Is Confession Needed?

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brishen said:
How is this even an argument? I am there to give the Eucharist, and frankly that is a huge honor I am not in merit of. I am not there to judge the sick and (perhaps) dying in the hospital. My priest, a Monsignor, has told us not to deny the Eucharist to anyone who asks, should I go rogue and start my own practices? I should think not.
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Why are you mentioning argument? There is no argument with canon law. The clergy are responsible for implementing it, not those assigned by them to do so. The faithful are responsible for being properly disposed. Intentionally receiving when not properly disposed is harmful, when unknown, then the sacraments are simply unfruitful, however can give scandal.
 
My whole point was the guy in LD was saying things I thought against canon law (and common sense)! It had nothing to do with the hospital! With that I do what the Monsignor says, and I hate to tell you but it’s not like I’m exactly running the halls from sinners demanding communion! I don’t think there is any worry, I can almost assure you, of too many people there accepting the Eucharist, even when they maybe should. But good on you for policing it! 😦
 
brishen:

Perhaps your friend may be bringing up what he believes about confession because he is trying to rationalize it for himself?

I have found that monthly confession brings great blessings to me. One does not have to have mortal sins to utilize that beautiful sacrament. When one goes with the right disposition the Lord is generous with His graces.
 
USMC0311 said:
I don’t think confession is needed through a priest. I think as long as you confess your sins through God and know that Jesus died to save us then you are forgiven.
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Confession directly to God seems rather redundant redundant to me. Doesn’t God already know all of your sins, in all their sordid details, whatever they might be? Doesn’t He see you as you commit every one of them? Why would you ever have to confess them to Him?

The point of confessing our sins to a Priest is because it shows God that we are willing to admit to another human being, not only that we have sinned, but the types of sin and how many times we’ve committed them. It’s a very humbling experience for sure, because it’s embarrassing.

But, increasing the virtue of humility in us is not the main purpose for going to Confession. After we confess our sins, we pray that God will forgive us. We promise Him that we will try, with His help, to never commit those sins again. During the Sacrament of Confession, the Priest once again sits in the place of Jesus Christ, just as he does at the Consecration, during Mass. Then, he absolves us of all our sins (in the Names of the Holy Trinity) and assigns a penance for us to offer to God in reparation for them (typically to say a few prayers, or making restitution if it involves stealing, etc.).

I truly feel sorry for Protestants that have never had the opportunity to go to Confession to a Priest. They could never imagine how wonderful a feeling it is when you walk out of that Confessional. At that moment, we can be absolutely certain that God knows that we are truly sorry for offending Him. We also know that He really has forgiven us for everything we’ve done. And, when He forgives us through His Priest, He forgets. When I walk out of that Confessional I feel as if a 1000# weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It’s an absolutely amazing feeling.
 
Last week our assistant pastor gave a sermon on poor catechesis during a weekday Mass.

He lamented how so many Catholics today don’t know their faith.

It’s okay that one does not know every Catholic prayer but telling someone that is not in a state of grace they can receive Communion without confession is just wrong.
 
CradleRC58 said:
It’s okay that one does not know every Catholic prayer but telling someone that is not in a state of grace they can receive Communion without confession is just wrong.
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Thank you! Finally someone that understands! ☺️
 
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Exactly! What people who disregard this vital teaching are thinking is beyond me. Why would anyone risk damnation deliberately by receiving without confessing first? Mystifying.
 
I think in this case the answer is simple, hubris. This gentleman has a bone to pick with me and this is the one he has chosen, as he feels as a Jew I can’t argue back. I guess he hasn’t heard why we are named “Israel.”
 
Just responding to your earlier question about receiving Communion and being in the state of grace… never mind…
 
if you read the thread (not saying you didn’t), I know he is wrong, I was trying to see if other Catholics felt this way and I missed something.
 
brishen said:
Just looking for opinions, for the record I do believe and was taught confession to a priest of mortal sins was needed to accept the Eucharist, not go to Hell even, etc, aka pretty important…

Long story short now every LD he brings it up, this week he mentioned a podcast where a priest said the prayer we say at mass at the beginning (sorry, I’m new at this I don’t remember name of prayer) is enough and same as confession.
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JL: http://ccc.scborromeo.org.master.co...crament+of+Reconciliation&xsubmit=Search&s=SS
The above is a link to the Catechism on Reconciliation or Confession. The Eucharist forgives venial sins, mortal sins must be confessed and absolution given before one can receive communion.

