-  Straight to Catholics - Why I believe in What I believe  - 

                                               By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, S.J. 

Not only is the theology of the sacrament of reconciliation rooted in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, but its practice can be traced back through history, that is, from the early Church to the 21st Century Church. The Lord Jesus Christ, who promised to be with His Church to the end of the world, could not have gone back on His words. It was in the 16th century that the Protestant Reformation changed it. Christ Jesus could not have left His Church in error for many more centuries over such an essential aspect of Christian life. If we said that He did, we would be accusing the Lord of being a liar.

Psychological Dimension

From the psychological view point, the sacrament of reconciliation is very therapeutic. Let us start with a simple example. When we have something bothering us, we will feel much more relieved if we could confide it to someone. When we have sins, we will be ashamed to tell them to another person. In practice, we seldom tell another our personal sins. Yet we need to "unload" this guilt. As psychologists will tell us, guilt is one of the stumbling blocks to our growth as human beings.

The Lord Jesus Christ knows our psychological need and has provided us, in the Church, with a means by which we can get rid of our guilt feelings so that we can grow to be better human beings. When we go to the priest, representative of Christ Jesus and the Church, and confess our sins, we meet the Lord Jesus Christ in His Church. We express in a concrete human way our desire to mend the "strained or broken" relationships between God and us between you (Community) and us and between us and ourselves. When the priest absolves us with Christ's authority in the ministry of His Church, by the power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Christ's love is poured into us we we open the gate and we feel His forgiveness and the forgiveness of the Church. We come out not only feeling relieved but also filled with new vigour - the strength of Christ's love, to live a new life. When the priest utters the words of Christ and His Church's forgiveness, as he lifts his hand to make the sign of the cross, we feel the confirmation of forgiveness. Human beings need an outward sign of an inward reality. You may know that I love you. But when I say to you: "I love you" and express it in a concrete way by embracing you, you not only know but feel confirmed about it. You feel much happier. How is a person confirmed as a Christian and as a member of Christ's Body? He and She is so confirmed when he/she is baptized by a human person in the name of the triune God. Our sacrament of reconciliation is not only psychological; it is basically spiritual. It is a spiritual healing that flows into our psychological make-up. Psychological help remains psychological. Spiritual healing goes deep into our inner being, changes us and affects our psychological make-up.

Conclusion - From my treatment of the sacrament of reconciliation above, it can be seen that our sacrament has its basis not only in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and in the history of the Church but also in the nature of human beings. The priest is there as a representative of the body of Christ, the Church and the Head, Christ Jesus. He is there not to judge but to dispense God's infinite love in forgiveness and in strengthening. Through this act, a Catholic Christian can go forth strengthened to build stronger bridges of relationship.

Objection - Did not confession as practiced by the Catholic Church lead to abuses in the Middle Ages - the indulgence scandal?

Response - Yes. Facts are facts. Truth must be faced squarely. The Irish Missionary Monks worked out a sort of "price list" or "Tariff" of penances for different sins. Herewith I listed a few examples: (1) for murder - three years exile on bread and water, plus three more years as servant to the victim's family. (2) for drunkenness - three weeks on bread and water, etc... In the later part of the Middle Ages, the custom of offering prayers instead of doing physical penances became popular. Then an offering was given to a priest for prayers in Mass. Money given to build Churches was practiced as a penance. Here is where the abuse came in. The rich began to pay others to do their penance. For instance, a man with a penance for seven years on bread and water would pay 12 men to fast three days plus 120 men to fast three days, but 7 times: [(12X3) + (120X7X3)] = 2,556 days = 7 years. Such abuses and related questions on indulgences and other causes brought the Reformation.

The Church knew about it and tried to eradicate it but it took quite a long time before she succeeded. the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 already condemned the abuses. Although the Council of Trent enacted the disciplinary measures to correct abuses, they were not eradicated. Finally, in 1567 His Holiness Pope St. Pius V, seeing the ineffectiveness of the disciplinary measures of the Council of Trent struck at the root of the abuses by abrogating every indulgence that had a monetary abused. This killed the abuses. Anything good can be abused. This is due to the perverted mind of human beings or to ignorance. love is good. Yet, how many people make use of it to commit adultery, to steal other people's wives and to smother the growth of others (especially children?) The abuse of a thing does not make the thing bad. It is the abuse that is evil. A knife is good if I employ it to cut things - for examples: vegetables for food - for the use of Man. But a knife becomes bad if I use it to kill another person. A car is good because it is a means of transportation. Just because some people abuse it by driving recklessly and killing themselves and others, it does not mean that we must scrap the car. the Sacrament of Reconciliation is good if it is not abused. Even religion which teaches good, can be utilized for evil ends - to split people to gain votes, etc.

 Objection - The priest is only a human being and he is also sinful and therefore unworthy.

Response - Of course he is only a human being and he is sinful. But who is worthy? Jesus Christ chose Saint Peter who denied Him thrice to be the leader of His Church - Luke 22:31-32 - Worthiness comes basically from being chosen by God and from His power. Saint Paul says: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" - 2 Corinthians 4:7 - A priest represent not himself but Christ and His Church. Who baptizes and cleanses us from sin? A man chosen by God to be a leader (priest) of His people. Can anyone who baptizes say that he is worthy? No. He does it in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that is, God uses him as an instrument of His power.

Objection - You Catholics go to confession and come out committing the same sins. It looks as if you use the confessional to salve your guilty conscience only so that you can go and commit more sins.

Response - This accusation comes from an ignorance of what is the sacrament of reconciliation and what it is to be human. (1) Catholics who go to the sacrament of reconciliation without a firm desire and resolution to change, have not the right disposition to receive the sacrament. The Church has always laid this down as a necessary condition for the reception of the sacrament. How can a person who goes to meet God, Christ Jesus in the sacrament tell a lie? On the one hand he says, "Lord forgive me. I am sorry for my sins," and on the other hand harbours in his/her heart the determination to sin again. This means that he/she is saying sorry and not really being sorry. In other words: It is a lie. (2) Everyone knows, unless he or she is a liar, that in spite of all the goodwill, all of us fall again because "the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak." Therefore "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." - Matthew 26:41 - The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a watchfulness and a prayer. It is hoped that, gradually, through constant examination of our conscience and a determination to change (The Sacrament of Reconciliation) we will slowly change, with the Lord Jesus Christ help and ourselves. 

Indeed, from my priestly experience, those who come to the 'Sacrament' frequently are generally those who are better or holier people. This is not a hypothesis. It is a fact. You cannot being see yourself ugly and do nothing about it. It is just not human. - P A G E  T H R E E -         

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -