Why do Catholics confess their Sins to a Priest?

[Joshua]

Confessing your sins to a priest thinking that he can forgive you of your sins, may seem to some people an outrage!
Although Us Catholics have our beliefs from the Scriptures.





Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests? What makes them think that
priests can absolve them of the guilt of their sins? Why don't they confess their sins directly to God as Protestants do?

Catholics confess their sins to priests because-- as it is clearly stated in Sacred Scripture--God in the Person of Jesus Christ authorized the priests of His Church to hear confessions and empowered them to forgive sins in His Name. To the Apostles, the first priests of His Church, Christ said: ``Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.... Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.'' (John 20:21-23). Then again: ``Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.'' (Matt. 18:18). In other words, Catholics confess their sins to priests because priests are God's duly authorized agents in the world, representing Him in all matters pertaining to the ways and means of attaining eternal salvation. When Catholics confess their sins to a priest they are, in reality, confessing their sins to God, for God hears their confessions and it is He who, in the final analysis, does the forgiving. If their confessions are not sincere, their sins are not forgiven.
Furthermore, Catholics do confess their sins directly to God as Protestants do: Catholics are taught to make an act of contrition at least every night before retiring, to ask God to forgive them their sins of that day. Catholics are also taught to say this same prayer of contrition if they should have the misfortune to commit a serious sin (called a ``mortal sin'' by Catholics).



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Granting that priests do have the power to forgive sins in the name of God, what advantage does confessing one's sins to a priest have over confessing directly to God in private prayer?

Catholics see several advantages in confessing their sins to a priest in the Sacrament of Penance. First, there is the Church's guarantee of forgiveness, which private confessions do not provide; secondly, there is the sacramental grace which private confessions do not provide; and thirdly, there is the expert spiritual counseling which private confessions do not provide. With the Apostles, Catholics recognize that the Church is, in a mysterious way, the Body of Christ still living in the world (Col. 1:18); therefore they recognize that God will receive their pleas for mercy and forgiveness with far greater compassion if their pleas are voiced within the Church, in union with the Mystical Body of His Divine Son, than if they are voiced privately, independent of the Mystical Body of His Divine Son.


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Do Catholics confess all the sordid details of their sins to the priest?

No, Catholics are instructed not to confess the sordid details of their sins, because it would serve no useful purpose. All that is required of the penitent is the number and classification of sins committed, as well as a sincere contrition for having sinned, a promise to make restitution if the sin has harmed others, a firm resolve to avoid future sins and the occasions of sin, and the carrying out of the penance assigned by the priest (usually the praying of a few prayers). Actually, there are fewer intimacies revealed to the priest in the confessional than are usually revealed to one's doctor, lawyer, or psychiatrist; hence the Sacrament of Penance is not the embarrassing experience many non-Catholics imagine it is. Rather, it is a wonderful relieving experience, for it is through this sacrament that sins committed after Baptism are washed away by the blood of Christ and the sinner becomes once again reconciled with God.


Although most of you may not believe the apparations of Mother Mary, some may think upon them as demonic.
But the Catholic Church is also aware of this situation, and does study them before approving them.

The Messages of Bayside was to a Mother of 5, called Veronica Lueken who recieved visitations from the Saints, Mother Mary and Lord Jesus himself!
Even Pope John Paul II himself visited the site when it was happening.


Although you may not believe them one of the messages states;
"A true legally-ordained priest is far superior than any man, as he
represents Me in the Godhead." - Jesus, May 23, 1979

Link: http://www.tldm.org/News11/CallNoManFather.htm

Website Of Messages of Bayside; www.tldm.org



Catholic Apologetics - Joshua[/b]

[Slopeshoulder]

Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Once and for all. It dose not say with more to come.


16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Fully equipped. We do not need anything else.

Matthew 15:
9'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS (G)DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

This is a wonderful expression of the most dangerous trend in religion: Fundamentalism. And BTW, this is not what Matthew meant when he wrote that, and even if he did, which he didn't, then he was having a bad day and should be ashamed of himself.

[McCulloch]

Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Once and for all. It does not say with more to come.

When was that faith delivered? Before or after Jude wrote his epistle?

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Fully equipped. We do not need anything else.

Read the passage you referenced in context. The scriptures being talked about are the ones that Timothy had known from a child, thus the entire New Testament is excluded from the discussion.

Matthew 15:
9'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS (G)DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

This is a common enough claim by religious leaders. "The stuff I teach you comes from the god (or the gods) but the stuff that others teach you comes from human sources. " From where I sit, it all looks as if it came from humans. However, I am willing to be persuade otherwise. What have you got?

[Slopeshoulder]

I've always looked at Sola Scriptura as a moment in a time, a corrective, a swinging of the pendulum, and at most a reminder of the primacy of scripture to christians. It was logically inconsistent or incoherent insofar as to read it is to interpret it, and it also has the whiff of danger because a. it is a closed system and that's never good, and b. it had the unanticipated consequence, when combined with the "vulgar" translation, the printing press, and the reformers' fear of the northern renaissance that led to fundamentalism centuries later. Thanks Martin!
But Luther was no literalist, and he rode a huge exisiting wave of exegesis and theology that he showed no desire to abandon. Arguing the bible within the bible is like arguing inside any other closed tradition (like Maoism, Stalinism, etc). I think the Jews get it right: take scripture seriously, take the tradition of commentary equally seriosly, and consider every act of informed interpretation, discussion, and application as itself an act of co-creation, or a sacred thing. What a great balance that seems to be!

To the OP, the simplest answer to the question asked by the thread title is because the Catholic Church sees the church as having a sacramental mediating function, which is something that I've come to appreciate the more I observe the craziness that the unmediated get up to. And, to their credit, the Church has evolved the understanding of forgiveness to be more like "reconciliation" (it's no longer called confession), and atonement has evolved from substituionary justice to "at-one-ment." Seems better than the self-hating dualism or glib forgiveness that many other folks get mired in. Considerigng alternatives from biblical onanism to yet another afternoon on the couch with a shrink, spending some time in the sacramant of reconciliation with a priest seems pretty positive indeed. HA, just listen to me, I sound like a Catholic! (Now I've got myself thinking...as a friend told me, one of the benefits of the catholic church is that it is so huge that whatever you're into they have experts. A non-cognitive romantic phenomologist with a flair for Bergson and the Buddha who likes jazz? Meet Fr. Steve. Maybe he'll consent to be your spiritual director! Not too shabby.)