ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on March 16, 2004

Dear John: Well, the reason the Catholic Church believes in the Sacrament of Confession is that this Sacrament, as all seven Sacraments, were instituted by Christ Himself and are recorded in the Bible. James 5:13-15 tells us that the prayers of the presbyters (priests) forgives sin. James 5:16 tells us to confess to one another; this statement made in the context of the priestly ministry. Jesus, in John 20:23, explicitly and directly, grants to his priest the power of forgiveness in Jesus Name. We know this power was given to the priest and not to everyone because of the context of the passage. He was talking to his ministers, not to the general public, and further in John 20:22, just one verse earlier, tells of Jesus "ordaining" his priests. Jesus, who is God, is the authority to forgive (Mat 9:2-8), but Jesus the King can delegate to whomever He pleases. It pleases God to give to mankind, who always relates to the world through his senses, a flesh and blood representative to be the alter Christos (a stand-in for Christ, an ambassador to whom the power of forgiveness is delegated). It is Jesus God who appointed these priests, not man. Such delegation does not derive from man. Man has no power to assign himself this task. The power itself of forgiveness also does not derive from man, but from God. Jesus delegated authority to St. Peter and to the Apostles (the first Pope and bishops) to make decisions in God's name, to govern the Church, the People of God as we see in Matt 16 (i.e. Isa. 22:22) and Matt 18:18 in the giving of the "keys". ("keys" are the symbol of authority). As it is with all Catholic Teaching, this teaching on confession is thoroughly Biblical. All teaching of the Catholic Church is either explicitly or implicitly found in Scripture, or is derived from Scripture. One of the reasons I converted from a Baptist Preacher to a Catholic is that I discovered to my amazement that it was the Catholic Church that was truly the Biblical Church. The reason God wants us to Confess in the Sacrament is that the way in which we came into friendship with God in the first place is through His Church and his Sacraments (Baptism/Conformation), so if we sever that friendship through mortal sin, be must return again through the Church and her Sacraments to be reconciled. 2 Cor 5:17-29 speaks of a ministry of reconciliation. The Sacrament of Confession is also called the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I remember as a Southern Baptist back in the 1970's when I was a member of the First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, Texas (at the time one of the largest Baptist Churches in the world), a seminar on Discipleship was conducted. It was called the Billie Hanks Discipleship Seminar. One of the main teachings of this seminar is that while God certainly forgives our sin, that as human beings we also need flesh and blood accountability. The idea of a Paul/Timothy relationship was taught. For each person there is a Paul (mentor) in their life, and for every person there is a "Timothy" (student). What this means is that each person should have a person, a confidant, to whom they can confess everything, a person to hold oneself accountable. As one little boy once said, "Sometimes we need God with skin on". God created us as Sacramental people. That means that God created us an sensory beings. We relate with the world through our senses. This is why having an "accountability partner" is so beneficial. While we believe and love God and God is faithful to forgive us when we ask, it is also helpful in our struggle against sin to have a flesh and blood person with which to be accountable. This idea of "accountability partner" is being taught in one fashion or another is many denominations, Catholics just have a built-in accountability partner -- called a priest. It should be noted that not all sin is required to be presented in the Sacrament of Confession; only mortal sin must be confessed. Lesser sins can be confessed directly to God. It is only the kind of sin that severs friendship with God rather than merely damaging that friendship (1 John 5:16 speaks of two kinds of sin -- one that is not deadly (mortal) and one that is not deadly (mortal). I hopes this helps a little. For additional information here is a link that quotes from various Church Fathers about confession: Click here And a link on the subject of the Forgiveness of Sins in general: Click here God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary