(Sacramental Theology) (25 classes)
	PENANCE AND THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK
By Fr Cormac Burke
(Received 11 Nov 2005, jmom Hong Kong)

	These two sacraments are dealt with by CCC under title of "The Sacraments of Healing" (1420-1532)

	"Through the sacraments of Christian initiation, man receives the new life of Christ. Now we carry this life "in earthen vessels," and it remains "hidden with Christ in God". We are still in our "earthly tent," subject to suffering, illness, and death. This new life as a child of God can be weakened and even lost by sin" (CCC 1420).

	"The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick" (ib. 1421).

1.	Sin, Penance and Reconciliation after Baptism.  Penitere – to repent, to respond to salvation and grace; concupiscence (tendency to sin after baptism).  Cooperation of man to God’s work: subjective part – man going to God for salvation, penance is necessary.

a)	Man going to God asking for salvation (CCC 1421: “The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic, and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members.  Conversion a continuing process.  Need for penance after  Baptism:  (CCC 1425-1426: “..the new life received in Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation) has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin, that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized, such that with the help of the grace of  Christ, they may prove themselves in the struggle for Christian life.”

I. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

	Pius XII's words are well known: "the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin" (Message to U.S. National Catechetical Congress: 1946).  JP2 says that at the roots of this phenomenon lies secularism (the attempt to build a humanity without God) and a concept of conscience which no longer links freedom with objective truth or personal responsibility.

	And it was in fact this situation which prompted the topic chosen for one of the first Synods of Bishops under JP2, whose conclusions were summed up in the Ap. Exhortation Reconciliatio et Poenitentiae of 1984. The Pope wrote: "From its preparatory stage and then in the numerous interventions during the sessions, in the group meetings and in the final propositions, the synod took into account the statement frequently made with varying nuances and emphases, namely: The sacrament of penance is in crisis" (no. 28).

	He has returned to this time and again. "My invitation then [in Rec et Poen] was to make every effort to face the crisis of `the sense of sin' apparent in today's culture. But I was even more insistent in calling for a rediscovery of Christ as mysterium pietatis, the one in whom God shows us his compassionate heart and reconciles us fully with himself. It is this face of Christ that must be rediscovered through the Sacrament of Penance" (Motu Propr. Misericordia Dei, 1992).  We meet the Heart of Christ in the sacrament of Penance.

	In 1994, in his Letter to Families, he made a point of encouraging families too to find strength in this marvellous sacrament: "family members need to encounter Christ in the church through the wonderful sacrament of penance and reconciliation" (no. 15).

	In the Ap. Letter. Tertio Millennio Adveniente of 1994, preparing the faithful for the celebration of the jubilee of the Millennium, he encouraged all "to undertake, by holding fast to Christ the redeemer of man, a journey of authentic conversion. This includes both a "negative" aspect, that of liberation from sin, and a "positive" aspect, that of choosing good, accepting the ethical values expressed in the natural law, which is confirmed and deepened by the Gospel. This is the proper context for a renewed appreciation and more intense celebration of the sacrament of penance in its most profound meaning. The call to conversion as the indispensable condition of Christian love is particularly important in contemporary society, where the very foundations of an ethically correct vision of human existence often seem to have been lost" (50)

	In 1999, in one of his weekly addresses, he again urged "a rediscovery of the sacrament of Penance in its profound meaning as an encounter with the One who forgives us through Christ in the Spirit. There are various reasons why a serious reflection on this sacrament is urgently needed in the Church. It is called for especially by the message of the Father's love as the basis of Christian living and acting in the context of contemporary society, where the ethical vision of human life is often obscured. If many have lost their perspective on good and evil, it is because they have lost their sense of God, interpreting guilt only from a psychological or sociological viewpoint. Secondly, pastoral ministry must give a new impetus to a journey of faith that stresses the value of the spirit and practice of penance throughout the Christian life" (Audience of Sept 15, 1999).

	And in Novo Millennio Ineunte of 2001: "When the Synod [preceding Rec et Poen] addressed the problem, the crisis of the Sacrament was there for all to see, especially in some parts of the world. The causes of the crisis have not disappeared in the brief span of time since then. But the Jubilee Year, which has been particularly marked by a return to the Sacrament of Penance, has given us an encouraging message, which should not be ignored: if many people, and among them also many young people, have benefitted from approaching this Sacrament, it is probably necessary that Pastors should arm themselves with more confidence, creativity and perseverance in presenting it and leading people to appreciate it" (no. 37).

	Our Father: "Sacramental confession is not a human but a divine dialogue. It is a tribunal of divine justice and especially of mercy, with a loving judge who "has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; I desire that the wicked turn back from his way and live"." (CPB no. 78)

1. Sin, penance and reconciliation after Baptism

	Baptism cleanses our soul totally; but, since we fall again, can there not be a "second baptism"?...  This is Penance.  The truly "born again" Christian is the soul after Confession.

	Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance in favor of all the sinful members of his Church, above all for those who, after Baptism, have fallen into serious sin, and have so lost baptismal grace and injured the ecclesial communion. The Sacrament of Penance offers them a new possibility of conversion and of recovering the grace of justification.

	CCC: "Sin is before all else an offence against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God's forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation" (1440).

1.1 The revelation of the mystery of sin: nature and consequences of sin

	CCC: "Sin is present in human history; any attempt to ignore it or to give this dark reality other names would be futile. To try to understand what sin is, one must first recognize the profound relation of man to God, for only in this relationship is the evil of sin unmasked in its true identity as humanity's rejection of God and opposition to him, even as it continues to weigh heavy on human life and history" (386).

	"The new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptised such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life. This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us" (CCC 1426)

	Conversion is always turning to God's mercy.  In his second Encyclical, Dives in Misericordia (1980), JP2 had dwelt on this at length: "The Church lives an authentic life when she professes and proclaims mercy — the most stupendous attribute of the Creator and of the Redeemer — and when she brings people close to the sources of the Saviour's mercy... above all [the] conscious and mature participation in the Eucharist and in the sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation. The Eucharist brings us ever nearer to that love which is more powerful than death... [and] attests to the inexhaustible love by virtue of which he desires always to be united with us and present in our midst, coming to meet every human heart. It is the sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation that prepares the way for each individual, even those weighed down with great faults. In this sacrament each person can experience mercy in a unique way, that is, the love which is more powerful than sin...

	It is precisely because sin exists in the world... that God, who "is love" (1 Jn 4:8), cannot reveal himself otherwise than as mercy... Infinite are the readiness and power of forgiveness which flow continually from the marvellous value of the sacrifice of the Son. No human sin can prevail over this power or even limit it. On the part of man only a lack of good will can limit it, a lack of readiness to be converted and to repent... Therefore, the Church professes and proclaims conversion. Conversion to God always consists in discovering his mercy... Conversion to God is always the fruit of the "rediscovery" of this Father, who is rich in mercy" (no. 13)

Nature and Consequences of Sin

Sin – St. Augustine – any word, act or desire against the law of God.  It’s consequences are primarily (a) aversio a Deo and (b) conversio ad creaturas.  Sin has other consequences, such as: 

(i)	 Wounding of natural reason – vera stultitia per St. Thomas.  Because reason chooses something finite instead of infinite good.
     
	  (ii) Wounding of social order – JPII (Reconciliatio et Poenitentia, result of synod of Bishops of 1984) - every sin has a social dimension, because human freedom possesses in itself a social dimension; when we use our freedom we affect other people; thus, when we use it against God, we disrupt the order established by God, which includes the others.

(iii) Wounding of mystical body of Christ – In RP, 16, just as we speak of communion of the saints [referring the exchange of goods in the people of God], “To this law of ascent, there unfortunately corresponds the law of descent.  Consequently, one can speak of communion of sin… There is no sin, not even the most intimate and secret one…that exclusively concerns the person committing it.”  Thus, there is no sin that is simply personal, but every sin affects the body of Christ (analogy of body).

1.2. Conversion, penance and pardon of sins in the Old Testament

	The pardon of sin was not considered easy to obtain in the OT: "There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me" (Ps 38:3-4); "Do not say, "His mercy is great, he wwill forgive the multitude of my sins"; for both mercy and wrath are with him, and his anger rests on sinners" (Sirach 5:5-6).

	The idea of conversion is more external, turning away from bad works; "Turn back, you sinners, and do right before him; who knows if he will accept you and have mercy on you?" (Tob 13:6); "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other" (Is 45: 21-22); "Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them" (Jer 35:15).

	But we find some exceptions; "Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!" (Ez 18:30-31); and so Joel 2:12-13 "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love". Here penance, as an interior disposition, is emphasized.

a)  Seen as an external, ritual conversion (Pentateuch, scapegoat – sacrifice)
         
	     b)In Numbers and Deuteronomy

     c)Also, in baptism of John of water, vs. after him, fire and the Spirit.  John’s baptism was only a call for repentance.

     d)Exclusion or Banishment from community (SCH, 201).  Focus on punishment rather than interior change of person.  Especially found  in Qumran community.  Community prays for sinner to repent.  Banishment is punishment and atonement for sin.

1.3. Metanoia and the pardon of sins in the New Testament

	The idea of an interior conversion - penance or "metanoia", a change of heart - now becomes the dominant theme.  It is the necessary condition so as to receive the redemption achieved by Jesus Christ.

	"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26:28); "John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mk 1:4); "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel'" (Mk 1:14-15); "Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38); "To him all the Prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43); "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (Eph 1:7); "He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col 1: 13-14).

	But this pardon calls for a change in the heart. As the CCC says, "Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it" (1850). Again, "There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss" (1864).

Metanoia – change of heart, interior conversion.   (CCC, 1430) Jesus calls for more personal, and more contrite. “However, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance”. (in fine.). 

1.4. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation in the sacramental order of the Church

	"The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies... has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick" (CCC 1421).

(Schmaus(SCH), 202) Every action of the Church is salvific, and thus “have a sacramental quality as the visible manifestation of the divine saving action”, and so covers exclusion of the sinner from the Church for his own salvation, and to his re-acceptance into the Church’s community (reconciliation).  Needed in Church which is holy, but some of whose members are sinful, and she tries to divinize its members through sacraments, esp. in confession.  Sacrament – sign of grace, and the sacrament of penance is a visible sign of forgiveness.  The sacrament established by Jesus to bring back every sinner to the Church.

1.5. Different designations for this Sacrament.

	"It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin. It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction" (CCC 1423).

	"It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgement and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace". It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God". He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother" (CCC 1424).

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	Our examination of this subject falls under five headings (with an appendix on Indulgences):

	A. The power of the Church to forgive sins

	B. Penance as a Sacrament

	C. The subject of the Sacrament

	D. The minister of the Sacrament of Penance

	E. Forms of celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation

	F. Indulgences

A. The power of the Church to forgive sins

	CCC: "Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven". Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name" (1441).

