The Seal of Confession and The Virtue of Religion

The Hermeneutic of Continuity ^ | 8/17/11 | Fr. Tim Finnigan

[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.

[Natural Law]

"And there is no need to try to trash an entire group, boatbums, all of the protestants are apparently taking responsibility for the inflammatory keywords since the one who did it is keeping silent."

This is another case of crybaby Protestants who think it completely acceptable to lump all Catholics together based upon the actions of a few wayward Catholics, or ignorant or poorly catechized Catholics but whine and wring their hands over being painted with the same brush as their compatriots who posted the obscene keywords. When the shoe is on the other foot they suddenly have a blister.

Its pretty telling that not one of them has condemned the actions or manned up and admitted it.

[Uri’el-2012]

In his letter to the Ephesians Paul is even more explicit about the Gentiles’ spiritual inclusion when he states that "you Gentiles in the flesh . . . were [once] separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel . . . But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near . . . So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints" (2:11–13, 19).

Yes; you can be grafted into the vine and root.See Romans 11

s> we know the New Jerusalem is the Catholic Church that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved

WOW !

Is this from the city called "victory of the people"
or the city called "the people decide who is god"

hint: Nicea or Laodicea.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[stfassisi]

There is lots of typology on this along with writings from Church Fathers

I suggest you read this book written by Lawrence Feingold-a Hebrew Scholar convert to Catholicism

;

Some excepts on Lawrence Feingold conversion story..

http://hebrewcatholic.org/accountofmyconve.html

The reason for this experience of deep inner peace that illuminates the life of converts (or “reconverts”) to Catholicism after their conversion, provided they persevere, lies in the dogmatic principle. We enter the Catholic Church because we see that this is the religion ordained and willed and founded by God Himself. It is built on a rock. We believe in all Catholic doctrine simply because the Church teaches it with her full authority, and we recognize the Church to be the oracle of God, she who speaks in the name of God, the continuation of the Messiah’s mission on earth.

Many Jews who come to believe in Christ and the Church He founded, feel anguish over what is perceived as a betrayal of the Jewish people. My wife and I never experienced this trial. On the contrary, I discovered a great attraction for things Jewish that I never experienced before. I had never learned Hebrew as a child, but I found great joy in learning it as a Christian, so as to pray the Psalms, for example, in the language of the Chosen People. This sense was clarified and stimulated by reading the book, Jewish Identity by Fr. Elias Friedman, founder of the Association of Hebrew Catholics, which I came across not long after our entrance into the Catholic Church.

In the first years after our conversion, people often asked me why I “chose” Christianity or the Catholic Church, and not Judaism or Buddhism or Protestantism. The question is framed in the language of religious liberalism, as if religion were a matter of our personal sentiments, personal preferences, personal loyalties or choices. The experience of converts is not that we have chosen anything, but that it is God who has chosen to redeem us through the Incarnation and Passion of the Messiah, which is continued and made present in the Catholic Church, and it is God who called us to enter that ark of salvation. We who have been given the grace to hear, through no merit of our own, have the duty to pray for those who have not yet been given that gift.

[Natural Law]

"I didn’t realize the RC’s were THAT far removed from Biblical truth."

What is truth? - John 18:38

[presently no screen name]

Wrong ,we know the New Jerusalem is the Catholic Church

LOL!!

[Natural Law]

"Nicea or Laodicea."

The only way anyone could be so repeatedly and epically wrong on this is through willful deceit. Are you the deceiver or the deceived?

[Natural Law]

"LOL!!"

WOW!!

The same slapdiqs that don't believe Jesus when He said "this is my body" do believe that the New Jerusalem is an actual city that will descend from the sky.

[CynicalBear]

>> 877 Likewise, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial character. In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy."<<

So Catholics are replacementarians?

[presently no screen name]

When you have a problem with honesty - don't post to me.

Wrong ,we know the New Jerusalem is the Catholic Church that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved

LOL!!

[Uri’el-2012]

U-2012>Nicea or Laodicea.

The only way anyone could be so repeatedly and epically wrong on this is through willful deceit. Are you the deceiver or the deceived?

For someone who claims to be multi-degreeded,
I have noticed that you are breathtakingly ignorant
of the Holy WORD of Elohim in English.

Now you have demonstrated that your
blazing ignorance extends to Greek as well.

Nicea is the feminine of Nikolaos
which is "victory of the people"

Laodicea means "the people decide"

it's better to keep quiet and
have people think you stupid,
than to talk and confirm it.
- Mark Twain

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[bkaycee]

So Catholics are replacementarians?

