Catholic Notion of Confession

[bostonian]

My wife is a cradle Catholic and I am a new Episcopalian. One reason that I chose to be an Episcopalian instead of a Catholic is that I don't believe in the Roman Catholic notion of confession. I believe that my sins are between me and God. I don't see the sense in confessing my sins to a priest, who himself is a sinner.

I know that Episcopal Priests will hear confessions at request, but I am not interested. My understanding is that the Confession of Sin said at Holy Eucharist (www.stjudes-cedarcity.org/bcp/bcp.html#_RWTOC-651) makes it unnecessary to confess one-on-one with a priest:

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

My wife told me that last Sunday her (Catholic) Priest talked about the importance of confession. He talked about how "some religions" don't have confession. The implication apparently is that Catholicism has it right and others are wrong. He said that the mandate to go to confession comes not from religious establishment, but directly from Jesus. Does that claim have any merit?

I checked Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession) and it says:

The Council of Trent (Session Fourteen, Chapter I) quoted John 20:22-23 as the primary Scriptural proof for the doctrine concerning this sacrament, but Catholics also consider Matthew 9:2-8, 1 Corinthians 11:27, and Matthew 16:17-20 to be among the Scriptural bases for the sacrament.

It also says:

The Anglican sacrament of confession and absolution is usually a component part of corporate worship, particularly at services of the Holy Eucharist. The form involves an exhortation to repentance by the priest, a period of silent prayer during which believers may inwardly confess their sins, a form of general confession said together by all present, and the pronouncement of absolution by the priest, often accompanied by the sign of the cross.

That sounds like the Confession of Sin I mentioned above.

I looked into this some more and found that www.catholicscomehome.org/sacrament-of-confession.phtml seems to say the same thing the Catholic Priest said: "Reconciliation or 'confession' is a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ". What can you tell me about this, especially regarding John 20:21-23?

Also, the Catholic Priest apparently suggested that Catholicism is truer than other religions because it is older and closer to Christ. Wikipedia says "The Catholic Church traces its foundation to Jesus and the twelve Apostles" and "Some scholars agree that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus". What can you tell me about that?

Thanks.

[srigdon]

I can't help you on the confession question.

The only tidbit I have to offer concerns the second issue. The notion you'd need to study up on is that of 'Apostolic Succession.' Wikipedia has an article on that. This is the tradition of new bishops being ordained by laying on of hands by already-consecrated bishops. Then one traces episcopal lineage for each bishop back to St. Peter, who is considered the first bishop (pope) of Rome. Lots of churches claim apostolic succession, including us, (and Roman Catholics deny we've got it because, according to them, our ordination rites have some defect in them.) So this provides some sort of 'legitimacy' for your church. I don't remember if there's scriptural basis for laying on of hands.

The Episcopal Church went through quite an effort to get a bishop ordained in this manner after the Revolution. We couldn't talk the Church of England into laying hands on a new American bishop because of the lingering bitterness from the Revolution. So we managed to get the Scottish Episcopal Church (which is Anglican) to do it. They consecrated Samuel Seabury, our first bishop in 1784. In exchange, we agreed to base our prayer book communion liturgy on the Scottish BCP instead of the 1662 English BCP. Probably the fact that we call ourselves the Episcopal Church instead of the Anglican Church is also a bow to the Scots for doing us this favor.

Anyway, I mention this to point out how important the tradition of apostolic succession has been to churches.

The Roman Catholic claim to being THE church of Jesus has its basis in Matt 16:18, where Jesus says to Peter "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. " Did that mean that Peter was the founder of the church? What then, do we make of St. Paul's big role, and the fact that he and Peter fought with each other? That would seem to indicate that perhaps Peter wasn't recognized as the top authority.

Hope this helps a little.

[nini]

the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the priest himself does not absolve us of sin--he is the human spokesperson for God, who is the one who forgives. The Catholic Church does not require confession on a weekly basis anymore (if one is to take communion on a weekly basis). The requirement is now for mandatory confession before a priest once a year (sometime during the Lenten season). The rest of the year there is a prayer of general confession professed by the entire congregation during the early part of the mass. It seems that the Catholic church, in one of many instances, has become "Anglicized".

Personally, I have sat with my Episcopal priest, spilled my soul, and received great consolation and relief. She has performed the right of absolution as God's representative and given me a great sense of peace and forgiveness.

Personally, I came to find Catholic confession, along with the concept of indulgences (now here is a can of worms) to be what, is to me, part of the GREAT Catholic "guilt fest".