2. The communication of that power to forgive by Christ

2.1 Jesus communicated to the Church, in the person of the Apostles, the power to forgive and retain sins

2.2 The promise of the power of binding-loosing (Mt 16:19; 18:18)

a) interpretation of S. Matthew's texts:

	- Promise of Jesus to Peter (Mt 16, 18-19): "I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". Jesus here makes three promises to Peter by means of three images or metaphors that supplement each other: the rock, the keys and the concept of binding-loosing.

	Peter will be the rock on which the Church founded by Jesus Christ will be built. This will be Peter's main function in the Church (to be the visible head).

	Peter will have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, i.e. the primordial function of Peter is to administer the Church as Vicar of Christ, to guard and guide it in the name of Christ its Lord.

	What sense should be given to the expression "binding-loosing"?

	- a) According to rabbinical tradition, thee rabbis could interpret the law of Moses and say that an action was forbidden (to bind) or that it was permitted (to loose): So Peter would have this full magisterial power, to interpret Christ's doctrine and law and consequently to propose it authoritatively to men.

	- b) In Jewish tradition there was the poweer to excommunicate or to expel somebody from the community (to bind) and later that of admitting him again (to loose). Therefore Peter inside the Church will also have the disciplinary power of judging, of excluding from the Church and of admitting again.

	These two powers are not mutually exclusive but just the opposite.

	- Promise of Jesus to the Apostles (cf. Mt 18,18): "whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven").  To them also Jesus extends the power of binding and loosing, so this is a participated power that they must exercise in union with and dependent on Peter.

	On the other hand he does not confer on them the power of the keys; so they do not have the same power of universal government over the whole Church entrusted to Peter, a mission Jesus explicitly reconfirmed in his third appearance after his Resurrection: "Feed my lambs... Feed my sheep" (Jn 21: 15-17)

	Peter and the other Apostles, and their successors, have the power of binding, i.e. of pronouncing a sentence that excludes from the Church everyone they judge to deserve such excommunication; and similarly they have the power of loosing, i.e. of revoking the excommunication and admitting the sinner who has amended his ways and fulfilled the penance imposed. "The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God" (CCC 1445).

	This power does not have any restriction: "whatever you bind, whatever you loose", and the decisions taken are ratified by God.

	CCC: "In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church... "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head" (1444).

Communication of that Power by Christ – Jesus communicated to the Church, in the person of the Apostles, the power to forgive or retain sins.

The promise of the power of binding and loosing (Mt 16:19: addressed only to Peter, his authority (power of the keys); and Mt 18:18 – to all disciples – forbidding and allowing) are understood in a rabbinical way, i.e., every doctrinal pronouncement is directed towards a juridical decision. (declaring something forbidden or prohibited referring to banishment or lifting of it.—SCH, 203);  When Jesus forbids or allows, it is not just for encouragement, but there has to be a judgment.  In Mt 16:  forbidding and allowing refer not only to sin, but also to proclamation and communication of salvation, i.e., to apply the religious and moral conditions to enter the kingdom of God, and to declare the obstacles to it. (cf. SCH, 202-205).

The granting of the power to forgive-retain  sins (John 20:21-22).  In Mt 16; 18 refers only to sins, in John refers to forgiveness of all sins.  John also implies that the authority is to be used in a juridical sense, as a judgment, not in an arbitrary way.  This power of forgiving is holy (“only in the Holy Spirit” – SCH, 204), and is only possessed by certain members of the Church, who have been given this power.  Thus, man’s relation to God is subject to the authority of the Church, since certain powers were given only to some members of the Church.  “Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.” (CCC, 1455).  Neither Mt, nor Jn mentions a particular form for the forgiveness of sins, only the power given.

2.3 Institution of the sacrament of Penance in St. John

	The power of binding or loosing, with explicit reference to sins, is given by Our Lord on the day of his Resurrection, as He confirms the Apostles in their mission to carry on his work. "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you". And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20, 21-23).

	The word to forgive ('aphete' in Greek) is the technical term in the New Testament to speak of the pardon of sins. The expression to retain ('kratete'; to hold back or hold unforgiven) is more difficult of understanding. It is not found in this sense anywhere else in the New Testament.

	It could be thought at first sight that to retain sins would be synonymous of refusing pardon to whoever is not inwardly well disposed. However the Greek word "kratete" has in fact a positive sense: to be strong, take hold of, be powerful, to prevail, etc.; it never expresses the simple refusal of something or abstaining from an action. In our text it cannot mean to abstain from using the power of forgiving sins, but rather should mean a true action that has a positive effect, i.e. of helping the sinner towards dispositions necessary to obtain pardon.

2.4 Characteristics of the power of forgiving sins: scope; exercise by way of a judicial act.

	In Rec. et Poen, JP2 listed some "convictions of faith, to which are connected all the other affirmations of the Catholic doctrine on the sacrament of penance". The first of these convictions "is that for a Christian the sacrament of penance is the primary way of obtaining forgiveness and the remission of serious sin committed after baptism. Certainly the Savior and his salvific action are not so bound to a sacramental sign as to be unable in any period or area of the history of salvation to work outside and above the sacraments. But in the school of faith we learn that the same Savior desired and provided that the simple and precious sacraments of faith would ordinarily be the effective means through which his redemptive power passes and operates. It would therefore be foolish, as well as presumptuous, to wish arbitrarily to disregard the means of grace and salvation which the Lord has provided and, in the specific case, to claim to receive forgiveness while doing without the sacrament which was instituted by Christ precisely for forgiveness" (no. 31)

Judicial nature of forgiveness of sins is seen in the words used by Jesus when he gave the power to forgive sins to the apostles (Mt 16; 18; Jn 20).  The symbol of the key refers to a kind of prerogative giving someone power over something.  Throughout history of Church, we see this exercised …For this reason, a kind of jurisdiction is needed to grant power, usually granted by local Ordinary or general law of the Church (CCL, 966).  To make it judicial, ff. Are the requirements: (1) accusation of sins; (2) sentence by authority; (3) fulfillment of that sentence.  In the sacrament of penance, these take place in the context of God’s mercy, and the penitent’s determination to turn away from sin, or conversion (TW, 309).  This does not preclude other aspects of confession as healing, and as teaching sacrament.  But essential acts of sacrament still resides in the judicial act. The binding character is the judgment passed—the absolution.

2.5 Scope, universality of the power of the Church to forgive sins

	The Council of Trent (DS 1701) defined that this sacrament was instituted by Jesus Christ to reconcile the faithful with God himself as often as it is necessary, after Baptism; all sins can be forgiven, whatever they may be.

	Two passages in the NT seem to limit the scope of forgiveness.  "Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Mt 12:31-32). And: "If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal [or "deserves death"]; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal" (1 Jn 5:16-17)

	The "sin of death" seems to mean those who, deliberately remaining in sin, refuse to repent (so sinning against the grace of the Holy Spirit); and for that reason don't attain pardon.  But if they do in the end repent, this sin is forgiven and ceases to be "of death".

	The point is that "unpardonableness" of such sins comes from the lack of repentance of the sinner, not from any lack of mercy in God. Our Lord has not put any limits to his mercy because it has none. "Up to 70 times 7", means always. Sometimes the Church does put limits, Why? because of the lack of true sorrow that makes Penance ineffective.

2.6. the power of forgiving sins is exercised in a judicial way

	The second "conviction of faith" that the Pope lists in RP "concerns the function of the sacrament of penance for those who have recourse to it. According to the most ancient traditional idea, the sacrament is a kind of judicial action; but this takes place before a tribunal of mercy rather than of strict and rigorous justice..." (no. 31).

	"In a judicial way" embraces the following aspects: a) listening to the self-accusation (confession with a priest); b) verifying the penitent's acts, so as to be able to pass proper judgment; and c) emitting a sentence of acquittal or of retention.

	The Council of Trent already defined this (DS 1685), rejecting the Protestant tenet that the forgiveness of sins is simply an evangelical proclamation.  [For Protestants sins are forgiven through faith in the mercy of God; they reject the need for absolution given by a priest].  Faith without penance does not grant remission of sins.

2.7 Doctrine of the Church's Magisterium as against the errors of the Novatians, the Protestant reformers and the Modernists.

a) Novatian errors:

	Third c. rigorists (influenced by Tertullian) who denied penance to the lapsi, i.e. those who had renounced their faith during persecutions.  They held that the Church does not possess the power to forgive such sins.  One can do penance for sins but without the possibility of being forgiven. In 250-251, Pope Cornelius condemned these theses.

Novatian – rigorous.  Only sinless admitted to Church.  And those who have lapsed (lapsi) were denied re-admittance to the Church.  Later, Novatian further those who committed mortal sins were denied re-admittance to the Church.  Therefore, denied the sacrament.  Rejected by Council of Nicaea (325).  Tertullian – some grave sins could not be forgiven (e.g., murder, apostasy, adultery).  Nicea also rejected that only these three sins are subject to the sacrament of penance (SCH, 207).

b) Errors of the Protestant Reformers:

Luther: a) Denies the sacrament of Order; b) denies that the Church has power to forgive sins; c) defends the doctrine of justification by fiducial faith alone. Therefore secret confession is not necessary; it is rather a consolation and a tranquilizer for one's own conscience and can be made before any "brother"
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Bultmann, 20th c. German Protestant theologian and "demythologizer"  of the Gospels: Jesus' words in Jn 20, 22-23 are to be applied not only to the Apostles but to any person, to the community.
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Protestants (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin) – there is no true eradication of sins.  Rather, sins are forgiven through fiducial faith, i.e., if you believe in God’s forgiveness.  Conversion, justification is external and non-imputation of sins, thus, there is no need to believe in power of keys of the apostle.  No sacrament of penance, since it is only an extension of the sacrament of baptism. 
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	Doctrine of the Church as against the Protestants (Trent): It is a dogma of faith that Jesus Christ granted the Apostles and their successors the power of forgiving sins committed after Baptism. Trent condemned the thesis that Jesus did not give the Apostles and their successors the power to forgive sins, but only authority to preach the gospel.

c) In 1907 Saint Pius X with the Decreto Lamentabilis condemned the modernist error according to which the concept of the sinful Christian reconciled by the authority of the Church didn't exist in the early Church, but was rather accepted little by little as time went on.

3. Forms of celebration of Penance in history

	"Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably" (CCC 1447)

	Under the changes that the discipline and celebration of this Sacrament have undergone, lies the same basic structure, comprehending two equally essential elements [i.e. matter and form]:

	1) the acts of the person who is converted by the action of the Holy Spirit, that is, contrition, confession of sins and satisfaction; and

	2) the action of God through the ministry of the Church. By means of the bishop and of her priests, the Church, in the name of Jesus Christ, grants forgiveness of sins, determines the mode of satisfaction, prays for the sinner and makes penance with him.

3.1 Penance in the period of the Fathers: pardon of post-baptismal sins in the first three centuries; canonical penance, between the IV-VI centuries

	CCC: "During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this "order of penitents" (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime" (1447).

