Question: In a penance service followed by individual confession, is the penitent allowed to write his/her sins on a sheet of paper to be read and then burned by the priest without the penitent actually having to confess their sins with their lips as the catechism states?
Answer: Regularly, confession should be vocal. One accuses himself with by spoken words. This does not belong to the essence of confession, since any sign by which sins are sufficiently made manifest would suffice, and there is no divine precept to confess orally; but it is the custom of the Church, which has obtained the force […]
Did the Power to Forgive Sin Die with the Apostles? Or Did Christ Confer Power to His Apostles Down Through the Ages.
By Father Robert Altier Throughout history, people have denied that the Church can forgive sin, that is, they have rejected and denied the reality of this sacrament. The reformers said that sin is forgiven only through baptism. The Montanists and the Donatists said that the Church could forgive venial sin but could not forgive mortal […]
Confession for Non-Catholics?
Fr Brian Mullady, O.P. Question: Can a Protestant go to Confession and validly receive absolution? How should a priest pastorally handle such a situation when a Protestant spontaneously seeks the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Of course, baptized persons being received into full communion are exhorted to go to Confession before their reception. Also, in danger of […]
Penance
Victor R. Claveau, MJ Throughout his public life, Christ proclaimed the mercy of God toward sinners. He had come, he said, to preach the good news of salvation and deliverance from sin. Almost everything he said and all the wonders he worked spoke of the mission that he was sent into the world to accomplish […]
What is Confession?
Answer: Confession is a contrite acknowledgement of our sins to a priest, who is duly authorized by God (through the Church), in order to obtain forgiveness. This acknowledgement of our sins is an important and necessary part of the Holy Sacrament of Penance. Even in the Old Law, a certain kind of confession was prescribed […]
Lucifer and His Minions
©2019 Victor R. Claveau Once upon a time, a few days ago in fact, Lucifer, the absolute ruler of Gehenna, decided to hold a conclave with all his demons and other minions. While he would never be satisfied with the number of souls he garnered during each instant of time, he was secretly gratified with […]
The Church’s Power to Grant Indulgence
Victor R. Claveau, MJ The Church possesses the power to grant Indulgences. (De fide.) The Council of Trent declared: “Since the power of granting indulgences was conferred by Christ on the Church, and she has even in the earliest times made use of that power divinely given to her, the holy council teaches and commands […]
Indulgences in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
§1471—The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. The Punishments of Sin §1472—To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes […]
Plenary Indulgences in Articulo Mortis
Victor R. Claveau, MJ The risk of purgatory can be averted, for we have at hand the means of attaining heaven immediately after death. These means are many and varied. Some are of an infallible efficacy, such as martyrdom, or an Apostolic Pardon (plenary indulgence) in articulo mortis (at the point of death. Other very […]
The Seal of the Confessional
A priest is bound by the natural law, the divine law and the law of the Church to keep absolutely secret whatever he hears in Confession. Canon 983 §states, “The sacramental seal in inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other […]