From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1496 The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are:
- reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace;
- reconciliation with the Church;
- remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins;
- remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin;
- peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation;
- an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.
Note that it says, Reconciliation with the Church.
That to me says that one should ‘normally’ be a Catholic, no?
ER, the way you make your argument is very reminiscent of those who complain about the Church’s “closed” stance on communion.
It is NOT a question of how ‘we’ feel. It is a question of what GOD has said. God gave us His Son and His Son gave us His Church.
So WHO the CHURCH says is capable of receiving confession is who GOD says is thus capable. I am finding that NORMALLY a condition for reception of this as well as ALL the other sacraments (and Baptism despite your contention is included because, while the infant is not ‘baptized Catholic’ before the ceremony, the parents are Catholic, their intention is to raise the child Catholic–and for those over the age of reason, THEY THEMSELVES must PROFESS the Faith before being baptized so they have accepted Catholicism and are then ‘sealed’ by baptism) is that the person be Catholic.
Unfortunately, too many people are constantly looking for ‘loopholes’. Because a non Catholic Christian person may fully intend, say, to become Catholic, but becomes dangerously ill, the Church ‘may’ permit him or her to confess, provided he or she is fully ‘catholic’ in belief already and (should he/she recover) would make the necessary preparations to become Catholic–suddenly people want to ‘confess’ just because THEY WANT IT.
Never mind that they have no intention of abiding by Church Teachings. No, the mere ‘fact’ that they ‘want’ to confess should somehow MAKE the Church ‘give them’ what they ‘want’ because that is what ‘Jesus did’.
Except. . .He didn’t.
What Jesus did, when he died, rose, and ascended, was to pass on His ‘authority’ to the Church.
Those people whom Jesus forgave ACCEPTED HIS AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE THEM. That is why He DID forgive them. He made the point that He had AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE sins. And those people like the Pharisees who rejected that authority WERE NOT FORGIVEN–not because Jesus ‘would not’ but because THEY ‘would not’.
But the people you are speaking of do NOT ACCEPT His authority, His Church. . .and so He ‘cannot’ forgive them UNTIL they do accept that authority. Not because HE does not choose but because THEY do not choose.
If they are feeling the true stirrings of a desire to conform to Catholic confession, they need to go ALL THE WAY to full union with the Catholic faith.
They are not to pick and choose what ‘they want’ and demand it of us, using Christ as a hostage to ‘good feelings’.
Christ is not divided against Himself.
