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.
"Sweet heart of Mary, be my Salvation", it says.
"Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation", it says.
Who needs a priest, a pope, a mass, Jesus Christ, or saints when Mary is the channel for our salvation?
I think this statement is getting to the gist of what I and others have been trying to stress. You know I appreciate your knowledge as well as your expressed relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, so I hope you take my comments in that spirit.
We are given several admonitions in Scripture about the purpose of "confession". First of all - and mainly - is the idea that we sin against God by our wrong actions but it is not exclusively that he, alone, is offended. We go to him and "name it like he names it", coming clean in what we have done that was wrong. We are assured that God is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). There are other people that are affected by our deeds both directly and indirectly. With that in mind, when James states we should confess our sins/faults to one another and pray for each other for healing, he cannot be speaking about "anonymous" confessing.
You purposely seek a man whom you do not know personally and who, you hope, doesn't know you either to hear your confession. You accept his absolution and penance requirements and, when completed, you leave confident that your sin is no longer an issue. Knowing you as well as I can via this online relationship, I also believe that you would apologize to the individual you offended by your action and ask for their forgiveness, intending to avoid repeating the same wrong. However, I don't think every other person may be that noble. From what I remember as a Catholic, I don't recall an emphasis on going to the person you offended and asking for their forgiveness. I'm not saying no priest does this, but just that I don't remember it being stressed.
The admonition in James has much more to do with accountability to each other than it does to a "sacrament of confession", so to speak. Think about how it would affect your way of life if, instead of confessing your faults to an unknown priest, you told your two best friends. And they, in turn, had the same deal with you. If this was the way we all faced our failings, don't you think it would and could drastically change the state of our churches?
That’s not nearly the same thing. Jesus made atonement for our sins. That is not penance.
Jesus paid the penalty so that we don’t have to. The penalty for our sin is death, a penalty which none of us is capable of paying, no matter what prayers and deeds some priest assigns to us. Forgiveness is offered freely so that we don’t have to pay what we can’t.
Jesus didn’t die to set an example of how we are to consider or treat our sin. He died so that we don’t have to. God gets no glory if we can save ourselves. It’s a gift so that no one can boast.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penance
1 : an act of self-abasement, mortification, or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin
2 : a sacramental rite that is practiced in Roman, Eastern, and some Anglican churches and that consists of private confession, absolution, and a penance directed by the confessor
3 : something (as a hardship or penalty) resembling an act of penance (as in compensating for an offense)
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expiation
1 : the act of making atonement
2: the means by which atonement is made
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You need to get a better translation of the Bible.
http://bible.cc/hebrews/2-17.htm
New International Version (©1984)
For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
New Living Translation (©2007)
Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
English Standard Version (©2001)
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
International Standard Version (©2008)
thereby becoming like his brothers in every way, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and could atone for the people’s sins.
GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters so that he could be merciful. He became like them so that he could serve as a faithful chief priest in God’s presence and make peace with God for their sins.
King James Bible
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
American King James Version
Why in all things it behooved him to be made like to his brothers, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
American Standard Version
Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Bible in Basic English
Because of this it was necessary for him to be made like his brothers in every way, so that he might be a high priest full of mercy and keeping faith in everything to do with God, making offerings for the sins of the people.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful priest before God, that he might be a propitiation for the sins of the people.
Darby Bible Translation
Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people;
English Revised Version
Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Webster’s Bible Translation
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Weymouth New Testament
And for this purpose it was necessary that in all respects He should be made to resemble His brothers, so that He might become a compassionate and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, in order to atone for the sins of the people.
World English Bible
Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
Young’s Literal Translation
wherefore it did behove him in all things to be made like to the brethren, that he might become a kind and stedfast chief-priest in the things with God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people,
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http://strongsnumbers.com/greek/2433.htm
hilaskomai - to be propitious, make propitiation for
Interesting? Does the flesh want to go to Heaven? I think the flesh we all have thinks we are god. Why would we want to see the real God?
(2) If someone has a “born again” moment, prays the sinner’s prayer, invites Jesus as Lord into his heart and his life. And then has doubts, is he saved?
I do not know but, Thank God, God knows
And we’re told there’s precious little Christ in our Christianity?
How can they find Him with all the layers added that they have to go through?
I don't ever recall it even being a consideration. It was never part of the penance I received. That penance was always so many Hail Mary's, so many Our Fathers, the whole rosary, if I was that bad.
But nothing about reconciliation and restitution involving the individuals with which I had issues.
Ah, the safety of anonymity and not having to face the music by going to the person I offended and asking them forgiveness.
There's a lot to be said for public humiliation.
Your logic is equivalent to blaming gang related shooting deaths on a lack of bullet proof vests.
Logic doesn't apply because it's a reality...
Giving them blanks to shoot at each other would be far more wise than regular ammunition until they could be reached with the Gospel of the grace of God...