I think they believe that God is done with the Nation of Israel and the promises to Israel are now seen as promises to the RCC.

Thats why the history of the RCC is fairly rife with Anti-semitism. Google, the Ghetto's of Rome, Spanish inquisition. Jews were forced to live in Ghetto's by Rome and during some festivities were forced to run naked thru the streets while being pelted by the crowd. The popes used to get a hearty laugh at this good clean fun.

The ghettos where not a nazi investion.

[D-fendr]

Godwin’s Law..

[stfassisi]

So Catholics are replacementarians?

Apostolic,and we have the writings(church fathers) in succession of those who knew the Apostles to prove it

[CynicalBear]

Yeah right. Thinking you replace Israel denies the truth of scripture. Not a slight error to be sure.

[bkaycee]

Godwin’s Law..

True, but certainly apropos with Rome claiming to be New Israel and Romes historical anti-semitism.

The gates of the ghetto were carefully monitored and locked at night. Jews were only permitted to leave during certain times of day and could never stay outside the ghetto overnight. Upon leaving they were forced to wear pointed hats and yellow badges, disclosing their Jewish identities to the outside world and promoting ridicule and harassment from their Christian neighbors.

http://honorsaharchive.blogspot.com/2008/07/history-of-jews-in-rome-and-jewish.html

[CynicalBear]

Thinking that Israel has been replaced gives rise to multiple problems doesn’t it.

[Natural Law]

"I have noticed that you are breathtakingly ignorant..."

Warning! The objects in the mirror may be stupider than they appear.

Nicia does not and never did equate to the feminine version of Nikolaos. Most historians attribute the name of Nicea to being named by Lysimachus one of Alexander the Great officers after after Nikaia, a city in Illyria, Greece.

Laodicea does not and never did mean "the people decide". We've gone over this before. Laodicea is a city on the Lycos River was built by Seleucid King Antiochus II Theos, between 261-253 BC, in honor of his wife Laodice.

You might have the yokels lapping up your version of history, but don't try that stuff on educated people.

[mitch5501]

"Thinking that Israel has been replaced gives rise to multiple problems doesn’t it."

Does it ever,when is a fig tree not a fig tree? No wonder many seem not able to recognise the season.

[bkaycee]

It certainly doesn't help, especially if your Jewish!

On a happier note, my wife is a Jewish Believer in Jesus!

[Natural Law]

"The gates of the ghetto were carefully monitored and locked at night. Jews were only permitted to leave during certain times of day and could never stay outside the ghetto overnight."

Have you no shame? You have posted this nonsense before, but since it seems to satisfy your biases you apparently haven't bothered to actually research the issue or even fact check that one faulty website you keep trotting out.

From Jewishencyclopedia.com:

From the latter part of the sixth century the popes were the real lords of Rome, and the Jews in the city, as well as in the whole country, were dependent on their attitude. Gregory I. (590-604) showed himself very just and mild toward them; he forbade the enactment of any unjust laws against them and decidedly opposed compulsory baptism. The following words appear for the first time in a letter written by him: "Just as the Jews in their communities may not be allowed any liberties beyond the measure allotted them by law, so must they, on the other hand, suffer no violation of their rights" ("S. Gregorii Epistula," viii. 25, ed. Migne). These words afterward became the Magna Charta of the Jews (see Popes). In spite of the severity with which the pope proceeded against the slave-trade of the Jews—he even ordered that the slaves be taken from them by force—he was unable to abolish it. This was due to the fact that several of the Roman Jews who trafficked in slaves managed to evade the edicts by bribes and pretended baptism. During the regin of this pope the Roman Jews especially did much to assist their coreligionists in southern France and in Greece.

The centuries immediately following were dark and troublous ones for the Jews of Rome. The emperor Ludwig II. (855-75) is said to have issued an edict in 855 ordering all Italian Jews to leave the country before the 1st of October in that year. This order, however, was not carried into effect. A decade later the Bishop of Orta attempted to introduce a special Jewish dress, which, however, was forbidden by Pope Nicholas I. As to the reign of Pope John XII., sometimes called Octavian (955-964), and the coronation of Otto the Great see "Yosippon," ed. Breithaupt, vi. 30.

During the following three hundred years the prosperity of the Roman Jews greatly increased, and is especially conspicuous when compared with the experiences of their coreligionists throughout the world during the same period. From the Crescentians and Tusculans on the throne of St. Peter they suffered comparatively little. In 1007 Jacob ben Jekuthiel went to Rome from Lorraine; he mentions a "bet din" which he found there, the president of which bore the title of "nasi."