Secrets from the confessional

Herald Sun ^ | March 06, 2008 | Fr John Salvano

[Alex Murphy]

[snip] In the 12th century the church began to formalise the list of the seven sacraments that Catholics celebrate today, including the Sacrament of Penance.

In that same era, St Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church, distinguished between sins that wounded, but did not rupture the relationship with God and could be forgiven by a variety of means and those sins that destroyed the relationship with God and could be forgiven only by the person going to the Sacrament of Penance.

Reflection over time on the distinction between these led to the clear formulation of what constitutes serious or mortal sin: grave matter, full knowledge and deliberate consent.

St Thomas Aquinas also discussed the Seal of Confession: the requirement of secrecy on the priest who heard a confession, which had been in church law since the ninth century.

The Council of Trent in the 16th century was held to renew Catholic life and practice.

In regard to the Sacrament of Penance, it required that every Catholic must go to the Sacrament of Penance prior to Easter each year.

Since that time, the practice of the Sacrament of Penance has been influenced by various circumstances, which have affected the frequency of its celebration.

In the early 20th century the encouragement of frequent reception of communion led to more use of the Sacrament of Penance in preparation.

Prior to this, a movement called Jansenism, which inclined towards scrupulosity and a harsh view of human nature, also led to more frequent use of the sacrament among those whom it attracted.

It could be argued that during this time a greater use of the confessional was made than in any other time in the history of the church. [snip]

[Campion]

In regard to the Sacrament of Penance, it required that every Catholic must go to the Sacrament of Penance prior to Easter each year.

Trent explicitly said it was reaffirming the discipline of the 4th Lateran council (AD 1215); this was hardly a 16th Century innovation.

Current canon law specifies only that a Catholic is bound to confess grave sins once a year.

Did you post this because his timeline starts in the 12th century? Of course, the Sacrament of Confession is far older than that; it was instituted by Our Lord in John chapter 20. Tertullian wrote a discussion of how to choose a good confessor back in the 2nd century.

Needless to say, the Oriental Orthodox (split from Rome in AD 451) and the Chalcedonian Orthodox (split in 1054) both have the sacrament.

[kawaii]

seriously. the Orthodox list of sacraments is extremely similar if not identical...

[phil1750]

What are the “grave sins”?

[Ottofire]

>What are the “grave sins”?

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

Hmm. Looks like James, and the inspired Scripture suggests that any sin is grave.

[conservonator]

1 John 5:16

BTW, later in that same passage that you quote from James is this line

..."not by faith alone"...

By your reading, murder is equally "guilty" as lying. It's not really a question of guilt, rather is a matter of gravity, Christ illustrates in John 19:11 ..."Therefore, he that hath delivered me to thee hath the greater sin"

[phil1750]

Found what I was lookiing for (grave sins) at web site shown:

http://www.saintaquinas.com/mortal_sin.html

[Ottofire]

In James, I would suggest that all sins are equally egregious in the eyes of God, for any affront to the Most High is an affront that leads to death, for the wages of Sin are death.

Are the punishments in Hell the same? It is suggested that there are differing punishments for ones transgressions in Hell, but for the saved, all sins are equal.

Why do I say that? To whom was James writing? To the twelve tribes scattered abroad; he is writing to the Christian Jews, Believers. And to believers all sins are equal, washed clean by the blood of Christ. They aren’t the ones that are going to Hell, to be punished unequally.

As for the faith/works riddle, it is really not a riddle. For as Jesus said, only a good tree can produce good fruit. Only true faith can produce good works. Faith produces works, and false faith produces none. A true faith will produce good works, and good works perfects ones faith. Thus a Muslim not having true faith in the Triune God cannot perform works that are pleasing to God. He is doing so in the name of a false god, breaking the Greatest Commandment, and in particular the first commandment, and those sins cannot be washed as the Muslim is not born again in the Spirit.

[Campion]

In James, I would suggest that all sins are equally egregious in the eyes of God

Jesus said otherwise, when he said to Pilate, "he who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin".

[Campion]

A grave, or mortal, sin is a sin concerning grave matter, done freely and with full "advertence of will," meaning that one is cognizant of the gravity and evil of the act and chooses to do it anyway.

Most any Catholic catechism will discuss this at some length.

[magisterium]

Given the actual subject matter of the article, the title seems to be over-the-top in its lurid and sensationalist implications. Sounds sort of like “The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk.”

Gimme a break!

[magisterium]

By way of clarification, my gripe is with the Australian newspaper, not with you, in this instance. I doubt that Fr. Salvano gave the article that title himself. This is the work of an editor who is either amazingly trite or hopelessly sensationalist.

[conservonator]

Two things: "fruit" is not simply a by product, if it were, there would no need to test it as in a furnace, not all sin leads to death, if it did, there would be no need for or even a concept of repentance. A body can die the death of a thousand cuts or one major blow, or it can survive, it will take much longer for the survivor of major trauma to heal than the survivor of the thousand cuts.