Refused absolution because of my gay relationship

The Feast of St John Paul II was like any other day and it was not unusual for me to make a mid-week confession; I knelt in silent prayer before the tabernacle before creeping into the wooden confessional at the back of the Church; I detailed the familiar naughtiness and ended with a general confession regarding the sins of my relationship. I’m a 29-year-old year old gay man in an eight-year relationship and All Saints’ Day marks the Fifth Anniversary of my reception into the Catholic Church. For the first time ever, the priest refused me absolution. The experience left me angered, saddened and confused. I accept the irregularity of my situation as existing outside of the Church’s normative structures of family life and yet I am resolved, by God’s grace in the