	Severity of the penitential discipline of the first centuries. With what purpose? To favor sincere sorrow (especially in times of perecution). It arose from disciplinary, not dogmatic, considerations. This extraordinary severity was only gradually mitigated.

1.	Forms of celebration of Penance in history. (SCH: 206-216)

Times of the Fathers (1-3rd Century):  

clear distinction between venial and mortal sins.  But there was special consideration for public serious sins (affects the Church) and these had to be expiated in public.  “Very rigorous discipline…before receiving reconciliation.” (CCC, 1447).  There was the existence of penitential communities, special places in the Church, exclusion from Eucharist, readmission by bishop, etc. (SCH, 209).  The Church with its authority only can forgive these sins (murder, apostasy, adultery).  For Tertullian who fell into Montanism, these could not be forgiven by the Church, but this was 
	condemned in the Council of Nicaea (325).

Shepherd of Hermas (180a.d.) believed that sacrament could only given once.  Due to escathological belief (2nd coming – imminent).  Bad effect: many Christians left penance for last moment, prior to death.

Canonical Penance (4th-6th Cent.): phases

(i)	Confession of sins before bishop or priest – commonly in private; although there are some writings that there were some public confession (more common in the East)  (call for public confession of sin was firmly rejected by Church, Innocent I {402-417}

(ii)	Fulfillment of penance given – may be public or private.

(iii)	Absolution of sinner through bishop or priest and reconciliation with the Church– the most public among these phases.  Done in Church in front of the community. Existence of rites like Pontificalia Romanum. Internal or external forum.  Those publicly known, needed public penance. 

During the 6th century, the Western church adopted mainly private confession and penance.  A century after, the Eastern church followed.  The view that private confession was not practiced, and only evolved from public penance (influence of Irish/British monks) is clearly wrong.  Council of Trent (XIV, Ch.5) declared that private, auricular confession was practiced from the very beginning.  While there were many documents showing public penance, it does not mean that it preceded private confession.  In Didache (50-70 AD), “in the congregation, thou shalt confess thy transgressions, and thou shalt not occupy thyself in prayer with an evil conscience.”  Also confess before receiving the Eucharist.  Later Origen (185) talks about “remission of sins through penance when the sinner does not blush in confessing to the priest when he wants a cure”.  Thus, it is clear it was done through a bishop/priest privately.  Pope Leo the Great (5th Cent.) prohibited the use of public listing of sins, and said “it is sufficient that the guilty conscience be made known to the priest in secret confession; all sins are not of such a character that a sinner would publish them publicly.” 

3.2 Transition from canonical penance to private penance (VII century)

	"During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the "private" practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practised down to our day" (CCC 1447).

7th Century – Transition from canonical penance to private penance

In 5th Century – ascetics fostered the practice of frequent, and private confession.  St.Columban,  key.  By 7th century, it had spread up to point of eclipsing public penance.  By 9th century, the practice of going to confession during Lent became widespread.  By 1215 Lateran Council made yearly Lenten confession an obligation for all the faithful, upon reaching age of reason.  Hand in hand with this development was the publication of penitential books (listing of sins for exam).  Council of Trent all the more emphasized and encouraged frequent confession.

6th Century – around this time, many penitential (or tariff) books were written by the Celts listing sins with  corresponding penance.  Boost for formation of clergy and faithful.  Negative effect – scrupulosity and formalism in practice of the faith.  Thus, private confession to priests became more possible.  Use of these books diminished the public character of penance.  But it did not mean that practice of penance was lessened.

7th Century to Present – The same trend was followed: individual confession, including venial sins.  Found in Council of Trent and the resulting Canon Law.  After 4th Lateral Council, people began to believe that the yearly confession was needed only if one had mortal sin.  Because of the change from canonical penance to private penance, the concept of excommunication became independent of the sacrament.  Only the sins that directly affect the community (public) was covered by excommunication.  Also a result of the transition, is the distinction between between internal and external forum.  But this somewhat obscured the salvific character of the Church.  Priest represents the Church, and therefore the public character of the sins does not disappear.

Place for confession-

(i)	at the beginning, in the homes of the faithful.

(ii)	4th century onwards – in the churches.  Early documents of the Church specify where exactly in the Church it should be held.  These documents underline the idea that reconciliation with God should pass through the Church.

(iii)The confessional: John Mirch (Canon of Lillishall, England) published in 1450, Instructions for Parish Priests : “The priest asks the penitent to heal, while he pulls his hood over his eyes.  When a woman comes to confession, he is not to look at her face, and to sit still like a stone, nor to spit or cough, as any maid.”  When she hesitates, she is encouraged to speak boldly, by manifesting his sinfulness also.  Painting in cupula  in Naples shows – priest confessing a woman, while looking in another direction.  Besides, around the woman are 3 hooded flagellants doing penance.  Usually, applied to women, although some paintings apply to men.  In 16th century, St. Theresa of Avila speaks of the confessional, in an advice to a sacristan to be vigilant to put order, and that it’s done in the confessional (1563).  St. John of ‘Avila (1551) in a memorial to bishops: it is advisable that there be a confessional made of wood so that the confessor is seen by all, while the penitent is hidden.  CCL 964: (a) the proper place for hearing confession is a church or oratory; (b) as far as the confessional is concerned, the Bishops’ conference shall establish it, but always there has to be a confession with grille in an open place; (c) except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional.  

B. Penance as a Sacrament

	The Sacrament of Penance is a Sacrament of the New Law, instituted by Christ by way of judgement, in which, by the priest's absolution, sins committed after Baptism are forgiven to the contrite sinner who confesses according to the way established by the Church.

4. The external sign of Penance and of Reconciliation

Matter and form

	In this Sacrament, the matter is the penitent's acts - contrition, confession, satisfaction - and the form is the priest's absolution.

	Before Trent, the Council of Florence (1438‑1445) had taught: "The fourth sacrament is penance, the matter of which is, as it were, the acts of the penitent, which are divided into three parts. The first is contrition of heart, to which pertains grief for a sin committed together with a resolution not to sin in the future. The second is oral confession, to which pertains that the sinner confess integrally to his priest all sins of which he has recollection. The third is satisfaction for sins according to the decision of the priest, which is accomplished chiefly by prayer, fasting, and alms. The words of absolution which the priest utters when he says: Ego te absolvo etc., are the form of this sacrament, and the minister of this sacrament is the priest who has either ordinary authority for absolving or has it by the commission of a superior. The effect of this sacrament is absolution from sins" (Denz. 699).

	The C. of Trent (1545‑1563) teaches: "the form of the sacrament of penance, in which its force chiefly consists, is set down in these words of the minister: "I absolve you, etc."; to which indeed certain prayers are laudably added according to the custom of holy Church; yet in no way do they pertain to the essence of this form, nor are they necessary for the administration of the sacrament. The matter, as it were, of this sacrament consists in the acts of the penitent himself, namely contrition, confession, and satisfaction. These, inasmuch as by the institution of God they are required in the penitent for the integrity of the sacrament for the full and perfect remission of sins, are for this reason called the parts of penance" (Denz. 896).

4.1 The matter

	The proximate matter of this Sacrament is the penitent's acts whose matter, in turn, are the sins of which he repents, confesses and for which he satisfies. Hence the remote matter of Penance are these same sins, not as committed but as hated and destroyed" (Summa Theologiae III, q. 84, a.1, ad 3).

   - a) Proximate matter

	The proximate matter of the Sacrament of Penance is the penitent's three acts: contrition, confession and satisfaction. If some of these three acts were lacking, the Sacrament would be invalid.

	For that reason, the dying who can no longer manifest their contrition or their sins, are absolved sub conditione, if there is the least sign that justifies thinking that they wanted to receive absolution - as, for example, the fact of wearing a scapular, of living in a place where most people are Catholic, etc.

   - a) remote matter (sins)

	Remote matter can be divided into: necessary and free; certain and doubtful; sufficient and insufficient.

   - Necessary and free matter

	Necessary matter: all the mortal sins committed after Baptism which have not been manifested in confession and directly remitted by sacramental absolution,

	Free matter: 1) all the venial sins committed after Baptism; 2) all the mortal and venial sins already confessed and forgiven after Baptism.

   - Certain and doubtful matter

	Certain matter: every sin truly and certainly committed.

	Doubtful matter: any doubtful sin. The doubt can refer to the commission of the sin - through a lack of advertence or consent - or to its gravity, because of ignorance.

   - Sufficient and insufficient matter

	Sufficient matter is that that which is sufficient to receive sacramental absolution validly.

	Insufficient matter is the imperfections and everything that does not certainly have the character of sin.

	Sins already forgiven by the Sacrament of Penance constitute sufficient matter.

The External Sign (sacramentum tantum) of the Sacrament

Difficult to see because no visible thing involved; concepts of matter and form difficult to apply.  Even the Council of Trent (matter and form of each sacrament: here it is quasi-matter—not so visible) left it open (per SCH, 217).  In Didascalia Apostolica (3rd cent) “those who intend and promise to do penance, having first been excluded from the Church, are thereafter received again by Her.  Development of liturgical forms of exclusion and reconciliation (e.g., from 5th cent. Ch.Historian Sozomenos), exclusion being primarily from eucharistic table.  Not carried out everywhere with same rigor.  Per Council of Nicaea, canon 11, the sinner is to be placed among the catechumens; but thus, remained within Church.  To be reconciled, he had to confess his sin to the bishop or to the pardoner he commissioned, generally according to a rite.  Beginning the 8th cent (& generally accepted by 11th cent.), the practice of combining confession and reconciliation developed

Fundamental structure of external sign composed of two essential elements: 	(I) subjective element - Acts of the penitent (contrition, confession of sins, satisfaction) and (II) objective element - the absolution by the minister of Christ (and represents Him) and of the Church, being an effective sign of divine pardon. (CCC 1448).

Origin & dev’t of doctrine on sacramental sign in medieval theology:  

Eastern Church’s (Alexandria) emphasis on penitential effort of the sinner.  Healing from sin in the mind of the believer that it became detached from the sacrament of penance and developed independently, esp. through the monastic world.  Not sacramental act in present day sense, for no absolution was mentioned.  In contrast Western (Tertullian, Cyprian) emphasized reconciliation with the Church and upheld penance as satisfaction and expiation, thus containing juridical elements. (SCH, 210-211).

12th Century – Peter Lombard said both repentance and its manifestation in confession had to be considered sacramental and were in part the reason for the forgiveness of the sin.  Absolution was the sign that the sin had been forgiven.  Abelard – rejected any prerogative of the Church to forgive sin and categorized absolution as procedural, belonging to Church discipline.  Hugo of St. Victor rejected any devaluation of the Church’s absolution. Repentance released sinner from “interior bondage” of sin, while  Most theologians of the early Middle Ages held that the forgiveness of sin took place through the repentance which was connected with the votum sacramenti, but had difficulty explaining the effect of absolution.