Better to be alive with blank ammunition or bullet proof vests while someone is working to get to you with the Gospel than dead, in Hell...
Then why aren't they the (c)atholic epistles??? And why are not Paul's epistles catholic epistles as well then???
God gives grace to the humble. Nobody needs to can go through another human being to receive grace to do anything. If God doesn't give it freely, it's not grace, it's something earned which makes it wages.
This is interesting. Paul’s epistles are not catholic epistles?
Yes. Thank you for the correction.
Do you ever get mad when someone takes a parking space you had your eye on? When someone tailgates you? When someone at the store has 20 items in a 10 item checkout? When someone does not clean up after themselves according to your expectations etc...
We could spend a lifetime trying to find the people we offended.
Time spent praying for and forgiving the people who have offended us is more important because it's harder to love them than those we have sinned against
Confession makes a whole lot of sense when you see it from this perspective because it frees us from ourselves and opens us up to a self giving love for those who offend us
Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. Matthew 16:24,25
The Christian life is the life of sons and daughters.... it is not the life of slaves..... It is freedom, not bondage. Of course, we are slaves of God, of Christ, and one another. ..We belong to God, to Christ, to one another, and we love to serve those to whom we belong........ But this kind of service is freedom.
What the Christian life is not, is a bondage to the law, as if our salvation hung in the balance and depended on our meticulous and slavish obedience to the letter of the law........ As it is, our salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ, on His sin-bearing, curse-bearing death, embraced by faith.
Many religious people are in bondage to their religion! They are like John Wesley in his post-graduate Oxford days in the ‘Holy Club’....
...He was the son of a clergyman and already a clergyman himself. He was orthodox in belief, religious in practice, upright in conduct and full of good works........ He and his friends visited the inmates of the prisons and work-houses of Oxford,..... They took pity on the slum children of the city, providing them with food, clothing and education....... They observed Saturday as the Sabbath as well as Sunday...... They went to church and to Holy Communion..... They gave alms, searched the Scriptures, fasted and prayed.
.... But they were bound in the fetters of their own religion, for they were trusting in themselves that they were righteous, instead of putting their trust in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
.... A few years later, John Wesley (in this own words) came to ‘trust in Christ, in Christ only for salvation’ and was given an ‘inward assurance’ that his sins had been taken away. ...After this, looking back to his pre-conversion experience, he wrote:
... “I had even then the faith of a *servant*... though not that of a son.”.......... Christianity is a religion of sons, not slaves.
author unknown
Most Christians depend and rely on Christ...for He is faithful to instruct us in His righteousness. Faithful to forgive us, and ultimately to take us home with Him.
Jesus Himself said....
..."I am the way the truth and the life"....further that... "no man can come to the Father except by me".
That pretty much rules out anyone making it on their own...as well as any church..pastor, Priest or anything we might "depend on" other than the King Himself.
It's really not hard to understand or accept....but then it does require faith to believe in Jesus's words.
There is a great wisdom in this, and it is similar in fact to the purity of forgiveness:
If someone has wronged you personally, and you are beyond communicating with the offender (he will not talk to you), AND YET you forgive him - who does that forgiveness in your heart directly effect and benefit?
It is the direct juxtaposition of what happens if hate is in your heart: that hate is not effecting the person you are hating on nearly as much as it is effecting YOU personally. Hate eats up the soul.
But likewise, the Word instructs us to go directly to the brother or sister with whom we have a contention, first and foremost - IOW, YHWH would much prefer we settle these things eyeball to eyeball, using the structure of the Church as a secondary system, in case the primary fails. I see the confession/forgiveness dynamic as a direct parallel to that.
If I have offended my brother, the best possible action is for me to go to him, confess the offense, and hope that forgiveness is forthcoming.
If I offend YHWH, it must naturally be the same thing.
And in confessing before YHWH, the 'penance' He requires is written upon the soul... a whisper in the ear by the Holy Spirit - You won't feel forgiven until such things are performed, and are usually a conviction to provide an additional confession to a brother who has been hurt by your offense, or a witness before another in a similar condition. perhaps a restitution must be performed as well. A heart of flesh can feel the need required to resolve a thing, and it usually, and painfully, requires bringing secret things into the light for disinfection.
To the degree that the Church administers a confessional system to teach the above precept, it is a good thing, as it is operating in a secondary position, teaching the heart of stone the nature and means of a heart of flesh - and there are many who are hard put to learn the difficult road to exposing the darkness of the heart, having never felt it's rewards. To the degree that the church provides a replacement for the above precept, it is not only operating outside of its authority, but is enabling the heart of stone to persist, as the matter is not brought into the light for disinfection, and the secret thing remains.
