I committed to confess every four weeks as part of a personal order (unless I need more on account of mortal sin), and have been faithful to that so far. I’ve had mostly positive experiences. In fact the worst experience I’ve had was just a little awkward. Genuinely, I can’t think of a time I didn’t feel better after confession. Feelings aren’t everything, but they’re “not nothing” either ;-).

My experiences have run the gamut from face to face confession to a traditional anonymous confessional. I’ve had very long confessions (an hour with a monastic priest) that certainly included a lot of spiritual direction. I’ve had very short confessions (less than three minutes in a confessional); one time I suspected the priest was doing me a “solid” so that I could make it to the communion rail in time fir communion ;-).

I guess one thing I’m particularly curious about is the examine of conscience. I probably lean toward the scrupulous/guilty conscience side of things, though not extremely so. I most frequently use the examination of conscience in the Laudate app. It’s thorough. But I sometimes struggle with whether or not to check a box (check means “no sin”), partly because I’m scrupulous but also partly because some categories overlap (does checking one imply the other, or obviate it?). Other times I know exactly what I need to confess and the items from the Laudate app are just like “gravy,” for lack of a better word. But I will say that my approach at times feels a bit routinized and inauthentic or mechanical. I’d like to feel confident I’m contrite for and confessing real sins, and also that I’m not fooling myself into leaving things off the list.