15.2: The Sacrament of Penance
The Catholic Church believes that the power of God works through the Church. Therefore, if God wants sins to be forgiven He gives his Church the power to forgive them. This is done firstly through baptism, which forgives all sins, and secondly through the sacrament of penance. The last rites also serves to forgive sins where necessary.
The thinking behind penance is that when we sin we are estranged from God and from people. We are estranged from the Church. Therefore,we must apologise to the Church and receive forgiveness through the Church. In the Catholic Church all sacramental powers are exercised by priests, so Catholics are supposed to go and ask the priest for forgiveness. The priest mediates the forgiveness of God to the penitent. The priest is bound never to tell anyone what he has heard. Confession is usually heard in secret, but even if a priest knows who you are he is not allowed to let his knowledge influence him in any way. This is to protect the person who confesses.
Task RC 1
" Why do Catholics go to confession?" Suppose someone said this to you. What would you say?
Task RC 2
" I would be terribly embarrassed telling a priest my sins. What if he knows who you are?" What would you say to this?
The Church believes that the sacrament of penance has the following parts:
Contrition: Where you are sorry for your sins.
Confession: Where you confess them to a priest.
Absolution: Where you are forgiven on God’s behalf
Satisfaction: Where you make amends by doing a penance, usually a few prayers. A priest cannot give a penance which would embarrass the penitent publicly.
Task RC 3
What do you think is the most suitable kind of penance for sin? Would it vary according to the sin committed?
Signposts
is a Painsley