Purpose of Confession--Urgent Help Requested!

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dbacks5439

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Hey guys, hope you had a great Easter!
In my History of Christian Thought, my professor, who was on the international committee which put the current catechism together, told the the class that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is used to give thanks to God, not for forgiveness. This happened several weeks ago, and since then I asked him for support, from the Bible, catechism, and from the ECF's. He has not done so. I have talked to my advisor, who is the department chair of Theology (which I am majoring in) and he said that what my professor is saying is incomplete at best. I said that even though it's incomplete, it's still wrong. I have also talked with the President of my university, but nothing new there. So today my professor played a video by a Dr. Kathleen (I forgot her last name) who said the same he did, that Reconciliation is simply giving thanks to God. She gave a history of the Sacrament and how it was celebrated through the ages, and talked about the Second Vatican Council, which made it to be just a thanksgiving Sacrament. I know that the Council did not preach that, and I am asking if anybody has any links to sites that have documentation from that council which says otherwise. I have other criticisms of that video in which I am prepared, but having documentation from the Council will greatly help. I do know that the documents from the Council were written differently than the other Councils, and because of this, much is open to interpretation. Thanks for your help!
 
I don’t understand how he could say that. In confession am I thanking God for my sins?
 
This is the most bizzare thing I’ve ever heard. Just goes to show you though, no matter how many letters you have behind your name, you can still be patently and unquestionably wrong!

My advice (if desired) would be to just do what you have to do to get an A in the course and get out. It doesn’t really sound like anything will be done to him. You already have confirmation from others at the same school that he was wrong. There’s little else to be done.

And making further waves is just going to cause a headache for yourself. If you’re worried about whether or not he’ll convince others of his error, don’t worry. I mean really: Even children in Religion class know he’s wrong. 🙂
 
Well, I can see how the Sacrament of Penance can be one of Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving that I am forgiven for the sins I have committed. Behond that I too am confused.
 
Liza, thanks for your links! They helped much. Returnee, the problem I have with that approach is that even though other people know he’s wrong, they’re not doing anything about it. What if the professor was Arius or Martin Luther? Should I simply shut up, get the A, and high-tail it out of there, or should I do something?
 
As they say, it is important to know when to hold and when to fold. Having been a denizen of several colleges and universities, I would say fold and put it behind you. Get the grade and split man!
 
And after you graduate…

That would be the time to do something. You can work on it in the meantime, gathering information and everything you need to refute the claim he and others like him are making.

It is like a weed I have in my garden - oxalis - my husband grabs the leaves and pulls them out when he weeds the garden, but the cluster of bulbs in still there waiting to grow more leaves and multiply.

Ignore this professor for now, later go for the root of the problem.
 
By ignoring this problem now, the people in the class who are not Catholic will leave with a false understanding of the Catholic Faith. I cannot and will not have that. I must do this now so that the professor can actually teach what the Catholic Church teaches and that students can learn about what the Catholic Church really is.
Code: 
Let a weed grow, it'll reproduce, and more weeds mean a dead garden. Kill the weed immediately, you save the garden. Satan will give you 99% Truth to get you to believe in the 1% lie. Soon, that 1% will become 30% and then 70%. By getting rid of the 1% lie now, I preserve the 99% Truth plus the additional 1% that is now Truth. 


   As I read this forum over and over again, I have always seen people write about how their priest has been performing abuses and such. I figured, "That can never happen to me." That time has now come, and I realized that if a heresy can happen on a Catholic campus, there's going to be a problem. I must defend the Church, at all cost. If I get an F because of what I say, I really don't care because I know that nothing is worth a heresy.
 
I don’t agree with some of the other posters…If you don’t stand up for the faith who will. As a Catholic you are responsible for standing up for your faith. It might not be easy and you might pay a price but, that isn’t new. Catholic’s have been paying for centuries, sometimes even with their lives. Good luck and trust in the Lord that you will say what you need to say. Before you go in say, “Jesus for you I do this give me the courage and the words, I trust in you”…also remember Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday… and What did Jesus want St.Sr.Faustina to have written at the bottom of His beautiful picture …“Jesus. I trust in you”…

God Bless,
Angela
 
dbacks5439 said:
Liza, thanks for your links!
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Glad to help! And I think you are doing the right thing. Fight for what you know is right. Then in the end you will be satisfied knowing you did your best to stop misinformation about the Catholic Faith, and save others from being misled.

