Minor or venial sins can be confessed directly to God, but for grave or mortal sins, which crush the spiritual life out of the soul, God has instituted a different means for obtaining forgiveness—the sacrament known popularly as confession, penance, or reconciliation
As students in catholic elementary school, we always saved the "tough" questions for the monthly visit by the parish priest.
"But, Father, what if your family drags you to a friend's house for dinner on a Friday and they serve you something that contains meat ... but, you didn't know it until after you swallowed it ... would that still be a sin and would you have to confess it?" I'm sure that many priests qualify for sainthood simply by their virtue of witholding corporal punishment for the "demon" kids who plotted these convoluted questions.
As I recall, a sin is mortal when:
1. you know that the action is a sin.
2. you agree that it is a sin, and
3. you do it anyway.
Right?
I had to take a day of rest yesterday after the purgatory thread. =)
And you are right about what constitutes mortal sin. I try to get to confession once a month, but I don't always make it. It is required that you do so only once a year if you haven't committed any mortal sins, but I like to go anyway because its like having a burden lifted from your shoulders.
For newly converted members, I have found that they often dread this sacrament because it can be nerve-wracking not knowing what to expect in the confessional. However, after done once or twice it really is something one comes to enjoy.
You Register as a Democrat :)