Confession vs. Reconciliation — What's the Difference?

A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that he believes the other party is not already aware of, and is frequently associated with an admission of a moral or legal wrong: In one sense it is the acknowledgment of having done something wrong, whether on purpose or not.

The act of reconciling.

The act or process of confessing, as in telling one's life story as a series of failings or tribulations.

The condition of being reconciled.

Something confessed, especially a disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution.

Reconciliation See penance.

Confession In some Christian churches, the sacrament of Penance.

The re-establishment of friendly relations; conciliation, rapprochement.

A statement made acknowledging guilt of an offense.

(accounting) The process of comparing and resolving apparent differences between sets of accounting records, or between accounting records and bank statements, receipts, etc.

An avowal of belief in the doctrines of a particular faith; a creed.

Religious senses.

A church or group of worshipers adhering to a specific creed.

(Christianity) The end of estrangement between a human and God as a result of atonement.

The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).

(Christianity) The reconsecration of a desecrated church or other holy site.

A formal document providing such an admission.

Admission of a person to membership of the church, or readmission after the person has previously left the church.

(Christianity) The disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is now also termed the sacrament of reconciliation.

(Roman Catholicism) granted]] by the priest

Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.

The process of systemically atoning for the crimes and broken promises that a nation has historically committed against indigenous people.

A formula in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith.

The act of reconciling, or the state of being reconciled; reconcilenment; restoration to harmony; renewal of friendship.

Acknowledgment; avowal, especially in a matter pertaining to one's self; the admission of a debt, obligation, or crime.

Reduction to congruence or consistency; removal of inconsistency; harmony.

Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.

The reestablishing of cordial relations

The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest in order to obtain sacramental absolution.

Getting two things to correspond;

A formulary in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith.

An admission by a party to whom an act is imputed, in relation to such act. A judicial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted.

An admission of misdeeds or faults

A written document acknowledging an offense and signed by the guilty party

(Roman Catholic Church) the act of a penitent disclosing his sinfulness before a priest in the sacrament of penance in the hope of absolution

A public declaration of your faith

A document that spells out the belief system of a given church (especially the Reformation churches of the 16th century)