ces,
entertainments, amusements, exhibitions, and all immoral resorts of any
kind, whether we sin in them or not; (3) the things are all bad books,
indecent pictures, songs, jokes and the like, even when they are
tolerated by public opinion and found in public places.

LESSON NINETEENTH.
ON CONFESSION.

Q. 776. {208} What is Confession?
A. Confession is the telling of our sins to a duly authorized priest,
for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness.

Q. 777. Who is a duly authorized priest?
A. A duly authorized priest is one sent to hear confessions by the
lawful bishop of the diocese in which we are at the time of our
confession.

Q. 778. Is it ever allowed to write our sins and read them to the priest
in the confessional or give them to him to read?
A. It is allowed, when necessary, to write our sins and read them to the
priest, as persons do who have almost entirely lost their memory. It is
also allowed to give the paper to the priest, as persons do who have
lost the use of their speech. In such cases the paper must, after the
confession, be carefully destroyed either by the priest or the penitent.

Q. 779. What is to be done when persons must make their confession and
cannot find a priest who understands their language?
A. Persons who must make their confession and who cannot find a priest
who understands their language, must confess as best they can by some
signs, showing what sins they wish to confess and how they are sorry for
them.

Q. 780. {209} What sins are we bound to confess?
A. We are bound to confess all our mortal sins, but it is well also to
confess our venial sins.

Q. 781. Why is it well to confess also the venial sins we remember?
A. It is well to confess also the venial sins we remember (1) because it
shows our hatred of all sin, and (2) because it is sometimes difficult
to determine just when a sin is venial and when mortal.

Q. 782. What should one do who has only venial sins to confess?
A. One who has only venial sins to confess should tell also some sin
already confessed in his past life for which he knows he is truly sorry;
because it is not easy to be truly sorry for slight sins and
imperfections, and yet we must be sorry for the sins confessed that our
confession may be valid--hence we add some past sin for which we are
truly sorry to those for which we may not be sufficiently sorry.

Q. 783. Should a person stay from confession because he thinks he has no
sin to confess?
A.