High scholasticism – Wilhelm of Melitona and Bonaventure declared that the absolution was primarily responsible for the reconciliation of the sinner with the Church or primary cause of forgiveness.  Absolution seen request of Church for God to remit the sin of the penitent, which request is always granted by Godas but repentance.   Dominican Cardinal Hugo of Saint-Cher ascribed to absolution a direct causal influence on the forgiveness of sins.

 Confrontation between doctrine of St. Thomas and Blessed Duns Scotus and nominalists:

St. Thomas calls the penitential acts of the sinner (repentance, confession and satisfaction) as the matter of the sacrament, and the absolution, the form, and the two form one cause, based on Tradition.  Absolution of the Church works in advance; repentance is determined by the Church’s absolution, because the latter is ordered to repentance, and this brings about the remission of sin. Scotus regarded the Church’s absolution alone as the external sign of the sacrament.  The subjective acts of the penitent are prerequisites, but not essential part of the sacrament.  

The Council of Trent follows Aquinas but takes into account the view of Duns Scotus, adding “as it were” to its definition of the matter.  It also stated that the power of the sacrament is to be found primarily in the words of absolution.

External sign of Penance in the Magisterium of the Church – (see C.  on Subject of the Sacrament)

4.2 The form

	The form of the Sacrament of Penance is the words of the absolution, pronounced by the priest.

	In the current ritual, the essential words are: "I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Under normal conditions, all the steps foreseen in the ritual should be followed. In the event of necessity, the essential abbreviated formula can be used.

	For the validity of the Sacrament, the words of absolution must be pronounced vocally by the priest, not in a deprecative but an indicative manner, not conditionally, and with the penitent at least morally present.

	If the the words are not said vocally, the Sacrament is invalid

	The absolution should be given in an absolute form to the properly disposed penitent. In special circumstances it can and should be given in a conditional form, when there is danger of sacramental nullity, because the priest does not know if the penitent is lacking in the necessary dispositions, for example, in the case of a dying person who is already unconscious.

	The conditional formulas are: "if you are capable", "if you are properly disposed" etc. It is not necessary to express the condition vocally.

	The penitent's moral presence does not necessarily mean physical presence - which is seen or can be touched: a presence through which one can communicate with certainty would be enough. For that reason, in the event of serious necessity, it would be possible to absolve somebody by telephone or another channel.

4.3 In summary: the fundamental structure of the external sign embraces two essential elements: the penitent's acts (contrition, confession of sins, satisfaction) and the absolution by the minister of Christ and of the Church - an effective sign of divine pardon.

	St. Thomas: "just as in baptism something is required on the minister's part, namely that he cleanse and speak the words, and something on the part of the one submitting to the sacrament, namely that he intend to be cleansed, so in the sacrament of penance it is required on the priest's part that he absolve under some form of words, on the penitent's part it is required that he subject himself to the keys of the Church, manifesting his sins through confession" (Quodlibet, 1, q. 6).

5. Effects and necessity of the Sacrament of Penance

5.1 Pardon of all mortal sins and reconciliation with God

	CCC: "Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation "is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation". Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true "spiritual resurrection", restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God" (1468)

Effects and need of the Sacrament of Penance – (See TANQUEREY, 318-322)

The pardon of all mortal sins and the reconciliation with God: (CCC 1468: “The whole power of the sacrament…consists in restoring us to God’s grace , and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.  Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament.” 

grants or increases (already in state of grace) sanctifying grace; called grace of resurrection.

5.2 Total remission of eternal punishment

	The Council of Trent (DS 1543) says that the eternal punishment is forgiven at the same time as the guilt.

The total remission of eternal punishment: (CCC 1743:  “The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains.” 

5.3 It also cancels the temporal punishment of sin

	- although not necessarily all of it. Howevver, if the penitent's dispositions are sufficiently filled with charity, the temporal punishment may be fully remitted by confession.

	St. Thomas: "In Baptism one receives a new life and so by baptismal grace becomes a new man; nothing therefore of one's previous sins remains to be paid for. Through Penance however one is not transformed into a new life, since it does not imply a regeneration but a certain healing. Hence by the power of the sacrament of penance, not all but only some of temporal punishment is forgiven, and its full reparation may remain after one has received absolution from eternal punishment" (In lib. IV Sent. d. 18, q. 1)

Partial remission of temporal punishment – satisfaction is primarily for the remaining temporal punishment. These can also remitted by good works and indulgences. Sacrament lessens the temporal punishment, although at times completely, when contrition is intense.

5.4 Pardon of venial sins

	Regarding venial sins, Saint Thomas teaches that their guilt is forgiven in penance provided there is actual or at least virtual sorrow.

	It is not necessary that sorrow for venial sins be universal, since one is not obliged to confess all of such sins as is the case with those that are mortal, but it is very wise to have such sorrow.  How our Father taught us to want to hate even the slightest sin.

	Whoever confesses only venial sins should care especially to have contrition for these sins since, if it were lacking, the Sacrament would be invalid. For that reason, he should make, for example, an express and formal act of contrition for some of them, or else accuse himself of some previous serious sins, already confessed, with sorrow for them. This latter custom, therefore, has its importance.

The pardon of venial sins for which there is sorrow. (Although these can be forgiven through acts of repentance outside the sacrament). 

5.5 The revival of the supernatural virtues and of merits

	Most thomists accept the revival of merits or of good works after the confession of mortal sins, according to the measure of the dispositions present in conversion: the greater the sorrow, the greater the grace. The penitent can even leave confession with more grace - regaining greater merit - than before having had recourse to this Sacrament.

	Even if a bankrupt's debts are forgiven, he remains bankrupt.  Not so in God's economy.

The recovery of the supernatural virtues and merits:  Types of merit from works of:

Living – accomplished in the state of grace and remains so;

Dead – done in state of sin and hence not meritorious of eternal life;

Deadly or death-bringing – deprive man of life of grace, such as mortal sin.

Deadened – performed in state of grace, but held back because of fall into mortal sin, during which time those previous good works do not avail him eternal life.

Our main concern is only the deadened:  “Once sin has been remitted through Penance, works previously performed in charity and then deadened through subsequent sin, are revived.” CT said that the good works of man justified “truly merit increase of grace and the attainment of eternal life, if he should die in grace”.  Therefore, if one has sinned mortally and then repents, his merits revive. (TANQ, 322). 

5.6 Ecclesial dimension of reconciliation; reconciliation with the Church.

	The Church is an image of the communion of the Blessed Trinity. The ecclesial dimension of penance was strongly felt during the first centuries, but later the notion of a reconciliation with the Church tended to be overlooked. When the Council of Trent speaks of the effects of Penance it underlines reconciliation with God, but no longer speaks of the reconciliation with the Church. The Second Vatican Council revived a more ecclesial view of Penance: "Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offence committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example and by prayer labours for their conversion" (LG 11).

	The Church is holy by nature, but is somehow diminished and suffers violence through the sinner.

	The baptized person who sins gravely continues to belong to the Church, but as a dead member, neither living nor communicating life to others. He does not cooperate with the growth of the holiness of the Church, separating himself, invisibly but really, from the Church which is Christ's Body. There can also be a visible rupture with the Church, as in the case of apostasy.

	This Sacrament reconciles the penitent with the Church. Sin impairs or breaks fraternal communion. The Sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense, it not only cures the person who is reinstated in the ecclesial communion, but also has a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church that has suffered through the sin of one of its members (1 Cor 12,26). Reestablished or reconfirmed in the Communion of the Saints, the sinner is strengthened by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of Christ's Body, whether still in the situation of wayfarers or already in the heavenly homeland (Lumen gentium 48-50).

	The Code of Canon Law states: "In the sacrament of penance the faithful who confess their sins to a lawful minister, are sorry for those sins and have a purpose of amendment, receive from God, through the absolution given by that minister, forgiveness of sins they have committed after baptism, and at the same time they are reconciled with the Church, which by sinning they wounded" (c. 959).

	Reconciliation with God leads to other reconciliations which repair the ruptures caused by sin: the forgiven penitent is reconciled with himself in the depths of his intimate being: there he recovers his own interior truth; he is reconciled with his brother and sisters, somehow attacked and injured by him; he is reconciled with the Church, and reconciled with the whole of creation. (cf. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, no. 31).

a)	Reconciliation with the Church, injured by sin. (CCC 469:  “Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion.  The sacrament of penance repairs or restores it…it also has a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members.”  Communion of saints.
b)	Sacramental grace – a sort of spiritual force to successfully fight off temptations in areas related to the sins confessed.
Peace, serenity of conscience and spiritual consolation (FSU-I, 558).
 
5.7 Teaching of Tradition and Magisterium about the need for this Sacrament

	Perhaps there is a certain logic in the fact that the Protestant churches, lacking any sacramental remedy for sin, have in practice tended to dilute its reality, watering down their teaching about certain grave sins (remarriage after divorce, contraception, abortion, homosexuality...): "explaining sin away", so to speak.  The Catholic Church has never let its faithful be misled in this way which so leaves the soul so vulnerable to the deep and objective harm done by sin.

	Certain sinful habits may begin to take root in a person's life (drink, dishonesty, sexual sins...); discouragement may then set in, but will not do so if a person is humble and supernatural enough to back up their struggle to overcome these sins with constant recourse to the sacrament of Reconciliation.  Paul VI, in Humanae Vitae, stresses this pastoral point: "Let married couples face up to the efforts needed, supported by faith and hope... Let them implore divine assistance by persevering prayer; above all, let them draw from the source of grace and charity in the Eucharist. And if sin should still keep its hold over them, let them not be discouraged, but rather have recourse with humble perseverance to the mercy of God, which is poured forth in the sacrament of Penance" (HV 25).

	In any case, "According to the Church's command, "after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year" (c. 989)... Children must go to the sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time (c. 914)" (CCC 1457).

c)	Teaching of Tradition and the Magisterium regarding the need for the sacrament – for reconciliation with God through the Church, need for the sacrament in case of mortal sins, before receiving Holy Communion.

5.8 Need to combat neglect of the sacrament of Penance

	Since Penance is one of the two sacraments that can be received frequently and is nevertheless being neglected more and more in modern times, the Church has put growing insistence on its frequent reception.  St. Josemaría was outstanding in practicing and preaching this: "I go to Confession each week, and sometimes more than once a week - because it gives me such strength".

	All the sacraments grant sanctifying grace and a specific sacramental grace that helps the recipient attain the particular end of each sacrament. The sacrament of penance has as specific end the strengthening of the soul after sin.

	St. Thomas: "Through the sacrament of Penance grace is conferred which makes the penitent stronger in the struggle against sin" (Quodlibet 1, q. 6)

	This is the grace that helps erase the wound of sin and gives the necessary force to conquer future temptations. This grace is granted to conquer venial sins also, not only mortal ones.

