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.
Yep. I can only be told so many times that my Church is WRONG BAD UNSCRIPTURAL before I say, “Well, in that case, stay away.”
Are your posts intended to convert people to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church? Is that what you’re doing here?
Original Greek...You've got the Original Greek???
No one has seen the Original Greek for almost 2 thousand years...
Or could it be you are not telling the truth again???
God forgives our sin completely, blots it out, and does not remember it any more.
He clothes us in the righteousness of Christ so that even though we may slip up and sin, we are still forgiven because God sees us as righteous as Christ. He does not count our sin against us.
David committed horrendous, even premeditated sin, and yet God Called him a man after God's own heart. Lot, a man whose deeds I would certainly not consider exemplary, is called *righteous Lot* (2 Peter2:7)
It's our heart that matters to God. He creates a new heart within us when we become His, a heart that desires to please Him and obey. That's all God is asking.
Because the Pharisees had all the actions down. They were sinless in regards to keeping the Law in action. But they were full of wickedness and corruption inside. Keeping the letter of the Law does not impress God.
Micah 7:18-1818 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Psalm 103:10-1410He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
Acts 3:18-2118But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, 20that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
You guys are constantly telling us that scripture doesn't mean what it says...
But then you never tell us what you figure it does mean...
So tell us, if heaven isn't a physical place and has no mansions, tell us what heaven is...Describe it for us...
My being a jerk does not excuse anyone else’s being a jerk. We just all perish together pointing fingers at each other.
The four “pillars” of Dominican life are prayer, study, apostolate, and community. For most of us, community is the hardest. For some reason my brethren are not only NOT captivated by my wonderfulness but also they have the nerve to be distressed that I am not captivated by their specious and spurious wonderfulness!
But we remain committed to all four pillars because we think this is a life which will help us remain conscious or deepen our awareness of God's Love.
If we pause to think how much more fun, how much sweeter it is when brethren dwell together in unity, then maybe we will conclude that those whose attitude or self-presentation is one of opposition and defiance are not enjoying very much sweetness.
If then we recall how little we deserve any sweetness at all in our lives, maybe we will have compassion for those suffering resentment and anger.
It is not so much, in my alleged mind, that this person is good and that bad. It's not even quite so much that this deed is good and that one bad, though that is not unimportant, IMHO. It's that anger, opposition, hostility tend to follow pain. And even if that pain is self-inflicted, I would like, in my better moments, to respond more to the suffering of my interlocutor than to the sin.
Our Lord was mocked, stripped, humiliated. In pressing a crown of thorns on his head, it was as if the soldiers purposefully misunderstood the kind of kingship he claimed. He was chained, scourged, nailed. Yet he prayed for forgiveness.
We are enjoined,I think, to look for him in the suffering of others, and to offer the suffering others cause us for it to be joined to his and be allowed to share in his redemptive and forgiving work. That is an especially Catholic thought. Offering our pain in love is, we think, one of the good works that God has set for us to walk in. And the way he has set for us to walk is the way to the realization of holiness and bliss. How then can we balk, like Balaam's ass? I think it is no good angel that seeks to block our path.
If I lived as well as I sometimes talk, I'd probably glow in the dark. Forgive me.
No doubt God is retaining you as supervising architect.
Hey, Jesus said it...I believe him...I'm on Jesus' side...
Who's side are you on then??? Who do you believe???
I really don't know what you are talking about...
Translation issues aside, even if that was the case, the apostles are all dead now.
And tell me, since no other Catholic has, that since Jesus also said *freely you have received, freely give*, what kind of man would refuse to forgive someone who came to him and confessed his sins?
And what about 1 John 1:9 where John says, “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “.
You know, John was one of the apostles to whom the power of binding and loosing was given. Looks here like he gave a blanket loosing of sin by stating that God WILL forgive anyone who confesses. And some priest is going to override God?
I don’t think so.
Of course, until we've agreed on what "physical", "place","real",and "spiritual" mean, we won't get very far.
