"In the eyes of the Catholic Church",is it mandatory that a sinner's Confession be heard by a priest?
594202
No, but it helps.\n\nThe Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin."\n\nWhen a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven.\n\nHowever Catholics also believe that when someone sins they not only hurt their relationship with God, they also injure the entire church, the body of Christ. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me.\n\nWith love in Christ.
830138
I'm a Catholic Christian, and this is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about non-Catholics and non-Christians:\n\n"Outside the Church there is no salvation"\n\n846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:\n\nBasing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.\n\n847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:\n\nThose who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.\n\n848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."
885664
I agree fully.  It's the Spiritual principle behind self-examination and the Sacrament of Confession/Absolution.  I think it's more that agreeable....I find it absolutely necessary!
819301
What that person said is not true.  The only Vatican decisions one might be able to say are made by the holy spirit are those of the pope when he is speaking ex cathedra - that is, infallibly, on the authority of the promise made to St. Peter.
187298
The focus of a priest is the people. The focus of a spiritual master is himself.
269463
I think you misunderstand teh role.  Except for priests of the Roman Patriarchate, Rome does not make rules for people.  Catholics follow the rules set down by divine revelation.  Now, for purposes of practicality, certain processes occur in a regulated manner.  For example, morning prayer is sung during the morning evening prayer isn't.  If it doesn't impact divine revelation, then it is optional.  On the other hand, if you disagree with divine revelation you will do what you want anyway, so they don't matter then.
940239
because the catholic religion is all about tradition. \nand nobody in leadership has bothered to look at what the bible says, instead, they go by the ritualistic traditions which are actually un-biblical.\n\nconfessing to a priest will do nothing for you, coz God says to confess to Him. \nthey sometimes use the excuse of the scripture that says "confess your sins one to another".. but if you read that passage, you will realise its talking about discussing your sins honestly with others in order to be accountable to someone to change. but its only God that we get forgiveness from.\n\nas far as Mary goes? again, they dont read the bible where it says that you are only to pray to the Father in heaven in Jesus name. they also obviously missed the spot where it forbids you to talk to the dead. mary is dead. she was awesome, but she is dead at the moment, in heaven and unable to hear them. it says nowhere that she and only a selected special few are saints. we are all saints when we are saved into Christ Jesus. thats what God calls us, saints.\n\nif any catholics dont believe me, take a look at all of the epistles, alot of them start with "to the saints of (insert place like ephesus or corinth here)". He addresses the people of the church, as saints. so unless that church is full of corpses of great men and women of God... He is writing to alive people. \n\n"My people perish from lack of knowledge".\n\nits just a lack of knowledge of what the bible says..so, what God says.\n\nits sad :-(
1035659
The Necessity and Practice of Orally Confessing Sins\n\nJames 5:16 - James clearly teaches us that we must “confess our sins to one another,” not just privately to God. James 5:16 must be read in the context of James 5:14-15, which is referring to the healing power (both physical and spiritual) of the priests of the Church. Hence, when James says “therefore” in verse 16, he must be referring to the men he was writing about in verses 14 and 15 – these men are the ordained priests of the Church, to whom we must confess our sins.\n\nActs 19:18 - many came to orally confess sins and divulge their sinful practices. Oral confession was the practice of the early Church just as it is today. \n\nMatt. 3:6; Mark 1:5 - again, this shows people confessing their sins before others as an historical practice (here to John the Baptist). \n\n1 Tim. 6:12 - this verse also refers to the historical practice of confessing both faith and sins in the presence of many witnesses. \n\n1 John 1:9 - if we confess are sins, God is faithful to us and forgives us and cleanse us. But we must confess our sins to one another. \n\nNum. 5:7 - this shows the historical practice of publicly confessing sins, and making public restitution. \n\n2 Sam. 12:14 - even though the sin is forgiven, there is punishment due for the forgiven sin. David is forgiven but his child was still taken (the consequence of his sin). \n\nNeh. 9:2-3 - the Israelites stood before the assembly and confessed sins publicly and interceded for each other. \n\nSir. 4:26 - God tells us not to be ashamed to confess our sins, and not to try to stop the current of a river. Anyone who has experienced the sacrament of reconciliation understands the import of this verse. \n\nBaruch 1:14 - again, this shows that the people made confession in the house of the Lord, before the assembly. \n\n1 John 5:16-17; Luke 12:47-48 - there is a distinction between mortal and venial sins. This has been the teaching of the Catholic Church for 2,000 years, but, today, most Protestants no longer agree that there is such a distinction. Mortal sins lead to death and must be absolved in the sacrament of reconciliation. Venial sins do not have to be confessed to a priest, but the pious Catholic practice is to do so in order to advance in our journey to holiness. \n\nMatt. 5:19 - Jesus teaches that breaking the least of commandments is venial sin (the person is still saved but is least in the kingdom), versus mortal sin (the person is not saved).
