 477-8378
Five Steps for a Good Confession
Procedure in the Confessional
You say: “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been (state the length of time since your last confession) since my last confession. These are my sins.”
Confess your mortal sins and the number of times committed.
Confess the venial sins you have committed since your last confession.
After you have finished telling your sins, you should say:
“For these and all the sins of my past, I am truly sorry.”
The priest will now give the necessary advice, assign your penance, and ask you to say the Act of Contrition:
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart.
In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good,
I have sinned against You whom I should love above all things.
I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever
leads me to sin.
Our Savior Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us.
In His name, my God, have mercy.
Wait and listen as the priest gives the absolution.
You say, “Thank you, Father,” then leave the confessional and perform the penance assigned by the priest.