Oral confession to the leaders of the Church is all but explicit in scripture.
***But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth **to forgive sins" --he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings. (Matthew 9:6-9)*Note how Matthew states that the authority to forgive sins was given to human beings - plural.
*“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” (Mark 2:7)*Does anyone care to state that no one but God in Heaven can forgive sins? If you agree with this statement, understand that you have just agreed with the scribes. Generally speaking, being on the side of the scribes is not a good place to be.
*But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"-- he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” (Mark 2:10-12)*This passage is the parallel to Matthew 9:6-9 quoted above. From the two of these, we can see that the crowd was astonished that the authority to forigive sins had been granted to human beings on earth.
*On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:19-23)*This is the first time Jesus appears to the disciples as a group after his ressurection. This is the moment when they realize that he is God! One can imagine that at this all important moment, Jesus would have had something important to tell his followers and so what does he say? He tells the disciples “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And how has the Father sent Jesus? Jesus was sent for the forgiveness of sins and this is how he sends forth his followers - for the forgivenes of sins.
Then Jesus imparts a special gift of the Holy Spirit on his followers by breathing on them. The word “Spirit” comes from that Latin word “Spiritus” which means breath. He then tells them flat out - “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” There is no ambiguity here. Consistent with Matthew 9 and Mark 2 quoted above, Jesus is giving the authority to forgive sins to men on earth.
*Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. (James 5:14-16)*James captures two sacraments here, annointing of the sick and confession. Note that both of these sacraments are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the heading of healing. There is no sacrament of forgiveness. Confession heals us of the damage we have done God’s coveneant. James is however, as clear as Jesus was in Jon 20. We are to confess our sins to “One another.”
But it makes sense to confess our sins to those who have authority to forgive us and we know who those people are. The priests, through Apostolic successon of the bishops from the original Apostles, have this authority. God ultimately forgives sins but God chose to exercise that forgiveness through priests. The priest has no natural ability of his own to forgive sins but has been delegated that authority by God and exercises that authority on God’s behalf.
Oral confession of sins to a priest is the ordinary and normal way in which we access God’s forgiveness. You can confess your sins directly to God and hope for the best or you can go to a priest and be 100% sure that you are forgiven, and more importantly, healed of whatever it is that is causing your sins to persist.
Dude… I made a confession of 37 years. It was amazing. If I can do it, you can too. Just go.
-Tim-