877058
I think if they do not screen their priests a little more prior to accepting them into the church then yes, accountability is usually a good deterrent.
1018739
They really want to you to confess your sins, as they believe that an essential part of repentance and forgiveness is to tell another person the sin.
447821
Yep, and so does everyone else...we all have a concsience (sp?), but it's up to us to determine whether or not we want to listen to it.  The fact that the question has to be asked is evidence enough that it's not right.  I mean, how many times do you hear someone ask "Do you think that opposite sex relationships are a sin"?
896338
In the Catholic faith, we believe forgiveness is offered only if certain things are preseent. ( And FYI, confession to a priest is only necessary for mortal sins, not venial sins.)  God alone does the forgiving, not the priest.  The sinner must acknowledge that what he has done is truly a sin, and that it was done out of free will.  He must plan to try to not do it again.  He must be truly sorry .  He must be willing to make up for his sin in some way.  The priest, after hearing the confessor, is in a position (through the power of the Holy Spirit) to express what God has offered, forgivess.  Of course, if the confessor is lying, and doesnt have true remorse, or immediately goes out to sin again, then obviously God sees the reality of it all and forgivess was not present.  Jesus understood human nature perfectly when he instituted this sacrament: we have a need to talk to someone when we are feeling anxious, upset, and guilty.  A trained person who can listen and offer comfort and help us work through our sinfull desires, and then assure us, only after he himself is sure, that our loving and forgiving Father has welcomed us back with open arms.
687860
I would laugh at the irony.\nIt would be rather offensive, but the priest thinks he's doing it for the best.\nIf you really don't believe, it probably wouldn't matter.
853835
This is a Roman Catholic teaching which has changed over the years .  They used to teach this more prominantly than they do now.\n\nChristians do not believe it is possible for a person who is incapable of Hearing the Word, Believing the Word, Repenting of sin, Confessing the name of Jesus as Lord and Saviour, being immersed for the remission of sins, (and then walking faithfully) will go to hell.  Hell (Tartarus) is reserved for willful sinners.  Babies, innocents, or the mentally challenged cannot do these things.  God would be unjust if He held them to these commands.
340013
This is interesting because Christians say that you have to repent and sin no more, but then they call everyone a sinner. In fact it says in their bible that anyone who says they have no sin is a liar. Therefore according to them everyone keeps sinning. So then what is the difference between say adultery or homosexuality or lying or any other so-called sin when Christ supposedly died for sin? Do you see the great problem? It's absurd. It is only accepted by people because they don't have the capacity to think deeply enough to discover how serious the problem is. If they could actually comprehend the magnitude of the problem they would no longer support the doctrine of the cross. For two millennia the churches have gotten away with an absurd doctrine.
1108760
Oh My!! You confess to the whole church???  Do the people judge you for what sins you have made?? How could I look at the members in the church eye to eye, who have commited serious sins?  I don't think it is meant for us to judge.  How can we not when we hear about members airing their dirty laundry?  I think your sin should be left to God to handle.
844196
But of course.\n\nWho leads a Xtian church?  Why the priests of course.\n\nWho sets the moral standards that are to be followed by Xtians?  The priests frothing at their mouths reading excerpts from the Bible.\n\nSo, how can a priest, who is supposed to in communion with God and his perfectness, lead a flock of parishioners without having known his sins and the evil they supposedly entail?\n\nPriests are the root of how we view the dichotomy of bad & good, and have had cultural impact as such since the times of Biblical record.  They have helped, over time, to develop our value system of good / evil in every religion.\n\nTherefore, they must have been in concert with immoral values at one time to know that they were evil.  It is the priests and the noble class that have lead us to our cultural viewpoint we have today, which is that of a slave of religious ethics.\n\nSo....that makes the Xtain church leaders exceedingly hypocritical for they are the ones responsible for defining sin.   They have told us how to live ethically in accordance with the Bible.  Therefore they are the ones who have set the value of sin in the first place.  We are slaves to their good values, and are appalled by their evil valuations.  THERE WOULD BE NO EVIL IF IT WAS NOT FOR THE PRIESTS SAYING IT IS EVIL.\n\nThat is how the Xtian leaders are hypocritical.