5.9 The interlink between Eucharist and Penance

	There is an evident interlink between the two sacraments that can be received frequently: Eucharist and Penance. In his first Encyclical, Pope John Paul II insisted on this: "The Eucharist and Penance become in a sense two closely connected dimensions of authentic life in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel, of truly Christian life. The Christ who calls to the Eucharistic banquet is always the same Christ who exhorts us to penance and repeats his "Repent". Without this constant ever renewed endeavor for conversion, partaking of the Eucharist would lack its full redeeming effectiveness and there would be a loss or at least a weakening of the special readiness to offer God the spiritual sacrifice in which our sharing in the priesthood of Christ is expressed in an essential and universal manner" (Redemptor hominis 20). He refers back to this in his 1980 Letter Dominicae Cenae: "In the encyclical Redemptor hominis I have already drawn attention to the close link between the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is not only that Penance leads to the Eucharist, but that the Eucharist also leads to Penance. For when we realize who it is that we receive in Eucharistic Communion, there springs up in us almost spontaneously a sense of unworthiness, together with sorrow for our sins and an interior need for purification. But we must always take care that this great meeting with Christ in the Eucharist does not become a mere habit, and that we do not receive Him unworthily, that is to say, in a state of mortal sin. The practice of the virtue of penance and the sacrament of Penance are essential for sustaining in us and continually deepening that spirit of veneration which man owes to God Himself and to His love so marvelously revealed" (no. 7).

C. The subject of the Sacrament

	The subject capable of the Sacrament of Penance is every baptized person who can carry out the penitent's three acts: contrition, confession and satisfaction.

Subject of the Sacrament (or Acts of the Penitent)

1.	General Conditions for the subject of the Sacrament of Penance:
a)	Viator – alive
b)	Baptized 
c)	Has reached the use of reason
d)	Free of censures – the censure has to be lifted first or at the same time.  (e.g., abortion, etc.)
e)	No impediment (due to situation in life) which excludes him from the reception of the sacraments.  (E.g., Excommunicated  persons; person in concubinage but has no intention to leave person or have no relations with such person)
6.1 Wayfarer (viator).

	The sacrament cannot be administered to a person who is certainly dead; in the case of doubt about actual death, it can be administered conditionally.

6.2 Baptized and having reached the use of reason.

	There is no generally fixed age for this.  It is sufficient if a child has the sense of having done wrong before God, is sorry, and desires his forgiveness.

6.3 Free from any censure of excommunication.

	The censure must first be absolved. This is done before the sacrament of penance is received, or in certain cases (if the faculty is given to the priest) along with sacramental absolution itself (we will see this in more detail in Ch. 11).

6.4 Not impeded by a situation of life which excludes from the reception of the Sacraments;

	e.g. public sinners, persons who are divorced and remarried, etc. Naturally, if they have all the proper dispositions, they can be absolved.

7. The acts of the penitent (I):

7.1	ST notes an important difference between Baptism and Penance, in that the latter can only be given to adults (i.e. persons with the use of reason), since it requires definite acts on the part of the recipient (In lib. IV Sent. d. 18, q. 1). He further says: "the sacrament of penance consists more in the act of the penitent than in the absolution of the priest" (In lib; IV, Sent. d 22, q 2)

7.2  Contrition

	Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place: "contrition is of the essence of the sacrament of Penance" (St. Thomas: Super Sent., lib. 4, d. 23 q. 1)

	Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again" (Trent) (CCC 1451).

	Two aspects: looking back - with repentance; looking foward - with resolution.

2.	Acts of the Penitent (I):  (CCC 1450: “Penance requires…the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction.” (citing Roman Catech, CT 1551) 

a)	Examination of conscience – in the process of conversion.  “The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made in the light  of  the Word of God.  The passages best suited…found in the Ten commandments, the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon of the Mount and the apostolic teachings.” (CCC 1454).

b)	Contrition:

Notion:  (CCC 1452: Contrition is ‘sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.’”.(CT, 1551).   Among the penitent’s acts, contrition occupies first place.(ibid.).   It, in a certain sense, belongs to the sign-field of the sacrament, is the expression of inner conversion (metanoia), i.e., the inward turning away from the sinful action  and from the way of life inimical to God which it reveals (CT, 14th sess.).  If sin is aversio a Deo, then contrition is conversio ad Deo.  Contrition enables one to discover one’s true self (SCH,223).  Contrition reaches its fullness in absolution.

7.3 Necessity of contrition for the remission of every sin

	Contrition - perfect contrition or simple attrition - is a condition for the validity of the Sacrament of Penance, in as much as, being one of the penitent's acts, it is an essential part of the sacrament.

	It is enough that contrition is virtual in the moment of receiving absolution; i.e. that an act of contrition has been made before and not been revoked; so remaining present.

	Contrition should be explicitly shown by means of some sensible sign - words, kissing the Crucifix, etc. -, before receiving the absolution and coexisting with it.  This is done in the present rite, through words such as Domine, tu omnia nosti..., or some other similar expression.

(i)	Need for contrition for the remission of all sin: sorrow for all mortal sins, and all sins, even if you do not remember all of them (particularly, venial).

7.4 Properties of contrition

2)	true and formal, i.e. internal and shown by a positive and explicit act of sorrow for the sins committed; 2) supernatural; 3) appreciatively supreme: it is not required that this sorrow of sins be felt nor be of the highest intensity, it is enough that it be so in appreciation, i.e. that sin is regarded as the greatest evil of all; 4) universal: that it extends to all the mortal sins confessed, although it is not necessary that they are remembered one by one.

7.5 Types of contrition: perfect contrition and imperfect (or attrition)

	Perfect contrition springs from charity, that is, from love of God beloved above all things and infinitely good, who has been offended.

	Imperfect contrition or attrition is regret for sin arising from some other motive less than consideration of the goodness of God.  Though imperfect, it implies a reaction of conscience - away from sin - that is sufficient to receive forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.

	It is not very difficult to make an act of perfect contrition, for the reason indicated by Saint Thomas: "It is clear that good is more powerful than evil, because 'evil only works by virtue of the good' (...). Hence, if the human will is separated from the state of grace by sin, with more readiness can it be separated from sin by grace" (Summa contra Gentiles, IV, cap. 71).

Types of contrition: since the early period of scholasticism, the distinction has been made (1) perfect contrition – “When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else.” (CCC 1452).  For his own sake, which in old English meant love.    Can be considered as act of worship.  CT’s contritio or compunctio is contrition in general while attritio is for imperfect contrition.  Per Scholastics, it is given by grace (2) imperfect contrition (attrition) – when “it is born of the consideration of sin’s ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and other penalties threatening the sinner” (CCC 1453).  Bl. Scotus can procede from love of God, thus giving it also some importance.  CT says difference between the two is a difference in degree, both being expressions of sorrow; attrition is genuine contrition, even though it does not justify the sinner.  It prepares the sinner to receive the sacrament, therefore, the love of God is there also.  Both involve love of God, though one has a higher degree than the other. 
7.6 Effects of perfect contrition and of attrition

	CCC: "When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible" (1452) [the votum sacramenti].

	Perfect contrition brings forgiveness of mortals sins, but it is not perfect unless it includes the resolution to submit oneself to the power of the keys, i.e. to go to Confession. And, apart from some few exceptional cases, one must not go to Communion if a mortal sin, however contritely repented, has not been absolved in Confession.

	CCC: "The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance" (1453).

(ii)	Effects of perfect and imperfect contrition: (1) perfect contrition – remits grave sins without the actual reception of the sacrament, as long as desire to receive it as soon as possible is there.  CT: “It sometimes happens that this contrition is perfect because of charity and reconciles man to God….this reconciliation must not be ascribed to the contrition itself without the desire of the sacrament which is included in it.”  (Tanq, 326). But perfect contrition is not necessary for the remission of sins through the sacrament; imperfect contrition is sufficient. (2)  imperfect contrition – is a true and profitable sorrow, preparing one for grace.”(Tanq, 327))

(iii)	Controversy:  Scotists, with perfect contrition one is forgiven even before absolution.  St. Thomas no justification without perfect contrition.  Thomists held that absolution transforms the incipient love to perfect love.  CT:  “Inicipient love is a preparation to perfect love.”  Theologians of Salamanca tried to reconcile the two schools, saying that attrition necessarily involved the love of hope, and therefore, also an expression of contrition/love.  St. Alphonsus Liguori follows this view, and this is the prevailing view up to now. (John 14; 1 John 4; Luke 7).  Attrition is helpful for the Lord said, “one must be afraid of He who can destroy body and soul”.  Still unresolved.  Absolutions are not only declarative, but also indicative.  Ex opere operato.  Conclusion:  absolution with perfect contrition, taken from an ecclesiological sense, is an organic whole.

(iv)	Relation between internal act of virtue (contrition or attrition) and sacramental penance:  sorrow must include desire to confess one sins; place oneself in the judgment of the Church.  This is votum sacramenti.

7.7  A "purpose of amendment" is an essential part of contrition

	The resolution of not sinning again (purpose of amendment) is required for the validity of the Sacrament.

	The Code of Canon Law states: "In order that the faithful may receive the saving remedy of the sacrament of penance, they must be so disposed that, repudiating the sins they have committed and having the purpose of amending their lives, they turn back to God" (c. 987).

	- Qualities of this resolution.

	The purpose of amendment is the deliberate and serious will not to sin again. It is meant to be not a vague wish - "I would like to" or "I wish I could", but a firm act - "I determine to", without conditions.

	The resolution can be: 1) explicit and formal, i.e. an act different from contrition; 2) implicit and virtual - contained in all sincere contrition, because this involves detestation not only of past sins, but also of future ones.

	The qualities of a valid and true resolution are:

	- 1) strong: the penitent should be completely resolved not to sin again, even though for this he has to lose all his goods and bear all possible wrongs. This firm resolution of the will does not exclude the fear, the doubt, or even the intellectual conviction, of a future relapse due to one's own fragility;

	- 2) effective, with regard to three elements: a) to put the means to avoid sins - vigilance, prayer, etc.; b) to avoid the occasions of sinning, insofar as possible; c) to repair the damage caused to one's neighbor;

	- 3) universal, i.e. extending to the commission of any mortal sin. In the case of venial sins, it is good and profitable to make the resolution to avoid them all.

	The penitent, therefore, should "make" the resolution, i.e., put a positive effort in making it so that it is strong, effective and universal.

(v)	Resolution not to sin again:  
Qualities of the resolution: sincere, firm, and going to frequent confession.

8. The acts of the penitent (II): Confession

8.1 Object and purpose of confession

	"Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance"  (CCC 1456)

	Confession is the sacrament of self-accusation which the penitent makes of his sins before the minister to receive absolution and hence pardon.