Good for you for sticking up for yourself, and your Faith!! 👍

~Liza
 
dbacks5439 said:
By ignoring this problem now, the people in the class who are not Catholic will leave with a false understanding of the Catholic Faith. I cannot and will not have that. I must do this now so that the professor can actually teach what the Catholic Church teaches and that students can learn about what the Catholic Church really is.
Code: 
Let a weed grow, it'll reproduce, and more weeds mean a dead garden. Kill the weed immediately, you save the garden. Satan will give you 99% Truth to get you to believe in the 1% lie. Soon, that 1% will become 30% and then 70%. By getting rid of the 1% lie now, I preserve the 99% Truth plus the additional 1% that is now Truth. 


   As I read this forum over and over again, I have always seen people write about how their priest has been performing abuses and such. I figured, "That can never happen to me." That time has now come, and I realized that if a heresy can happen on a Catholic campus, there's going to be a problem. I must defend the Church, at all cost. If I get an F because of what I say, I really don't care because I know that nothing is worth a heresy.
Click to expand...
dbacks5439—thank you-- for the task you have undertaken. We have to much heresy in different forms-- being taught within the Church. If all of us as Catholics-- did our duty and start rooting out this heresy—we would greatly contribute–to the strenghtening of the Catholic Faith and salvation of souls.
 
dbacks5439 said:
By ignoring this problem now, the people in the class who are not Catholic will leave with a false understanding of the Catholic Faith. I cannot and will not have that. I must do this now so that the professor can actually teach what the Catholic Church teaches and that students can learn about what the Catholic Church really is.
Code: 
Let a weed grow, it'll reproduce, and more weeds mean a dead garden. Kill the weed immediately, you save the garden. Satan will give you 99% Truth to get you to believe in the 1% lie. Soon, that 1% will become 30% and then 70%. By getting rid of the 1% lie now, I preserve the 99% Truth plus the additional 1% that is now Truth. 


   As I read this forum over and over again, I have always seen people write about how their priest has been performing abuses and such. I figured, "That can never happen to me." That time has now come, and I realized that if a heresy can happen on a Catholic campus, there's going to be a problem. I must defend the Church, at all cost. If I get an F because of what I say, I really don't care because I know that nothing is worth a heresy.
Click to expand...
My prayers are with you!!! May the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you on your quest!

I was considering returning to school to study theology and my biggest concern IS the thought of having to sit in a class with a Professor/Theologian who would speak untruths of our Catholic Church. The very Truth I have come to learn (and accept) as Truth, I, too, want to learn to defend. It is very sad that a Catholic University would not hire only those who uphold the true teachings of the Catholic Church according the the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That is the devil at work!
I don’t know if my faith is strong enough to have the courage you have, nor do I feel knowledgeable enough, but I can sense from your postings that your faith is strong and the Holy Spirit is working through you! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!!! If it is His will, then He will see you through this! We should all be praying for you together that you might shed the Light where there is great darkness!

I also agree I would not want to have to do just anything to receive an A either! I admire you! That is why we are sending our daughter to Catholic High School… because I see the public school system is just another area the devil is trying to destroy the Catholic Church/Christians in general through… anti-Christian assignments, going against the teachings of the Catholic faith have/are happening.

God speed!!! (Is that okay to say that???)
 
dbacks5439 said:
Hey guys, hope you had a great Easter!

In my History of Christian Thought, my professor, who was on the international committee which put the current catechism together, told the the class that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is used to give thanks to God, not for forgiveness. This happened several weeks ago, and since then I asked him for support, from the Bible, catechism, and from the ECF’s. He has not done so. I have talked to my advisor, who is the department chair of Theology (which I am majoring in) and he said that what my professor is saying is incomplete at best. I said that even though it’s incomplete, it’s still wrong. I have also talked with the President of my university, but nothing new there. So today my professor played a video by a Dr. Kathleen (I forgot her last name) who said the same he did, that Reconciliation is simply giving thanks to God. She gave a history of the Sacrament and how it was celebrated through the ages, and talked about the Second Vatican Council, which made it to be just a thanksgiving Sacrament. I know that the Council did not preach that, and I am asking if anybody has any links to sites that have documentation from that council which says otherwise. I have other criticisms of that video in which I am prepared, but having documentation from the Council will greatly help. I do know that the documents from the Council were written differently than the other Councils, and because of this, much is open to interpretation. Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
In a way, your professor is right. Confession is a way of saying thanks to God by requesting the forgiveness of your sins, which was made possible in the first place by Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. In essence, you are saying, thank you for your death and resurrection through the actions of going to confession. The elements of confession are there, the element of absolution is there, but the ultimate act of forgiveing was done by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

It’s like when someone comes over and makes you the best lasagna in the world and left their empty dish at your home. You could just say “thank you” and return the empty dish but that wouldn’t be good enough if it was the best lasagna in the world. You would at least want to make an effort to make something yourself and return it in the same dish in order to say thank you. Do you see the difference? Just saying “Thank You” is just well “empty”.