I understand. I get that feeling myself at times.
Are your posts intended to convert people to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church? Is that what you’re doing here?
If it so happens, then I am grateful for it.
If you don’t believe the record of Scripture when Paul says that he was commissioned to preach to the Gentiles and Peter to the Jews, I cannot help that.
It doesn’t matter who did what first. That is not a commission.
I believe the Scriptural account of the commissioning.
Besides, I asked first. Your request is only a cop out.
And you know that exactly how?
Iscool provided Scripture, you know the inspired Word of God that the Catholic church claims responsibility for- as in they claim they wrote it, to support his position.
What exactly do you have?
My blurry morning vision read that as "New Jersey," and I thought, "Oy! Do we have a theological difference or WHAT?"
The third day after His death.
What’s so hard about that?
Why are you so sure you are right? What authority? Can you provide Scriptural support for your position? Not tradition, not consensus, not some ramblings of some *church father* hundreds of years after the fact, but actual, inspired Word of God Scripture.
Or was Jesus lying when He said that He would spend three days and three nights in the earth?
The choice is yours.
I find it ironic beyond belief that a Catholic would put the words of Paul above the words of Jesus for just this one situation, considering the scathing indictment of Paul by the Catholics on this forum and how they make a hierarchy of Scripture, elevating the words of Jesus above all else.
Except in this situation, then Paul rules. Right?
You cling tenderly to and nurture a decades-old offense and despise an entire CHURCH for it, and you have the nerve to talk about forgiveness. Grow up. Seriously.
I think that if Catholics can consider the Last Supper as part of Jesus death, they can squeak the three day thing in from Friday to Sunday.
As we know, telling a lie isn't a sin for you guys (so you think)...
Then He must delight in my little contributions.
If you think God delights in that, you're in for a big surprise...
Is that what you teach those Sun Day School kids as well???
You cling tenderly to and nurture a decades-old offense and despise an entire CHURCH for it, and you have the nerve to talk about forgiveness. Grow up. Seriously.
Original Greek...You've got the Original Greek???
No one has seen the Original Greek for almost 2 thousand years...
You do know that the NT was written in Greek? You mean that Jesus and the Apostles didn't teach out of the KJV in English? You are learning much. The Greek that we have says this, not your version.
Or could it be you are not telling the truth again???
Since I don't post lies, your question has no meaning.
God forgives our sin completely, blots it out, and does not remember it any more.Yes, this I think is one of the biggest misconception. Christ came to save sinners, not rehabilitate them and aid them is saving themselves.He clothes us in the righteousness of Christ so that even though we may slip up and sin, we are still forgiven because God sees us as righteous as Christ. He does not count our sin against us.
We love Him BECAUSE HE FIRST loved us.
We are imputed with Christ's righteousness once we become born again through Faith. It's an on or off thing, you are either a believer and have been forgiven for all eternity or you are not.
The RCC believes you are infused with "sanctifying grace" or "saved" at Baptism. This is more akin to having different levels of sanctification, like a glass having different levels of water.
At RCC Baptism the glass is filled and the soul is fit for heaven. Venial sins reduce the level of water(quantification), mortal sin empties the glass and without auricular confession and absolution hell is the destiny. The goal is good works to refill the glass until death where purgatory eventually and painfully tops the glass off and the person then can deserve heaven.
Biblical Christianity involves an "alien" righteousness, Christ's righteousness imputed to us, not working out our own righteousness with Christ's assistance, which cannot help but produce fear, doubt, uncertainty.
Biblical salvation is appropriated thru Faith in the perfect sacrifice on the Cross for forgiveness of sin. The Christian is given Christ's righteousness as a gift. All sin past, present and future is forgiven. The Christian in gratitude is now a slave to the master and is willing to take up his cross daily, NOT UNDER FEAR, but with Love and gratitude for the Great Salvation received. True believers WILL persevered to the end, distinguishing themselves from the tares.
1 John 4:17By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we HAVE also OBTAINED access BY FAITH into this grace in which WE STAND, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
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