3.	Acts of the Penitent (II) – Confession of Sins

a)	Confession means an unobserved God-given law that the sinner confess his sins.  (Gen 3, Lev 5, 2 Sam, James 5).  Many of these texts only refers to telling it to God.  More light in teachings of Our Lord, when gave the Church authority to absolve sins (Mt, Jn).  When Our Lord gives the power to bind or loose, it presupposes some knowledge of sin. The Fathers of the Church   developed these scriptural indications into a teaching of the necessity of the confession of sin (SCH. 222).  At the start, confession of mortal sins was evident.  This was called exhomologesis.  Public confession – grave sins.  Private confession of minor sins only in monasteries, for spiritual direction.

b)	Purpose – not to make an inventory of sins, but to accuse and condemn oneself.  When a sinner confesses before a representative of the Church, he is facing God, Jesus on the Cross, since forgiveness is obtained by Him there.  Confession is contrition expressed in words.  Why to speak out in words?  Words are man’s mode of self-expression (of what is in him).  Man is a “word-being” (Schmaus,223).

c)	
8.2 Theological sense and anthropological value of confession

	CCC: "The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible" (1455).

8.3 Necessity of confessing mortal sins committed after Baptism

	"All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self‑examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly" (Trent 1551). This is of divine law (cf. DS 1706-1707: defined against Calvin).

	The 1983 Code of Canon law insists on this: "The faithful are bound to confess, in kind and in number, all grave sins committed after baptism, of which after careful examination of conscience they are aware, which have not yet been directly pardoned by the keys of the Church, and which have not been confessed in an individual confession" (c. 988 §1).

Distinction between mortal and venial sin (‘there is a sin unto death’ 1 John 5).  CT: requires the confession of mortal sins in terms of species and number, circumstances that change the species.  Those we forget are also blotted out, but once remembered should be confessed.  Luther said that it is possible not to remember all mortal sins.  But CT assumes that we can easily distinguish between the two without much difficulty.  It made a distinction between the two types of sins.  Luther even warned against distinction, because of danger of minimizing the importance of sin.  But danger of scrupulosity has to be guarded against.  CT: it is not necessary, but encouraged and valuable, to confess venial sins.  Sacrament was instituted primarily for mortal sins, and only secondarily, for venial sin.  Benedict XVII, CCL: says that mortal sins already forgiven can be confessed again.  The practice came from Greek fathers who believed that there is a complex of sin that exists in every sinful action of man (SCH, 225).  Sin has far-reaching effects which we cannot really measure.

8.4 Qualities of confession

	Sincere, humble, clear, objective, contrite, with rectitude of intention (not made to win the good opinion of the confessor), discreet (with prudence and modesty: not describing sins in unnecessary detail), brief, vocal (sins should be expressed personally to the confessor), secret (to safeguard the sacramental seal), docile (with good dispositions so as to be helped and formed; following the advice received) and complete (all the serious sins and their circumstances). Let us consider more concretely some of these characteristics.

	- sincere, i.e., without falsehood, dissimulation or excuses.

	Anyone who lies in confession in some serious and necessary matter commits a grave sacrilege and makes the Sacrament invalid. If this were about non necessary matter, it would constitute a venial sin of irreverence toward the Sacrament: it is great temerity to offend God, even if slightly, in the moment when one is asking him for forgiveness of one's sins.

	For example, a sin is committed by whoever accuses himself of a present sin as if it was a sin of one's past life.

	Even in the case where the confessor inquires imprudently on matters foreign to confession, or about matters of one's past life, it is not licit to lie; the penitent has the right to refuse to answer but not to lie.

	- vocal, i.e. made in words by the penitent himself. However, in the case of need, it could be made in writing, by means of signs or with an interpreter, always provided the penitent is morally present before the confessor.

Qualities of Confession:

Integrity of confession – obliges to confess all mortal sins committed after baptism not yet confessed.  Material integrity – refers absolutely to every sin, incl. Venial (impossible).  Formal integrity – more important and is what integrity ordinarily refers to, which is to confess all mortal sins since last confession or baptism.  Extent of integrity in confession:  species of the sin, number, and circumstances, and the effects.  

Causes exempting from material integrity:  

 physical impossibility—extreme sickness, muteness and lack of confessor who can read sign language, ignorance of the language of the confessor; imminent danger of death, invincible ignorance or forgetfulness;

moral impossibility –scrupulous person, or danger to the life of the penitent, confessor or third party, danger of scandal of sin for the confessor (which is extremely rare), danger of breaking the sacramental seal, danger to the good name of the penitent because it is not possible to mention the sin without being overheard by others.

8.5 Integrity of confession: material and formal integrity

	Special importance attaches to the question of the completeness or integrity of confession.

	- integral, i.e. there is a strict obligation in confession to accuse onself of all the mortal sins, in number and in species, committed since the last good confession, that one recalls after a diligent examination 

	A voluntary lack of integrity in the accusation of sins is a serious sacrilege and makes the Sacrament of Penance invalid.

	This doctrine was defined by the Council of Trent: DS 1680: it is necessary that the penitent manifests in confession all the mortal sins that they are aware of after a diligent examination. They should also explain any circumstances that change the species of the sin, because if they did not do so they would not be expounding their sins integrally nor would these be clear to the judge, who could not then judge rightly on their gravity and impose the proper penance.

	One can distinguish a double integrity: 1) material which comprehends all and each of the mortal sins committed after Baptism and not directly remitted in the Sacrament; 2) formal which comprehends all and each one of the mortal sins which the penitent here and now, keeping in mind the actual circumstances, can and should confess.

	Material integrity is not always necessary for the valid and licit reception of the Sacrament; formal integrity is always absolutely necessary.

	To estimate the integrity of confession it is necessary to consider: 1) the species of sins; 2) their number; 3) their circumstances; 4) the external act; 5) their effects.  Separate attention must be given to doubtful sins.

   a) The species (both theological and moral)

	So that the confession is complete it is necessary to confess any serious sins according to both their theological and moral species, their number, and the circumstances that change the species

	- theological species; i.e. whether they are serious or slight.

	- moral species; refers to the virtue or commandment that has been violated. It is not enough to say in general "I have sinned against the sixth commandment", but one must express the concrete moral species ("masturbation, adultery, an immoral show..."); nor to say that one has sinned gravely against justice; one must specify. The penitent does not have to know the last species in theological-moral terms: it is enough if he accuses himself of the action carried out along with any concrete and important circumstances (I stole 100.000/-).

	The minister should clearly grasp whether the sins confessed are mortal or venial. At the same time, he must ensure that Confession is a sacrament that can be loved, and so avoid anything that could give the impression of cross-examination or "grilling". In the case of a penitent with very little formation it is enough for him to confess with the proximate species, in a generic way; but one should know how to advise him.

   b) The number of sins

	Since sacramental confession is a judgement, the penitent should declare the number of the serious sins committed, in as much as this is morally possible after a diligent examination. This should be done because: - a) each mortal sin is an offense against God, and as such it should be forgiven; - b) this also helps the confessor to know if there is a bad habit (which may diminish responsibility); - c) thus the confessor can help the penitent to make a firm and practical resolution of amendment. If it is not possible to know the exact number (for example, when a lot of time has lapsed since the last confession), it can be enough to say the approximate number or frequency.

   c) The circumstances

	Integrity also involves the accusation of circumstances that change the species or gravity of sins. For example, it is not the same thing to steal from a rich or from a poor person, or from one's own parents, or in a church. Adultery is a serious sin against the sixth commandment; so is fornication but of a different species - although only a circumstance, that of being married or not, has changed.

	If a sin could have caused scandal to one or several persons, one should indicate how far this scandal may have reached.

	One can and should indicate circumstances that mitigate guilt.  At the same time one has to be very careful not to start excusing oneself, blaming others, etc. At times the confessor may have to call the penitent to attention on this.

   d) The external act

	Keeping in mind the distinction between internal acts and external acts, for the integrity of the confession, it is necessary to declare whether an external act was carried out. It would not be enough to say that one had an intention of stealing, if one in fact had stolen; it is very different to intend to have an abortion and actually to carry it out in fact.

	The same can be said of the omission of due acts. It would not be enough to say that something has not been done, without specifying that one had the obligation of doing it and why.

   e) The effects of sinful action

	It is necessary also to mention the sinful effects of the sinful act, if they were foreseen.  For example, to deliberately provoke someone so as to make him lose his temper and do something violent; to read an obscene book foreseeing it will lead to a pollution or masturbation... These foreseen consequences should be confessed.

8.7  Causes that excuse from material integrity

	Causes excusing from material integrity: physical impossibility and moral impossibility.

	- Physical impossibility:

	a) grave illness that makes it totally impossible to confess. The confessor must look more for the penitent's contrition than material integrity, helping him to make an act of contrition.

	b) difficulty in hearing or speaking, either because the penitent is dumb - and cannot express himself by signs or in writing - or deaf; or there is no common language (then confession can be made through an interpreter, although this is not necessary: c. 990).

	c) lack of time due to immediate danger of death (plane crashing)

	- Moral impossibility

	There is moral impossibility, when the confession cannot be made without serious damage, extrinsic to the confession, for the penitent, the confessor or a third person. (There is no moral impossibility in the case of a serious hardship internal to the confession itself as, for example, great shame or reluctance to say one's sins - save in the case of psychic illnesses that have such manifestations). The following are examples:

	- a) Danger of violation of the sacramentall seal:

	E.g. the penitent who does not want to confess with a concrete priest whom he knows for certain does not keep the seal or who speaks in an excessively loud voice. [direct violation of seal incurs in a excommunication reserved to the Holy See: c. 1388]

	- b) danger for the penitent of losing his good name, not before the confessor (that does not excuse) but before others: e.g. a patient in a hospital ward with other many other sick people who may hear what is confessed.

	- c) Serious spiritual or temporal harm: e..g. a situation of persecution of the Church (where a very abbreviated confession in the street would be justified): or pastoral attention of a sick person with a highly contagious disease.

	- d) a strong state of scruples.

	- e) danger of scandal or of falling into ssin, either for the penitent or for the confessor: it is a rare case. If the confessor has temptations as a result of what he hears, he asks God for the necessary help in the struggle, and goes ahead. However, if he is very young and is consulted on more difficult matters, then he would be wise to refer the penitent to an older priest, if this is possible.

	If the confession could lead to the defamation of an accomplice in sin: 1) one seeks to hide their name, insofar as possible (in some cases this is not possible as happens with sexual sins in conjugal life; 2) the confessor sins mortally if he directly asks the name of the accomplice in sin, even if his purpose is good; 3) the confessor can inquire about the circumstances that should be declared in confession, although from this the accomplice's name can be deduced indirectly; 4) the penitent can confess his own sin integrally, although he indirectly reveals another's fault, if there is sufficient cause - e.g. in danger of death when he finds it hard to omit the confession.

	In all cases of moral impossibility the penitent should make the firm resolution of confessing the sin when he or she can.

	Here we could mention the case of a person who is not in the state of grace, has no confessor available, and yet is faced with a need to celebrate or receive the Eucharist. The issue here is normally not one of omitting integrity. but of whether a person so placed can receive without previous Confession. The Code says: "Anyone who is conscious of grave sin may not celebrate Mass or receive the Body of the Lord without previously having been to sacramental confession, unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, which includes the resolve to go to confession as soon as possible" (c. 916).