For a really good understanding of Confession, read Peace of Soul by Fulton Sheen.
 
Here’s a link to what our early church fathers considered Confession
catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0604fea4sb1.asp

plus here are some scriptural references as well.
catholic.com/thisrock/1993/9302vbv.asp

One more item, this was taken from another link
catholic.com/library/Forgiveness_of_Sins.asp
The Advantages of Confession
Is the Catholic who confesses his sins to a priest any better off than the non-Catholic who confesses directly to God? Yes. First, he seeks forgiveness the way Christ intended. Second, by confessing to a priest, the Catholic learns a lesson in humility, which is avoided when one confesses only through private prayer. Third, the Catholic receives sacramental graces the non-Catholic doesn’t get; through the sacrament of penance sins are forgiven and graces are obtained. Fourth, the Catholic is assured that his sins are forgiven; he does not have to rely on a subjective “feeling.” Lastly, the Catholic can also obtain sound advice on avoiding sin in the future.

During his lifetime Christ sent out his followers to do his work. Just before he left this world, he gave the apostles special authority, commissioning them to make God’s forgiveness present to all people, and the whole Christian world accepted this, until just a few centuries ago. If there is an “invention” here, it is not the sacrament of penance, but the notion that the sacramental forgiveness of sins is not to be found in the Bible or in early Christian history.

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
 
I agree with dbacks. Stand up for your faith, fight the heresy and misinformation. If not for your sake, the sake of your fellow classmates that might get the wrong impression. What’s more important, getting a good grade or following the word of God? I’ve stood up against bad teachers in the past that taught poorly, or taught wrong information, or were just wrong. It’s a matter of integrity and you have to follow your heart, do what you think is right. The professor is so far off on this matter that it has to be addressed. Not only to him and the school, but the class. I’d stand up in class and refute him, or ask for equal time to teach what you know and have been taught as a catholic.

Good luck!
 
I say stand up and fight. Maybe write an open letter to the university newpaper? Copy it to the school president, board of directors, local bishop?

I’ll pray for you.
 
It really helps with all the support you guys have been giving me. And thanks to StBruno for those links. With that and scripturecatholic.com, I have enough scriptural and ECF support. Even better is that I have found the documents from the Second Vatican Council which clearly states that the Sacrament does indeed forgives sin.
 
dbacks5439 said:
By ignoring this problem now, the people in the class who are not Catholic will leave with a false understanding of the Catholic Faith. I cannot and will not have that. I must do this now so that the professor can actually teach what the Catholic Church teaches and that students can learn about what the Catholic Church really is.
Code: 
Let a weed grow, it'll reproduce, and more weeds mean a dead garden. Kill the weed immediately, you save the garden. Satan will give you 99% Truth to get you to believe in the 1% lie. Soon, that 1% will become 30% and then 70%. By getting rid of the 1% lie now, I preserve the 99% Truth plus the additional 1% that is now Truth. 


   As I read this forum over and over again, I have always seen people write about how their priest has been performing abuses and such. I figured, "That can never happen to me." That time has now come, and I realized that if a heresy can happen on a Catholic campus, there's going to be a problem. I must defend the Church, at all cost. If I get an F because of what I say, I really don't care because I know that nothing is worth a heresy.
Click to expand...
Way to go! Stand up for your faith and don’t let the lies take other people. If you do not stand up for your faith, who will. As Catholics, we must be able to defend our faith at all times, against all comers. Pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance, he will not let you go at it alone!

S
 
So today I presented my argumentation for the real purpose of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to the class. I presented forth verses from the Bible with my explanation of each, quotes from the ECF’s, the conversations that John Salza put up on his site, scripturecatholic.com, about the Sacrament, the Catechism with several highlights on key phrases, quotes from Pope Benedict which were made a month ago, and the document from the Second Vatican Council with highlighted sections to show that the professor’s stance is wrong.
I made it to the catechism before the professor interrupted me and dismissed the class. I was nervous, but my classmates followed along since I gave each a copy of my "treatise" so they can read it later. They know that I am right, because I have presented so much evidence and support that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is to receive forgiveness from God and the Church, not to give thanks to God for forgiving us prior. Thanks for your prayers!
 
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