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]

[anotheratheisthere]

You confess to a priest because you've been indoctrinated to do so.

To go to a priest and confess your sins is a tacit acceptance of your implicit inferiority and submission to the institution that the priest represents.

It's a way to control the masses.

If you just confess your sins at home, you will not pass in front of the donations box on your way out to the confessional.

Furthermore, how in the world would priests be able to molest children if the children didn't come to them? Do you expect the priests to go all the way to the children's house to molest them? That's crazy! The priest's a busy man, you know! He can't go around looking for children to rape. It's much more convenient if the parents bring the children to him.

[Joshua]

[Confused]

You confess to a priest because you've been indoctrinated to do so.

To go to a priest and confess your sins is a tacit acceptance of your implicit inferiority and submission to the institution that the priest represents.

It's a way to control the masses.

If you just confess your sins at home, you will not pass in front of the donations box on your way out to the confessional.

Furthermore, how in the world would priests be able to molest children if the children didn't come to them? Do you expect the priests to go all the way to the children's house to molest them? That's crazy! The priest's a busy man, you know! He can't go around looking for children to rape. It's much more convenient if the parents bring the children to him.

MODERATOR NOTE:
Please try to limit the stereotyping and seriously, this thread isn't about molestation by priests so please try to stick to the topic.

[anotheratheisthere]

You confess to a priest because you've been indoctrinated to do so.

To go to a priest and confess your sins is a tacit acceptance of your implicit inferiority and submission to the institution that the priest represents.

It's a way to control the masses.

If you just confess your sins at home, you will not pass in front of the donations box on your way out to the confessional.

Furthermore, how in the world would priests be able to molest children if the children didn't come to them? Do you expect the priests to go all the way to the children's house to molest them? That's crazy! The priest's a busy man, you know! He can't go around looking for children to rape. It's much more convenient if the parents bring the children to him.

MODERATOR NOTE:
Please try to limit the stereotyping and seriously, this thread isn't about molestation by priests so please try to stick to the topic.

Ok, I will. Sorry about that.

If I may make a quick point though, stereotyping is what Christians do. "All non-christians are going to hell". That's pretty big stereotypical net to cast!

And regarding the issue of changing the topic to child molestation, I understand that changing topic is against rules so I will definitely not do it anymore on these boards, but the Church does nothing but tell me that it's immoral for me to have pre-marital sex, and using condoms, etc. A Christian will bring that up regardless of what we were talking about. If they can do that, I don't understand, in principle, what's wrong with me doing the same about their immoral actions. What was it that Jesus said about removing the plank from your eye before removing the speck from mine?

Again, sorry for changing the subject. From now on, if I want to talk about a new topic, I'll start a separate thread instead of changing the subject on somebody else's post.

[Joshua]

Hi, I understand how you feel about the abuse within the Catholic church, and they is no one more sadder then the Catholic faithful within the church, honestly these people have brought shame within Christ's church, and it makes alot of Catholic priests look bad because some are bad.

But would you say England is a nation of pedophiles because " they have pedophiles within its country", you would not ofcourse.
You get many teachers within schools who have abused children, does that make that school a school of child abusers?

Ofcourse its a shock to see a Catholic priest, because he is ment to be a holy man,but afterall just a man.

If I may make a quick point though, stereotyping is what Christians do. "All non-christians are going to hell". That's pretty big stereotypical net to cast!

In all of the Catholic churches 2000 years of history it has never even officially announced somebody is in hell. Not even Hitler, and most of us have a pretty good idea where he might be.

The people who do that, do not have the authority to say it or do they fully understand scripture, you get most of that behaviour from the Protestant sects ( We Catholics like to call these the preachers of the new gospel . It also says in scripture "judge and you shall not be judged, condemn and you shall not be condemned" - For them to tell you your going to hell is going against the Word of God. For he alone decides.

If you actually went to a Catholic priest and told him your an athiest and discussed why you dont believe in such and such, I sure he will have a sensible and pleasent conversation with you.

the Church does nothing but tell me that it's immoral for me to have pre-marital sex, and using condoms, etc.

Ofcourse you dont have to listen to the church, but if you believe in God you do. The church is doing it for your best interests, God is real if you dont believe in him or not, the point is the church is they for a good in the world, a few men does not make the church evil. We have over 500,000 Priests within it, not including the monks,nuns etc. The Catholic church as done alot for this world, hospitals, schools, university, colleges, orphanages, homeless shelters. Charity foundations.

We brought you the laws of science, the big bang theory was created by a Catholic Priest, what alot of athiests believe in, and alot more. We invented the college system. We give educations to the poor.

Done not judge the church by a few evil people, but like at the good was it as produces within its 2000 years of existence, and you will see the goodness will outweight the evilness 1000x over.


God bless friend.[/quote]

[Goat]

Hi, I understand how you feel about the abuse within the Catholic church, and they is no one more sadder then the Catholic faithful within the church, honestly these people have brought shame within Christ's church, and it makes alot of Catholic priests look bad because some are bad.

But would you say England is a nation of pedophiles because " they have pedophiles within its country", you would not ofcourse.
You get many teachers within schools who have abused children, does that make that school a school of child abusers?

Ofcourse its a shock to see a Catholic priest, because he is ment to be a holy man,but afterall just a man.

The problem is not only that there are pedophile priests , but the fact that for many many years, the hierarchy protected priests who had accusations put against them, and many times transferred accused priests from one place to another, and kept them in positions that they were in contact with children.