	It could be the case of a priest who is not in a state of grace but has to celebrate Mass for the people and would probably cause scandal if did not, and has no possibility of confessing beforehand. It might be the case of a young person in a similar state, who goes to Mass with the rest of the family and feels they may be scandalized if he or she does not receive Communion. In any case, parents should try to facilitate the freedom of their children with regard to such possible situations.

8.8  Examination of conscience as a means to obtain integrity

	"The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made in the light of the Word of God. The passages best suited to this can be found in the Ten Commandments, the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic teachings" (CCC 1454).

	The penitent should habitually make a diligent examination of conscience before confession, to be able to sorry for his or her sins and to make an integral confession. Prümmer says that this is a grave obligation (when there probably have been serious sins).

	The diligence required is that necessary to be able to make a good confession. It is not supreme diligence, but that which wise men put in serious matters.  One can measure it better by recalling that diligence comes from "diligere", to love. So, "diligent" = the care that love puts into examining the way one has lived love, or not lived it.

	The diligence must be measured according to: 1) the time since the last confession; 2) the condition of the person - rude, well formed, scrupulous, etc.

	The confessor must help the penitent to make this examination of conscience, exhorting those that know and can make it to be diligent, helping those that are not capable to make it in confession itself, or providing a series of questions that can help them to make it.

	A penitent who is afraid because of bad memory of forgetting some sins, is not in the least obliged to put them in writing, since the paper could easily be lost and come to the knowledge of another, could be a source of scruples, etc.

	On the method of the examination, there is nothing laid down. A help is one's daily examination of conscience and asking the Holy Spirit for light before beginning to make it.

9. The acts of the penitent (III): [Confession: further points]

9.1 The confession of doubtful sins

	Doubtful sins should be confessed in the way in which they are present in the penitent's conscience.

	One can distinguish between negative and positive doubt.

	- a negative doubt is where there is no real and positive argument or element on which to base the doubt. It is not necessary to confess such doubtful sins; this way one avoids scruples. However, it is advisable to accuse oneself of the mortal sins not confessed, although some slight reason may exist for thinking they were not mortal or were already confessed.

	- a positive doubt is when real arguments exist to wonder whether one has sinned: whether the sin is mortal, whether one actually confessed it before.

	The authors distinguish between:

	- a) A sin doubtfully committed: by this action, did I sin? or was I asleep? There is no per se obligation to confess sins doubtfully committed: there would not be enough matter. Per accidens, it is good to manifest them out of love for God and for the formation of one's own conscience.

	- b) doubt regarding the gravity of the matter: the penitent should express the sin - as doubtful - in confession, so as to emerge from the doubt and form his conscience.

	- c) doubt regarding advertence and consentt: the doubtful sin should be expressed in confession - always as doubtful. In general, if the penitent is of delicate conscience, possibly he did not consent to the sin; if of lax conscience, possibly he consented. Anyway, because of the evident impossibility of resolving the matter fully, the confessor should leave everything to God's judgment.

	- d) A sin doubtfully confessed: did I conffess that sin which I commited some time ago? If it is about a sin certainly committed but doubtfully confessed, it should be confessed unless the doubt is very weak and groundless.

	In the case of scrupulous persons, it is better that they do not confess when in doubt.

9.2 What is meant by sufficient and insufficient matter of confession

	As we have seen, mortal sins, venial sins, and even those sin previously forgiven in confession are considered sufficient matter to receive sacramental absolution validly, while simple imperfections or whatever does not certainly have the nature of sin is not sufficient.

9.3 Confession of venial sins and of those already confessed

	Without being strictly necessary, the confession of venial sins is vividly recommended by the Church (CIC, c. 988). There are certainly other ways for venial sins to be forgiven, but it is very useful and profitable to confess them. The Magisterium encourages all those who want to grow in virtue to confess them.

	Regarding sins already confessed, they can be confessed again, out of the desire to expiate, or to lessen the temporal punishment due to those sins already confessed. Sorrow is required: it is enough to confess them a generically.

9.4 When confession should be repeated.

	- When an invalid confession has been made. This could be a confession without contrition, without resolution of amendment, or in which some mortal sin was consciously not confessed. In the latter case the penitent must say how and why the previous confession was sacrilegious.

9.5

	N.B. The Council of Trent condemned the following theses: / It is not necessary to confess all one's sins nor the circumstances that change the species; / Confession is useful only to instruct and console the penitent; / It is not licit to confess venial sins.

9.6 Value of frequent confession

	Our Father: "For a Christian, joy is a treasure. Only by offending God do we lose it, because sin is the fruit of selfishness, and selfishness is the root of sadness... If we repent, if an act of sorrow springs from our heart, if we purify ourselves in the holy sacrament of penance, God comes out to meet and forgive us" (CPB 178). "I would like to see you going to the holy Sacrament of Penance, the sacrament of divine forgiveness, every week, and indeed whenever you need it, without giving in to scruples" (FG 219). "Forward, no matter what happens! Cling tightly to Our Lord's hand and remember that God does not lose battles. If you stray from him for any reason, react with the humility that will lead you to begin again and again; play the role of the prodigal son every day, and even repeatedly during the twenty-four hours of the same day; correct your contrite heart in Confession, which is a real miracle of God's Love. In this wonderful Sacrament Our Lord cleanses your soul and fills you with joy and strength to prevent you from giving up the fight, and helps you keep returning to God unwearied, when everything seems black" (FG 214; cf. FG 185; Forge 92; Furrow 45, etc.)

Acts of the Penitent 

a)	Doubtful sins:  (doubt as to the sinfulness of an act).  On the one hand, it is not necessary.  But it is advisable, to improve one’s conscience.  But there is a general rule, when in doubt, to get out of doubt.  So one who confesses it, will be clarified anyway, does well.

b)	Sufficient and insufficient matter – for the validity of the sacrament there must be sufficient matter, i.e., necessary (mortal) or free (venial sins, or mortal sins already previously absolved).  “Mere imperfections and doubtful sins are insufficient matter.  One should therefore mention some free and certain matter to receive the sacrament.” (FSU I, 556).

Confession of venial sins and those already confessed –

10. The acts of the penitent (IV): sacramental satisfaction

10.1	Concept:	Absolution removes sin, but does not remedy all the disorders that sin has caused (Conc. of Trent). Liberated from sin, the sinner must still recover full spiritual health. Therefore, he should do something more in order to repair his sins: "to satisfy" for them in an appropriate way, or "to expiate" them.

	Satisfaction can be: 1) sacramental or extrasacramental, according to whether it is imposed in the same sacrament by the confessor or is imposed by the penitent on himself; 2) public or private. [Lough Derg]

	Sacramental satisfaction is "the compensation for the temporal punishment due to confessed sins, by means of good works, imposed by the confessor and accepted by the penitent".

	CCC: "Many sins wrong our neighbour. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbour. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must "make satisfaction for" or "expiate" his sins. This satisfaction is also called "penance" (1459).

	JP2: "Even after forgiveness, the "residue of sin" remains and must be removed and combatted by a programme of penance involving a greater commitment to doing good. This requires first of all the reparation of physical or moral wrongs done to groups or individuals" (Audience of Sept 22, 1999)

10.2	Necessity: "The confessor is to impose salutary and appropriate penances, in proportion to the kind and number of sins confessed, taking into account, however, the condition of the penitent. The penitent is bound personally to fulfil these penances" (c. 981).

	The confessor can and ordinarily should impose a satisfaction on the penitent. This is a matter of serious obligation, since satisfaction is a part of the Sacrament (Conc. of Trent). We say "ordinarily" because it may occur that the penitent cannot fulfill any satisfaction - one dying or already unconscious - or that he has no strength to do it - although, in this case, one can always impose a light penance, like an aspiration.

	The satisfaction must be imposed before the absolution of confessed sins, because its acceptance by the penitent is an essential part of the essence of the proximate matter of the Sacrament. It is prescribed this way in the Ritual, and has been the universal custom in the Church.

	In the event of forgetfulness on the part of the confessor, the penance or satisfaction can be imposed after giving the absolution.

	If the penitent, once absolution is received, accuses himself of a new serious sin that he had forgotten before, it is necessary to give him absolution again and to impose a new penance, however light.

	To receive the Sacrament validly the penitent must have the desire or resolution of fulfilling the satisfaction. For the integrity of the Sacrament, its actual performance is necessary (its omission does not prevent the validity).

10.3 Nature of satisfactory works

	"[Penance] can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbour, voluntary self‑denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co‑heirs with the risen Christ, "provided we suffer with him" (CCC 1460).

10.4 Quantity and quality of satisfaction

	The Conc. of Trent teaches that the quantity and quality of the satisfaction must be determined according to the type and number of sins, keeping in mind the penitent's personal situation and looking for his spiritual good.

	As for the quantity, the satisfaction must be proportionate: 1) as a penalty, to the gravity and number of sins, i.e. serious for serious sins and slight for the smaller sins or the serious ones already absolved; 2) as a medicine, to the condition and ability of the penitent.

	A serious penance is one which coincides with a work that the Church imposes under serious sin (a Mass, a day of fast, etc.) or a longer prayer: a Rosary, the Litanies of the Saints, reading a passage from Scripture (e.g. Lk 15:11-32), etc. A light penance is a brief prayer (a psalm, one or several Our Fathers, Hail Marys), a small mortification, etc.

	The satisfaction can be lessened according to the penitent's situation: 1) the penitent's corporal or psychic illness; 2) his spiritual weakness. 3) his great and extraordinary contrition, 4) if the satisfactory works are indulgenced; 5) if the confessor undertakes to fulfill part of the penance (not all of it, since it is the penitent's act).

10.5 Effects of sacramental satisfaction

	To reduce the temporal punishment due to sin; the extent to which this is effected depends also on the dispositions of the penitent.

10.6 The duty of fulfilling the penance

	The penitent should freely accept the penance reasonably imposed by the confessor and later fulfill it. If the penitent finds the penance imposed too hard, he can ask the confessor to reduce it; if the latter does not want to, either he accepts it so as to be able to receive absolution (even when he considers having recourse to another confessor so as to have it mitigated), or renounces receiving absolution so as to have recourse to another more benign confessor.

	The penance has to be fulfilled personally by the penitent, in the form determined by the confessor.

	It is not necessary to fulfill the penance before taking communion.

10.7 Possibility of commuting the penance for a just cause.

	This should not often be likely, especially if the confessor has borne in mind what is said in CCC 1460: "The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent's personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed".

	Regarding the overall effects of the sacrament in general, one must stress that they are determined in a very special way by the sense of metanoia or conversion present in the penitent's life.  JP2 stressed this in one of his 1999 weekly audiences. "The biblical message presents this "penitential" dimension as an ongoing commitment to conversion. Doing works of penance presupposes a transformation of conscience that is the result of God's grace. In the New Testament especially, conversion is required as a fundamental choice of those to whom the kingdom of God is preached: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel"... "Repent" (in Greek, metanoeîte) is a call to change one's way of thinking and acting. This invitation to conversion forms the vital conclusion of the Apostles' preaching after Pentecost... All of this can be clearly seen in Peter's address in Solomon's portico: "What God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3: 18-19)" (Audience of Sept 15, 1999).

