Church officers are counseled to respond to confessions with confidentiality and understanding, and also to encourage members to seek the Lord's forgiveness, forsake transgression, and make restitution. Transgressors are taught to make proper reconciliation with and restitution to those they have injured. Transgressions of lesser gravity that have offended others, such as marital or social differences, minor outbursts of anger, petty disagreements, and the like, are to be confessed to the injured party often resolving the matter without involving ecclesiastical authority. The Church has no set time or stated formula as to when confession takes place. Periodic interviews with ecclesiastical officers may be suitable occasions, or a special appointment can be made.
Confession helps lift the burden and leads toward peace, freedom, and happiness.
Repentant persons find substantial psychological as well as spiritual strength in proper confession. The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. Salt Lake City, 1989. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.