Not to seem like I’m piling on, but your quote of 1John 1:9 is a good passage to harmonize with the Our Father as well. Notice that “asking,” as in the Our Father, and “confessing,” as in this passage, are not necessarily the same thing, as people would ordinarily understand them. Yet, you yourself equate the “confessing” with “asking,” or at least you seem to make them synonymous. So, in fact, you are not too far off from being able to see that God has tied into His plan for us the notion that He will dispense His forgiveness through “confession.” And confession is through another mere man, namely, a priest with the power to do this transmitted down from the Apostles, who received it from Christ Himself. To God be the glory!
Well phrased. chs ... recall the words of our Lord.
“Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sin you retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23).
Claiming that no one but God can forgive sins, the Pharisees objected when Christ told the paralyzed man, who was lowered in front of Him, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5). but God can share this power with human beings.
Thus sins are remitted by the sacrament of baptism, as witnessed on Pentecost Sunday. And sins after baptism are also remitted by what the Church calls “the power of the keys.” This power is not possessed by all Christians, but only by those who have been ordained to the priesthood. It is this sharing in the divine power of forgiving sins that the Church believes she possesses. It is the greatest gift that the merciful Christ bequeathed to a sinful world until the end of time.