Posted on 08/18/2011 7:18:16 AM PDT by marshmallow
So why is the seal of confession inviolable? Why does the seal bind under such a grave obligation that the Church excommunicates any confessor who directly violates it? (See: The seal of confession: some basics)
There are two principal reasons why the priest must preserve the seal: the virtue of justice and the virtue of religion. The motive of justice is evident because the penitent, by the very fact of entering the confessional, or asking the priest to hear his confession (we’ll deal with “reconciliation rooms” another day) rightly expects that the priest will observe the seal. This is a contract entered into by the fact of the priest agreeing to hear a person’s confession. To mandate the violation of the seal is in effect to prohibit the celebration of the sacrament of Penance.
Much more grave than the obligation of justice towards the penitent is the obligation of religion due to the sacrament. The Catholic Encyclopaedia gives a brief explanation of the virtue of religion which essentially summarises the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas. (Summa Theologica 2a 2ae q.81) Religion is a moral virtue by which we give to God what is His due; it is, as St Thomas says, a part of justice. In the case of the sacrament of Penance, instituted by Christ, Fr Felix Cappello explains things well [my translation]:
By the very fact that Christ permitted, nay ordered, that all baptised sinners should use the sacrament and consequently make a secret confession, he granted an absolutely inviolable right, transcending the order of natural justice, to use this remedy. Therefore the knowledge which was their own before confession, after the communication made in confession, remains their own for every non-sacramental use, and that by a power altogether sacred, which no contrary human law can strike out, since every human law is of an inferior order: whence this right cannot be taken away or overridden by any means, or any pretext, or any motive.
The penitent confesses his sins to God through the priest. If the seal were to be broken under some circumstances, it would put people off the sacrament and thereby prevent them from receiving the grace that they need in order to repent and amend their lives. It would also, and far more importantly, obstruct the will of God for sinners to make use of the sacrament of Penance and thereby enjoy eternal life. The grace of the sacrament is absolutely necessary for anyone who commits a mortal sin. To mandate the violation of the seal is in effect to prohibit the practice of the Catholic faith. Some secular commentators have spoken of the seal of confession as being somehow a right or privilege of the priest. That is a preposterous misrepresentation: it is a sacred and inviolable duty that the priest must fulfil for the sake of the penitent and for the sake of God's will to redeem sinners.
A possibly misleading phrase in this context is where theologians say that the penitent is confessing his sins as if to God "ut Deo." (You can easily imagine secularists deriding the idea that the priest makes himself to be a god etc.) In truth, the penitent is confessing his sins before God. The priest acts as the minister of Christ in a sacred trust which he may not violate for any cause - precisely because he is not in fact God. By virtue of the penitent’s confession ut Deo, the priest absolves the penitent and, if mortal sin is involved, thereby readmits him to Holy Communion.
There will be more to follow on the sacrament of confession. As I mentioned in my previous post, this series is not intended as a guide for making a devout confession but rather as an introduction to some canonical and theological questions regarding the sacrament which have become important recently. (For a leaflet on how to make a good confession, see my parish website.)
I have been told that the threat in Ireland to introduce a law compelling priests to violate the seal of confession has been withdrawn, at least for the time being. Nevertheless, I will continue with these posts because I think that the Irish proposal will be picked up by other secularists and may pose a problem for us. Further posts will look at the proper place, time and vesture for hearing confessions, one or two more particular crimes in canon law, the question of jurisdiction and the much misused expression “Ecclesia supplet”, and, of course, what to do if the civil authority tries to compel a priest to break the seal.
There hasn't been any revealed word of God outside of scripture that has shown up in the last 2000 years so why worry about it???
I thought I said exactly that.
Oh, I see. You thought I was serious when I asked you to show me Scripture. Because I already KNEW it wasn’t there. Because I read and believe God’s word. Not some group of fallible men who sit around and declare themselves infallible and teach for truth the doctrines of men. But as it turns out, no one bothers to question their doctrines or traditions because they get a wafer and a sip of wine and are declared forgiven. For this week. It’s a great system, if you can gather together enough pawns to defend it.
It’s so sad to watch the RCC people view Christ as some distant entity hoping that praying to Mary thinking she has more influence is somehow effective. If they only realized that the “queen of heaven” was a pagan practice long before the RCC and certainly not something Jesus taught.
There is no bread after the consecration,it's Christ.
Your food disorder and illness will be healed if you convert back to Catholicism/Orthodoxy and return to your faith of Baptism
Why would you attribute this to Calvin? A guy named Terry Pratchett said it and he was NOT quoting Calvin either. However, if you said this was a slogan of the Jesuits, then that would probably be closer to the truth.
Amen!.......from 'top' to bottom the veil was torn...no human hands could accomplish that.....an amazing confirmation that the access to God was open to any who come thru His Son.....astounding victory!
No longer necessary for any Priest to intercede....IT IS FINISHED....the battle is over....Jesus is Lord and our Great High Priest!
I think that you did not “show”, or “demonstrate” so much as articulate and argue.and few things are less persuasive than arguing against a position the other side does not hold. The very language ...! I am a Catholic because I put my faith in Jesus. It is only in a derivative and subordinate way that I can be said (as far as I can tell) to put my faith in the Catholic Church.
Consequently I find a lot of your contentions don't seem really to have to do with what I believe or how I came to believe it.
Sadder still is to see RCCs begging Christ for mercy. Keeping Him on the Cross as the perpetual victim, and believing that to suffer with Christ is following Him. The mercy was given when His work on our behalf was finished and God raised Him from the dead for our justification. The empty tomb is proof that He is no perpetual victim, but our victorious Savior. We may suffer persecution for His name’s sake, but dragging a wooden cross through the streets is just not the kind of suffering He described.
That is a little lie told by the failed priests of the Reformation who would have you believe that because the Bible was not a complete TOE (for all of you draft dodging libtards that's Army talk for Table of Organization and Equipment) the means determined to satisfy the requirements for bishops, priests and deacons.
Bad guess. I've stated more than a few times that I am not a Calvinist. Yeah, I know you can't keep all us heretics straight...yada, yada, yada...
The RCC has taught you well in double speak.
God tore the cutain down and they just keep trying to put it back up......endlessly....sad really...they just can’t see the truth. The the Priesthood of men abolished and no more.
All that God wanted to reveal to man, from the beginning, the middle, to the end was revealed. God did not write a sequel. All He wants us to know, He has already told us. And it’s a good thing. Even this amount of information cannot be understood, believed or trusted by so many. There aren’t enough sequels in the world to satisfy a spiritually blind man.
I've had this since birth. Catholicism never kept me from it. How would it heal me from it?
It's simply evidence that you were snippet mining on the internet again. You cite a single out of context sentence from a 456 page book you have obviously never read dealing with the concept of In Personna Christi. Would you care to comment on the context or on anything else in the book such as the following quote;"Every temple (house of God) has a priest, an altar, and a tabernacle. These elements are also present in the Christian who is in a state of grace."
But I'll bet you can quote extensively from the Book of Moroni.
Jesus died ONCE for all.
What about *It is finished* is so hard to understand?
Christ filled the righteous requirements of the Law which is why death could not hold Him. When we are forgiven by Him and found in Him, the fulfillment of those righteous requirements of the Law are credited to us.
*Forgiven* is past tense.
Philippians 3:9 ... and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ....
The righteousness we have is righteousness given to us because we exercised faith and honored God by taking Him at his word, not a righteousness that we think we earned by any number of works.
INDEED! LOL.
The Double Standard strikes again.
Don't flatter yourself.
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