[holyscroller]

Not being Catholic, I probably shouldn't comment, but it seems to me it should be the PRIESTS who have been living in sin who are doing the confessing. How can a priest who is full of sin up to his eyeballs forgive anybody of anything?

[COBOL2Java]

How can a priest who is full of sin up to his eyeballs forgive anybody of anything?

The faculties of a priest are efficacious irrespective of the state of his own soul. He is merely the vessel; the absolution is being granted by Christ.

[redhead]

"Not being Catholic, I probably shouldn't comment, but it seems to me it should be the PRIESTS who have been living in sin who are doing the confessing. How can a priest who is full of sin up to his eyeballs forgive anybody of anything?"

Because it is not the PRIEST who is the Sacrament. He is only a conduit of grace. He has very little to do with the efficacy of that grace. A faulty tool is still a tool, and can still be used.

But you are right: Those priests should be confessing. But because they don't pray in their personal lives, they don't see much importance in, or they are ashamed to administer, the Sacrament of Penance. This probably explains the serious fall-off in the frequency of confession in many American parishes.

[Salvation]

If you are ever around a priest, ask him about the words of absolution. The sins are forgiven through the power of God, not the power of man.

Listen to the words.