[stfassisi]

You confess your grave sin to the priest, show proper contriteness and relay the knowledge of the gravity of your sin to the priest. Your priest then says, "Your sin is forgiven, go and ... (say a rosary, or give an amount of money to the poor, or whatever is the standard penance for the particular sin).". Can you possibly equate the penance you perform as being of the same propitiational proportion as the suffering and death of our Lord??? Is saying five Hail Marys and two Our Fathers "paying the last penny of sin"?

Why would you have a problem if someone stops sinning by confessing sins to a priest and never commits that same sin again because they believe that Christ works through priests?

[boatbums]

Why would you have a problem if someone stops sinning by confessing sins to a priest and never commits that same sin again because they believe that Christ works through priests?

No problem at all...and that was not my point, was it? You equate saying prayers for penance with the cross of Christ. If you forget or fail to confess any sins and do not "deal with it" here on earth, Purgatory is where you'll spend time suffering for those sins. In essence, you say that Jesus Christ's death on the cross as payment for all our sins is not enough. Somehow, human penance is equivalent to the suffering of Christ on the cross. I see a grave misunderstanding of the sacrifice of Jesus. You can't???