One Catholic’s Honest Criticism about Sacrament of Confession

[prodromos]

So why did you challenge "one" being added in the English text?

I've been sick with the flu for a week and am not thinking straight.

So why did you put the stress on "one"? You'd prefer to take issue with my approach than admit you were wrong?

 

[Clare73]

I've been sick with the flu for a week and am not thinking straight.

So why did you put the stress on "one"? You'd prefer to take issue with my approach than admit you were wrong?

Sorry to hear about your flu. . .was it Covid?

"One another" ("one-and-other") is plural, two. I put the stress on "one" to show that it was between two people, rather than a group.

 

[prodromos]

Sorry to hear about your flu. . .was it Covid?

Not yet. Even when our daughter was sick with Covid, my wife and I could not seem to catch it.

"One another" ("one-and-other") is plural, two. I put the stress on "one" to show that it was between two people, rather than a group.

Do you recognise that is incorrect now?

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

1. In the Epistle of James 2:15, it’s clear that early Christians did not just confess their sins to a priest.

That really isn't clear from a single verse that can be read in both a corporate and an individual way taking the elder (priest) as representative of the congregation.

"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
James 5:13-16 KJV
​

The Lord said,

"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:15-20 KJV​

And though one could argue that this passage relates only to a subset of sins (those between one human and another) a Catholic is likely to see and understand the principle at work here as applicable to all sins and the way to confess them.

2. Then there is the penance by the sinner and the absolution through the priest. Prior to the fourth century, after confessing his sins, a Christian had to do his penance prior to receiving absolution.

Penance is a disciplinary measure and as such has always been in the hands of the bishops to decide.

 

[Daniel Peres]

That really isn't clear from a single verse that can be read in both a corporate and an individual way taking the elder (priest) as representative of the congregation.

"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
James 5:13-16 KJV
​

The Lord said,

"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:15-20 KJV​

And though one could argue that this passage relates only to a subset of sins (those between one human and another) a Catholic is likely to see and understand the principle at work here as applicable to all sins and the way to confess them.

Penance is a disciplinary measure and as such has always been in the hands of the bishops to decide.

I don’t understand how it’s possible to read the verses in any other way. At the liturgy, both the priest and laity would have been present. Therefore sins were confessed publicly. Furthermore, non-biblical historical evidence is even more clear. Check out the fist century church document called the Didache, for example.

As far as penance being a disciplinary measure, you are absolutely correct. However, although, like a doctrine, a discipline must be obeyed, any member of the Catholic Church is free to respectfully disagree.

It’s kind of like the Catholic Church beliefs about married men in the priesthood. We are free to disagree about whether or not the church should have married priests because that is an issue if discipline. On the other hand, we cannot disagree about the doctrine that married men can be ordained, but we cannot disagree that unmarried priests cannot get married.