Strange question, but if it came from Kierkegaard, I guess it made sense to him. As far as, "Do you HAVE to go to heaven", I would say no person seeks God on their own. We, in our sinful natures, are at enmity with God. So, outside of the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment, no one would "want" to be with God if left to their own devices. Those who, by God's grace earnestly seek to know the truth, will be rewarded by God with the truth. But, still, that person must decide what to do with the truth - ignore it, or grasp hold of it. Other than that, a person only goes to heaven who has received Jesus Christ as Savior and the indwelling Holy Spirit continues to sanctify the believer in his walk with God.
(2) If someone has a “born again” moment, prays the sinner’s prayer, invites Jesus as Lord into his heart and his life. And then has doubts, is he saved?
Only God sees the heart. Only God knows if the desire to receive Christ is real. A person, as they grow in grace and their faith matures, may face doubts as part of the growing process. How they deal with those doubts determines whether or not their faith is genuine.
While in Bible College near the end of my time there, I had to face my own doubts about why I was there: what was I there for? what is this all about? why is it so hard? how do I know this is all true? is God real? should I continue? I would say it was the deepest valley I had ever experienced. But the wonderful thing about it was that God never left me or abandoned me. He was there all the time showing me and proving to me exactly what I needed. I came out of that valley more sure than I ever had been before that I knew the truth. Was I "temporarily" unsaved during that time? Nope! I know because throughout those weeks God was still there, if he cast me out, I would have never come back like I did. Just because your kid messes up and strays from you, doesn't mean they aren't still your kid. God is never afraid of our doubts and he never condemns us for having them. He knows our frame, he knows our weaknesses, he has pity on us and he never stops loving us. He is always drawing us back to him, just like the prodigal son's father, he never gave up but went out and watched for him to return and when he did, the father rejoiced. God welcomes our doubts and questions and he is there ready with the answers we need.
I agree,... but Daniel...why would any church deny this certainty to it's members by teaching otherwise? What would be the purpose to keep them insecure in their faith unless perhaps to keep them depending on something other than His finished work. It is hard to understand why?
Thomas doubted.
What was Jesus' response?
Of course, our theology of confession arises from our understanding of what IHS said to Peter at Caesaria Philippi and from the "sending" of the Evening of Easter Day. We take "apostle" to mean something like 'minister plenipotentiary', as you know.
You accept his absolution and penance requirements and, when completed, you leave confident that your sin is no longer an issue.
I balked at this. I think the words "penance requirement" were what I stumbled on. In real life, I have suggested my penance (once it was Psalm 32) to my confessor. I tend to view penance more therapeutically than anything else. I view penance more in the realm of buying flowers for someone you have offended. YOucan't possibly "make it up,"but you can say, "Look, I'm really, really, REALLY sorry -- I mean it." and penance is, to me, kind of like that. "Look! I'm sorry! I'm reading Psalm 32, see?"
And that ties into contrition, which is a big and necessary aspect of the sacrament. I think TRUE contrition with respect to a sin against some person would involve something very like whichever step it is in AA and Al-Anon: to make amends expect where to do so would make things worse.
As a former pastor and, well, someone who likes to talk to people about God 'n Jesus 'n stuff, I recognize that people need to grow, and that to be too strict about full contrition might crush, or at least set back, someone whose faith and confidence in Christ's love was weak. But I am sorry to hear that no one looked with you at what real contrition means, and what it may require of one.
Your remarks about "accountability" got my attention because I often talk about "keeping my accounts current," with confession. Yeah, I'm being glib, a little, but I DO want to be done with old stuff before I undertake new stuff. I am about to do a year of classes for enquirers, and I am being nagged by respectable people to write a book! (No, srsly!) So I need to, you know, jettison such cargo as can be thrown overboard. SO, I go to confession.
Think about how it would affect your way of life if, instead of confessing your faults to an unknown priest, you told your two best friends. And they, in turn, had the same deal with you. If this was the way we all faced our failings, don't you think it would and could drastically change the state of our churches?
Funny. This summer I confessed one of my more distressing sins to a recent "convert", an adult who was baptized and received all the relevant sacraments this past Easter. I was trying to show by example what confidence in Christ means, when it comes to our shame.
Yes. I don't see why confessing to friends would be instead of receiving the sacrament, but I can see it being "as well as".
But you know as well as I do that in the big 'C' Church there are many troubled people for whom the (optional) anonymity of the confessional is as close as they currently are ABLE to come to a halfway honest acknowledgment of their sorrow and shame.
I never have done the telephone booth with a screen thing. I am always in front of my confessor either looking at him or, worst case, looking at the floor between us.
But I should say the ideal is a relationship with a good and holy priest where one returns to the same guy often. And the problem which I now experience is that my guy was reassigned 3 years ago and is now provincial prior, so he's up to his ears and couldn't possibly stop to spend 45 minutes with me. I miss him.
But in that case you combine the sacramental with the confessing to a friend. As I say, that's the ideal. It was a real blessing while it lasted.
I hope this was moderately responsive.
P.S. Thank you for the kind words. It means a lot. It is a pleasure and a blessing to look at this stuff with you.
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