More Questions about Sacrament of Reconciliation

The Church seems to put so much emphasis on sexual sins. Are they the most serious?

No. But they do mess up a lot of lives, so serious attention to them is important. I find it interesting that in the gospels Jesus spends almost no time talking about sexual sin, but a
lot of time talking about the damage that's done by pretense, lying and selfishness. These failings may, of course, be part of sexual sins. But Jesus seems eager to forgive the "warm hearted" sins of, for example, the woman caught in adultery. He's much more stern with the "cold hearted" sins of greed and hypocrisy.

I've heard some people talk about scrupulosity regarding sin. What does that mean?

Priests hearing Confession have been aware for centuries that few of us have a balanced attitude toward ourselves, our humanity and our failings. We either err by letting ourselves off the hook too easily—which is technically called "laxity"—or by holding ourselves overly accountable, often for things that may not even be sinful but just parts of our humanity. This is what we call scrupulosity.

For example, an admiring glance at an attractive person might seem to a scrupulous person to be a sin of lust. Or missing Mass because of illness may leave the person feeling guilty. Someone suffering from scrupulosity often feels the need to confess the same thing over and over, fearing that it wasn't confessed properly the last time. Conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can also make us scrupulous. It's easiest to find the balance point between laxity and scrupulosity by finding a competent priest as a confessor and trusting his guidance.