Then, once the scandals hit, they removed people who help try to hide this back to the vatican, and actually gave them promotions (Cardinal Law, for example).

Both ignorance and pride caused many more victims.

[McCulloch]

Hi, I understand how you feel about the abuse within the Catholic church, and they is no one more sadder then the Catholic faithful within the church, honestly these people have brought shame within Christ's church, and it makes alot of Catholic priests look bad because some are bad.

But would you say England is a nation of pedophiles because " they have pedophiles within its country", you would not of course.
You get many teachers within schools who have abused children, does that make that school a school of child abusers?

Of course its a shock to see a Catholic priest, because he is meant to be a holy man, but after all just a man.

So why then are not all Catholic priests allowed to marry? Why does the Catholic Church only allow Anglican priests who convert and allow some Eastern Rite priests to remain married? Is it not better to allow a natural outlet for the priest's natural sexual inclination than to endanger many others?

As goat pointed out, the problem is not so much that some priests are pedophiles, but that the spirit led hierarchy of the church protected, not the victims, but the perpetrators of these indecent acts.

In a statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi in September 2009, the Holy See stated "We know now that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases," adding that this figure was comparable with that of other groups and denominations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_s ... bal_extent

Now, given their past behavior and attitude, I am inclined to believe that this number is under reported. But even at that, this percentage is not trivial or small.

According to the USCCB, Catholic bishops in the fifties and sixties viewed sexual abuse by priests as "a spiritual problem, one requiring a spiritual solution, i.e. prayer". This approach was an epic failure.

Many of the accused priests were forced to resign or were defrocked. In addition, several bishops who had participated in the cover-up were also forced to resign or retire. Now, out in the real world, people who commit crimes of this nature are not allowed to get away with merely resigning or losing their professional credentials. Why is it that this bastion of godly morality expects a lower standard from its own representatives, the priests, than from the general public? Why were bishops who conspired to cover up criminal activity allowed to escape with retirement?

The church is doing it for your best interests,

The evidence says otherwise.

We brought you the laws of science, the big bang theory was created by a Catholic Priest, what a lot of atheists believe in, and a lot more. We invented the college system. We give educations to the poor.

I know this. Quite ironic, eh?

[anotheratheisthere]

Hi, I understand how you feel about the abuse within the Catholic church, and they is no one more sadder then the Catholic faithful within the church, honestly these people have brought shame within Christ's church, and it makes alot of Catholic priests look bad because some are bad.

But would you say England is a nation of pedophiles because " they have pedophiles within its country", you would not ofcourse.
You get many teachers within schools who have abused children, does that make that school a school of child abusers?

Would I say England is a nation of pedophiles because " they have pedophiles within its country"? Of course I wouldn't! Why? Because England puts its pedophiles in JAIL.

If a teacher abuses a child, it doesn't make the school a school of child abusers, AS LONG AS the school FIRES the teacher, calls the police, and holds the criminals accountable.

When priests molest children, the church does NOT call the police, the church did not allow the priests in question to be incarcerated like common criminals.

By protecting and relocating the pedophiles, the church condoned and endorsed their acts.

If a school teacher abused a child, and the school tried to cover it up, tried to protect the pedophile instead of protecting the child, wouldn't that make the school equally guilty?

That's what the church did. The church institution is COMPLICIT in pedophilia. They aided and abetted the pedophiles. The institution overall, as an accomplice and facilitator, is as guilty as the actual perpetrator.

In all of the Catholic churches 2000 years of history it has never even officially announced somebody is in hell. Not even Hitler, and most of us have a pretty good idea where he might be.

First of all, the reason they don't declare Hitler is in Hell is that the Catholic Church failed to take an active role in preventing the Holocaust. Some say they were deliberately passive. So to take an official stand against Hitler could result in some political blowback for the Church.

Secondly. GIVE ME A BREAK! The central principle of Christianity is that you can only be saved through Christ. If you don't accept Jesus as your personal savior you're going to hell.

The Bible is so voluminous and so vague that by selecting some quotations and omitting others you can argue both sides of the issue, but you know perfectly well that the Church is all about scaring people with hell so that they flock to them.

The Catholic church as done alot for this world, hospitals, schools, university, colleges, orphanages, homeless shelters. Charity foundations.

Yes, they've also done a lot of evil. The execution of pagans. The inquisition. Burning of witches at the stake. Condoning of pedophilia. Condoning of the Holocaust. Helping the spread of AIDS by pressuring people to not use condoms. Slavery. Genocide of native Americans. The Crusades! The execution of scientists such as Giordano Bruno, Galileo and many others. The enhanced spreading of the Black Plague by encouraging the mobility of penitents.

Whether actively or passively, directly or indirectly, willfully or accidentally, the Catholic church has caused MILLIONS of deaths and uncounted pain and suffering.

But yes, of the billions they collect in donations, they will pass some along to charities, after they've used the bulk of it for Papal palaces, or to hide and relocate pedophile priests.

May Santa bless you. At least people who believe in Santa don't burn non-believers at the stake.

[McCulloch]

At least people who believe in Santa don't burn non-believers at the stake.

That's not fair. They have not done that in quite a while. I don't think that they have sanctioned the burning of a heretic since 1721. And it appears as if they only started around 1300. That's not too bad for an infallible organization led by the Holy Spirit. It only took them 421 years to figure out that burning heretics at the stake is a no-no.

c.f. List of people burned as heretics