1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins. By giving himself to us Christ revives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him:

1395 By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church.
 
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Confession is needed but not to a priest. Confession of sin to a priest was instituted by Pope Innocent the III in the Lateran council in 1215. We confess our sins only to God.
 
I’m afraid you’re mistaken. All of the Sacraments were established by Christ. Christ established confession and that the Sacrament is administered by a priest. The forgiveness of sins is by God. This is a thorough article over it:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm

And here’s something more concise with Biblical references:


Your remark about the Fourth Lateran council is also historically inaccurate.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09018a.htm
“Canon 21, the famous “Omnis utriusque sexus”, which commands every Christian who has reached the years of discretion to confess all his, or her, sins at least once a year to his, or her, own (i.e. parish) priest. This canon did no more than confirm earlier legislation and custom, and has been often but wrongly, quoted as commanding for the first time the use of sacramental confession.”
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Far from establishing confession, it is mandating that Catholics make use of the Sacrament at least once a year.
 
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JL: Not true.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09018a.htm Fourth Lateran Council (1215) Innocent III
Canon 21, the famous “Omnis utriusque sexus”, which commands every Christian who has reached the years of discretion to confess all his, or her, sins at least once a year to his, or her, own (i.e. parish) priest. This canon did no more than confirm earlier legislation and custom, and has been often but wrongly, quoted as commanding for the first time the use of sacramental confession. [bold print added by me]

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/lateran4.htm#14
  1. On yearly confession to one’s own priest, yearly communion, the confessional seal
    All the faithful of either sex, after they have reached the age of discernment, should individually confess all their sins in a faithful manner to their own priest at least once a year, and let them take care to do what they can to perform the penance imposed on them. Let them reverently receive the sacrament of the eucharist at least at Easter unless they think, for a good reason and on the advice of their own priest, that they should abstain from receiving it for a time. Otherwise they shall be barred from entering a church during their lifetime and they shall be denied a Christian burial at death. Let this salutary decree be frequently published in churches, so that nobody may find the pretence of an excuse in the blindness of ignorance. If any persons wish, for good reasons, to confess their sins to another priest let them first ask and obtain the permission of their own priest; for otherwise the other priest will not have the power to absolve or to bind them. The priest shall be discerning and prudent, so that like a skilled doctor he may pour wine and oil over the wounds of the injured one. Let him carefully inquire about the circumstances of both the sinner and the sin, so that he may prudently discern what sort of advice he ought to give and what remedy to apply, using various means to heal the sick person. Let him take the utmost care, however, not to betray the sinner at all by word or sign or in any other way. If the priest needs wise advice, let him seek it cautiously without any mention of the person concerned. For if anyone presumes to reveal a sin disclosed to him in confession, we decree that he is not only to be deposed from his priestly office but also to be confined to a strict monastery to do perpetual penance.
 
thebible said:
Confession is needed but not to a priest. Confession of sin to a priest was instituted by Pope Innocent the III in the Lateran council in 1215. We confess our sins only to God.
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JL: If that were true Thebible why then, after His resurrection did Christ breath the Holy Spirit on the apostles with the priestly authority to remit or retain sins?

[Jn20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD. 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.]

As the Father sent Christ to forgive sins so Christ sends the apostles to forgive sins, a priestly function reconciling those who sin after baptism to God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession).

Forgiving sins is a priestly service as we see in the OT. [Lv5:5 When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned 6 and, as a penalty for the sin he has committed, he must bring to the LORD a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.

Paul speaking of a believer’s sins evidently believed he could forgive the believer’s sins in the person of Christ

[2Cor2:10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;]

[Rms15:16 for my being a servant of Jesus Christ to the nations, acting as priest in the good news of God, that the offering up of the nations may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.] YLT
 
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After Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, he appeared to the apostles in the upper room, breathed on them and said “Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven, whose sins you shall retain they are retained.”

Also, it is so good to hear the words of absolution from the priest, who is “in persona Christi”.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is healing as well.
 
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