Confession

[MelanieM]

What is Confession?

Where did it come from?

Why do we need to confess to a priest?

Why can't we just confess directly to God?

[DavidObeid]

According to paragraph 1422 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P46.HTM) Confession is the Sacrament by which we obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which we have wounded by our sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labours for our conversion.

The Sacraments all come from Christ. This one in particular was given at the first meeting of Our Lord with the gathered Apostles after His glorious Resurrection. We read in St. John 20:19-23:


19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”


We need to confess to a priest because just as Our Lord only gave the power of forgive sins to those upon whom He breathed, the power is only passed on to those who share in their ministry, in a direct and unbroken line back to the Apostles. The Apostles passed on their power to others, who in turn passed it on, and it has come down through the ages via the validly ordained bishops until today.

We can confess directly to God, but Our Lord’s words in St. John 20 that I quoted above show that there is indeed a possibility that sins can be retained. If sins can be retained, and the absolution of a priest really removes them, then the only way we have certainty our sins are truly forgiven is when we confess to a priest. Some may point to a dodgy interpretation of 1 St. John 1:9 to say that we don’t need to confess to a priest, but this teaching must be balanced with 2Corinthians 7:10. How do we know that our contrition is perfect? Doubt is removed in the Sacrament of Confession.

[Stephen Spiteri]

I might chime in with some of the scriptural bases for the sacrament of Confession:

Matthew 9:2-8 - the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins

John 20:23 - "... whose sins you forgive they are forgiven, and for whose sins you retain they are retained."

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 - Christ has given us the ministry of reconciliation

James 5:13-15 - the prayer of the priests ("presbyters") forgives sin

James 5:16 - "... confess your sins to one another"

1 John 5:16 - distinction between different types of sin (mortal and sin that will not kill you, i.e. venial)