Confessing Method in Catholic Church?

Question

Can you confess your sins in prayer directly to God, or must you confess to a priest. I have been told that you can, but when you confess to a priest it forgives the entire church community? Can you confess serious sins directly to God or must they be done in front of a Priest?

Answer 1

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" I Timothy 2:5

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16

(Speaking of Christians) "But ye are a chosen generation, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
1 Peter 2:9

What? This is blasphemy! Who but God can forgive sins!"
Mark 2:7



We confess our sins to God

Answer 2

Confessing one's sins to a priest has the sins of the person confessing them forgiven. Not those of the entire community, because the entire community is not guilty of the individual's sins.

While a person may pray directly to God, for Forgiveness, it is always better to go to Him via a priest, because Jesus Decreed that they have the Power to forgive sins(The Gospel according to St. John chapter 20, verse 23).

If you are feeling ashamed to face the priest during Confession, most Confessionals are done in boothes so that the priest may not have to see the face of the person whose sins they are hearing.

Answer 3

As long as you are truly sorry for your sin, god will forgive you. There should be some type of atonement [penance] made to show that you are sorry.

We had to go to confession once a month and confess our sins to a priest. Did this man really need to know how many times I swore, had carnal thoughts or touched myself inappropriately? No. I go the solo route these days, when I screw up I learn from my mistakes and try not to make them again and in my eyes that is a lot better than saying you are sorry, whipping out some Holy Mary's and doing it again.

Answer 4

Sure you can go to God. But the theory behind the sacrament of Reconciliation, as it is called today, is that you have offended the community at large in some way. Maybe you hurt someone or you were grumpy because of your sin. Who know who it may have effected. But rather than go on the local radio station and ask forgiveness from your entire town, or put it in the paper, the priest stands proxy as a representative of the community at large.


The authority to assure people of God's forgiveness comes from BOTH Matthew 16:19 AND Matthew 18:18.

Also we are COMMANDED to "go to your brother when he has anything against you". So obviously we must forgive him. Also the Lord's prayer says that God will forgive us as we forgive others(the Lord's prayer is in the bible!). So don't say that "Only God can forgive sins! Cause that is a rebellious lie from the evil one. The reason I say that is Jesus was such an example of submission to authority that He often made it a point to submit to things that were not neccessary for HIm to submit to, yet many American Christians think that "they don't have to be accountable to anyone". This is very dangerous and the reason why we have so many wierdos embarrasing the name of Chirst!

If you live in the light as Jesus is in the light and submit your life to the scrutiny of another human being you will be more like Christ!

Pennance is a suggested way to help you turn away from your sin. For instance a common Pennance is to spend some extra time in prayer, or to do a good deed, the intent is to help you start anew.

It is a MYTH that some people MADE UP that Catholics believe thier salvation is through the preist. The priest only acts as a reassurance of God's forgiveness and a person that you can be accountable to.

By the way Thank you for asking instead of furthering the MYTHS!

Answer 5

The Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin."

When a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven.

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 with a priest ordained in the name Jesus Christ not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me.

Catholics only "have" to go to a priest for Reconciliation if they have freely chosen to completely turn away from God and the Church (are in the state of mortal sin).

With love in Christ.

Answer 6

If you're Catholic, I recommend going to the priest for confession. There are certain things you aren't supposed to do on your own, like weddings, chistenings, and confession. That's just the way the Catholic church is set up, it is patriarchal, which is why you start with "Bless me, Father", or "Forgive me, Father..." You are speaking to the priest and God. The priest is there as the Church's representative, he decides what the penance (if any) will be, and he blesses you before you leave when he says, "Go in peace." It is also his job to counsel the church members and watch for people who keep confessing the same things over and over. What usually happens is that when "repeats" are enountered, the penance (number of Hail Marys or Our Fathers or what have you) increases, so it gets harder and harder.

Answer 7

You can confess directly to God, asking forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ. The reason the church has this kind of confession is that it is much harder to look someone in the eye and tell them what you have done, seeing their face, the look in their eyes--then it is to pray to God.

But if pray to God and you ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ and are truly repentent...you are forgiven.

HAve no clue what you mean by the church communitything

Answer 8

you must always take your sins - to the foot of the Cross. you must bring them before God.

the severity of the sin is what makes a Christian Rc know whether it needs to be brought before a priest. it's taken to a priest becuase of the simple fact (IMO, not Rcc taught) - it's hard to admit to a person who's sitting in front of you your faults.
it's also called the sacarment of reconcilation - it allows you to share your faults against God, the things which you've done or not done that make you feel and know you've hurt Him or pushed yourself away from Him. It helps you reconcile yourself to God.
we are told to confess with our mouths.... that's what we do & the priest helps un undertsand our shortcomings and reconcile ourselves through penance, prayers and/or actions.

i'm not sure about the forgiving whole church community bit, never heard of that.

Answer 9

One of the holy sacraments required of each catholic after baptism and confirmation is the sacrament of confession. The priest because of his education and ordination is holy and qualified to hear confessions. And according to the scriptures in the Bible, when Jesus Christ designated Peter and gave him the keys to the kingdom of God. He said: and whosoever sins you shall pardoned, they are pardoned. So apparently this power is handed down to the priest who has ties with the Pope ,the modern day, Peter. Consequently, making confessions to the priest seems to be the legitimate way. But one can speak and pray to God directly and confess our sins and hopefully amend our ways.

Answer 10

Only God can forgive sin, Catholic or not.

** Read about forgiving sin **

Are all of our sins—past, present, and future—forgiven once and for all when we become Christians? Not according to the Bible or the early Church Fathers. Scripture nowhere states that our future sins are forgiven; instead, it teaches us to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12).

The means by which God forgives sins after baptism is confession: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Minor or venial sins can be confessed directly to God, but for grave or mortal sins, which crush the spiritual life out of the soul, God has instituted a different means for obtaining forgiveness—the sacrament known popularly as confession, penance, or reconciliation.

This sacrament is rooted in the mission God gave to Christ in his capacity as the Son of man on earth to go and forgive sins (cf. Matt. 9:6). Thus, the crowds who witnessed this new power "glorified God, who had given such authority to men" (Matt. 9:8; note the plural "men"). After his resurrection, Jesus passed on his mission to forgive sins to his ministers, telling them, "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. . . . Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21–23).

Since it is not possible to confess all of our many daily faults, we know that sacramental reconciliation is required only for grave or mortal sins—but it is required, or Christ would not have commanded it.

Over time, the forms in which the sacrament has been administered have changed. In the early Church, publicly known sins (such as apostasy) were often confessed openly in church, though private confession to a priest was always an option for privately committed sins. Still, confession was not just something done in silence to God alone, but something done "in church," as the Didache (A.D. 70) indicates.

Penances also tended to be performed before rather than after absolution, and they were much more strict than those of today (ten years’ penance for abortion, for example, was common in the early Church).

But the basics of the sacrament have always been there, as the following quotations reveal. Of special significance is their recognition that confession and absolution must be received by a sinner before receiving Holy Communion, for "[w]hoever . . . eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:27).