What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

Reconciliation: The Part of the Confessor (Priest)

Reconciliation: The Part of the Confessor (Priest)

                It’s easy to understand both the role of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit and also the role of the penitent in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The part of the confessor (priest) is not so well understood.  Especially among those of Protestant traditions, it is pretty much completely misunderstood.  In Protestant traditions, some people may use the phrases “confession” and “reconciliation” but they describe a totally different process from what is found in the Catholic Church.  In Protestant traditions, even if the sins are specifically named out loud, they are confessed “directly to God.”  Protestants, most of them at any rate, see no need, in fact are taught that there is no need, for sins to be confessed to any man.  It’s all very much “me and God.”

                Within the Catholic Church, it is very different.  I have written earlier, and it bears repeating, that when Jesus gave his disciples the authority to forgive or retain sins it implied that they must be told the specific sins in order to know whether to forgive or retain them.  Also, in 1 John, we are told “If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.”  (1 John 1:9 NABRE)  A lot of translations use the word “confess” instead of “acknowledge”.  Again, the implication is that our sins must be confessed to someone, not just quietly to God.  So who is that someone?

                That someone is the confessor (priest).  It is important to note here that Catholics do not believe that the priest forgives sins.  God does.  The confessor is the vessel God works through as the minister of reconciliation.  “Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood.  But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the ‘ministry of reconciliation’.  The apostle is sent out ‘on behalf of Christ’ with ‘God making his appeal’ through him and pleading ‘Be reconciled to God.’” (CCC 1442)

                But since the original apostles are all long dead, who “exercises this ministry of reconciliation” today?  The answer is the priests under the authority of the bishops, under the authority of the Pope.  In the Catholic Church, this is called apostolic Succession, by which we mean that there is a documented unbroken line stretching all the way back from Pope Benedict XVI to St. Peter, who was elevated to the position of Vicar of Christ by Jesus himself.

                Because the confessor is charged with being the minister of reconciliation, there are certain things he should do.  He “should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ.  He should have proven knowledge of Christian behavior, experience of human affairs, respect and sensitivity toward the one who has fallen; he must love the truth, be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, and lead the penitent with patience toward healing and full maturity.  He must pray and do penance for his penitent, entrusting him to the Lord’s mercy.”  (CCC 1466)

                In other words, he’s not there to beat you up or slap you down.  He’s there to bring restoration and healing to hearts and lives.  He’s there to lovingly lead us back to the Father and to the Church, just as his confessor is there to do the same for him.  Even the Pope has a confessor. 

                There is one final thing to be aware of regarding the confessor and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It is completely confidential.  This is called “the seal of the confessional,” or the “sacramental seal.”  Under no circumstances can a priest ever reveal anything that is said in a confessional to anyone.  This grants the penitent the freedom to confess absolutely anything, even the very worst sins.

                The confessor (priest) is essential to the Sacrament of Reconciliation because God knew that our human nature demanded that for us to truly be free of the guilt and shame that accompanies our acts of sin we needed absolution to be given through a human vessel.  When we confess our sins to a priest, as Catholics, we know that we are confessing them to Jesus.  But Jesus cannot be tangibly present to us because he is in Heaven.  We don’t hear him audibly speak the words of absolution to us.  Yet we need to.

                That’s why he gave the apostles the ministry of reconciliation.  That’s why, within the Catholic Church that ministry has been handed on in an unbroken line from St. Peter to every bishop and priest.  Not because God wants to embarrass us or shame us or humiliate us.  Our sin already makes us feel that way.  He gave us confessors because he knew the only way we could truly be freed was for us to hear someone say to us, “through the ministry of the Church may God grant you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 1449)