Acts of Penitent – Satisfaction – 

Difficult to quantify damage (see idea of complex of sin in p.10.  Growing inappropriateness of tariffs and punishments lists.  Concept: replenishment of punishment in the eternal life (Western Church), in Eastern Church, it is seen as purification catharsis.  To harmonize both, Cyprian and Clement of Alexandria – whatever has to be made for the sin committed, has to be paid for in this life and for purification.  Since we cannot really determine the extent of every sin, the development of satisfaction is towards less rigorous. Apart from the repentance for the sin, God requires the reparation of disorder caused by the sin,  (Gen 3; Num 3; 2 Sam 12; Col 1, 1 Cor 9; 2 Cor 7).  In Western Church, sin is a single self-contained action to which it is possible to distinguish satisfaction, expiation and restitution.  In Eastern Church, do not distinguish much between guilt and punishment, which is inherent in sin.  CT rejected the view of setting aside satisfaction as contradicting Scriptures since it would diminish the value or merit of the satisfaction  made by Jesus Christ, and this element of confession will be seen as a purely human institution.  On the contrary, CT requires the priest to impose a suitable penance.  Satisfaction becomes effective because it participates in the sacrifice of Jesus in Golgotha.   Every sin has attached to it a punishment (SCH, 235: Gen 3).  Sin cannot be fully satisfied in this life, since we do not know how far the consequences of it go.  With satisfaction, sinner tries to repair the disorder which he himself caused.  Detachment from this world is a proof of putting back order.  Satisfaction is to God, as expiation and purification is to the sinner.

a)	Duty to fulfill the satisfaction – penitent has to accept the penance and have the desire to fulfill it.  But if one forgets to do it, he is still forgiven.

b)	Possibility of Commuting the Penance for Just Reason – if circumstances make it difficult to fulfill the penance impose, (e.g., he becomes sick, etc.; priest sees effectiveness of penance even partially fulfilled) the penitent may ask the confessor, or even another, to change it.

D. The minister of the Sacrament of Penance

	Only the ordained priest has the power to remit sins through this sacrament. "The causative power of this sacrament is in the absolution given by the priest, based on the power of the keys, through which the effect of Our Lord's Passion is applied to the person being absolved, so that he obtains the remission of his sins" (Super Ev. S. Joannis Lect. cap 11)

11. Conditions that the minister of Penance should fulfill:

11.1 a) Necessity for the power of Order

	CCC: "Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the Church. Since ancient times the bishop, visible head of a particular Church, has thus rightfully been considered to be the one who principally has the power and ministry of reconciliation: he is the moderator of the penitential discipline. Priests, his collaborators, exercise it to the extent that they have received the commission either from their bishop (or religious superior) or the Pope, according to the law of the Church" (1462).

B.	Minister of the Sacrament of Penance

1.	Conditions which the Minister of Penance:  Need of the Power of Orders.

a)	Need of the Power of Orders.  Only those who have received orders and have received jurisdiction from the hierarchy can receive confessions.  Only the bishop and priests can administer it.  

(i)	“Generally speaking, those entitled by right to hear confessions are the Pope, cardinals, and bishops; those entitled by office are the Ordinary, the Canon Penitentiary, the parish priest, and those who take their place; other priests have this power by delegation of the Ordinary.”

(ii)	As regards the scope of this faculty, one has it in one place automatically has it for all places.  The local Ordinary, however, can deny this faculty to alien bishops (as to lawfulness) and priests (as to the validity).

(iii)	These regulations eased out the stricter norms of the previous Code, as required by the increased mobility of the laity and clergy in our times;

(iv)	Any priest can validly absolve a penitent who is in danger of death, even if he has no license, and even if a qualified confessor is also present.” 

The Pope or the local Ordinary can limit jurisdiction by reserving for himself the absolution of some sins, especially those which a given time are considered particularly pernicious (reserved).  The present Code, however, does not mention this reservation.” (FSU-I, 559-560). 

11.2 Only bishops and priests can administer Penance validly

	CCC: "Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (1461).

11.3 Interpretation of some penitential practices see in history

	In early times the whole Church shared in the process of Reconciliation; encouraging sinners to do penance, informing the Bishop and communicating his consent that pardon be granted to some, etc.

	In the primitive Church a lot of importance was given to supplication for others. This can explain the role of:

	a) confessors of the faith and the martyrs (those who suffered persecution and either survived or died as martyrs). These recommended the sinner so that he be forgiven through public penance. Only the actual ministers of Penance (Bishops and priests) could absolve.

	b) deacons: there was a time when they absolved, but only when the Bishop didn't arrive; in fact they were the emissaries who communicated to the sinner the absolution given by the Bishop. In the 1280, the Synod of Poitiers reaffirmed that only priests could absolve. Deacons could not.

	c) in the East: Monks with reputation for holiness went from giving spiritual direction to imparting sacramental absolution at the petition of the faithful who did not distinguish between religious and priest. This practice was condemned in the IV Lateran Council.

	d) in the West: Some lay persons in Irish monasteries; there were few cases, Saint Bede put an end to this error.

	In the high Middle Ages and in the imminent danger of death, the dying person said his sins to whoever was accompanying him to show that he had sorrow fof his sins. Eventually it was seen not to be prudent to continue with this practice of confession to lay people.

Historical Development:

In primitive Christianity, it was only the bishop could ordinarily, validly administer the sacrament.  Beginning 6th century, even priests became an ordinary minister, from a practice in Spain.  Thus, also, private confessions became more common.  In the Eastern Church, private confessions for spiritual direction up to point of confessing to laymen.  Pseudo-Dionysius complained of this practice,  From 8th century in EC, it was almost exclusively to monks.  Partly due to the poor spiritual life of bishops.  In the West, similar practice occurred, some monks had to confess even their most minor offenses daily before the monastic community or leaders, for spiritual progress.  Even Venerable Bede recommended the nonsacramental confession of minor sins before other lay people.  However, it never became a general practice.

St. Thomas, although did not ascribe authority to the laity power of absolution, said that anyone confessing to a lay person in an emergency was absolved, because it is Christ himself who blots out sin.

	    Luther went along with these tendencies. 

11.4 b) Necessity of the faculty for exercising the power of Order over the faithful to whom absolution is given

	Besides the Roman Pontiff, Cardinals by virtue of the law itself have the faculty to hear the confessions of Christ's faithful everywhere. Likewise, Bishops have this faculty, which they may lawfully use everywhere, unless in a particular case the diocesan Bishop has refused. (c. 967)

	Only a priest duly ordained having power of jurisdiction over the penitent is the minister of the sacrament of penance (c. 965); jurisdiction means that he can rightly judge the penitent.

	For the valid absolution of sins, it is required that, in addition to the power of order, the minister has the faculty to exercise that power in respect of the faithful to whom he gives absolution. He may receive that faculty ipso iure or by concession of the competent authority (c. 966)

	Those who have the faculty habitually to hear confessions, whether by virtue of their office or by virtue of a concession by the Ordinary of either the place of incardination or that in which they have a domicile, can exercise that faculty everywhere, unless in a particular case the local Ordinary has refused (c. 967).

	The faculty to hear confessions is not to be given except to priests whose suitability has been established, either by examination or by some other means. (c. 970)

Need for Faculty to exercise the power of Order (Jurisdiction):  

Parish priest and bishop of own dioceses, in their own jurisdiction, have that faculty by office;

Priests, by virtue of sacrament of Orders, have the power to absolve.  But in the act of judging (a legal decision involved), one has to have the power to effectively make the judgment. This is jurisdiction.  “Absolution is a combined action of consecrated and pastoral authority”.   (SCH, 239).  Besides some sins are reserved.  These reservations, however, are not meant to make it difficult for the penitent, but to make him realize the gravity of his sin.

11.5 Limits to the faculty of absolving

	CCC: "Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorised by them. In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication" (1463).

"
The limiting of the power to some members of the Church does not divide the Christians, into two: the sinners and those who sit in judgment.  Rather, it strengthens the unity of the Church.  CCL 966:  The faculty to hear confessions can be acquired in two ways (a) ipso iure – by law, cardinals, bishops, (b) vi officii – by virtue of his office – there are two kinds, which are territorial (the bishop, parish priest, chaplains, etc.) or personal (superiors of religious institutes CCL 596; military vicars).  A third way (CCL 970) – by special concession.  Usually called licenses, ordinarily granted by licenses, and criteria for fitness (e.g., by examination or other means) are applied for granting it. Visiting priests are to be granted faculties only after consulting with his own Ordinary (CCL 971). Faculty is given usually in writing.

Limits to faculty to absolve:  as above; censures, etc. (Ecclesiastical Penalties: how lifted – FSU, 567)

Lifted by dispensation – those that are punitive, aimed at the restoration of the damaged order, and at causing an exemplary and healthy aversion to the fault in question.  E.g., demotion, privation of a position.

Lifted by confession – those that are corrective or medicinal.  Called censures:

Established by law of the Church or applied to a person by passing  a condemnatory sentence: automatically (latae sententiae – implied sentence), such as abortion; or sentence of a judge (ferendae sententiae – requiring a sentence).

Excommunication –

 Interdict – 

		      Suspension – 

11.6 Absolution of censures in the sacramental forum

	Certain censures (excommunications) are reserved to the Holy See: absolution of a partner in a sin against the sixth commandment (c. 977); profanation of the eucharist (c. 1367); physical attack on the Pope (c. 1370).

	Any priest, even though he lacks the faculty to hear confessions, can validly and lawfully absolve any penitents who are in danger of death, from any censures and sins (c. 976)

	When it is not a case of danger of death, censures not reserved to the Holy See can be absolved, within confession, by every bishop (also by the Penitentiary, if such office exists, and hospital and prison Chaplains). They can also be absolved by any confessor, in urgent cases: "a confessor can in the internal sacramental forum remit a latae sententiae censure of excommunication or interdict which has not been declared, if it is difficult for the penitent to remain in a state of grave sin for the time necessary for the competent Superior to provide" (the penitent remains under the obligation to have recourse within one month to a priest having the requisite faculty, and to abide by his instructions; the recourse may be made through the confessor, without mention of a name) (c. 1357)

	[the "declaration" of a censure by decree (e.g. public excommunication) makes it a matter of public forum or domain, and hence it cannot be simply absolved in the intra-sacramental forum]

There are 13 types of censures: All these are subject to latae sententiae.  

These are:

Those whose lifting is reserved to the Holy See: (I) profanation of Holy Eucharist or keeping it for sacrilegious intention – Excommunication Reserved to Holy See; (II) Physical attack on the Pope – do (III) Bishop ordaining another bishop without permission – do; (IV) violation of sacramental seal– do; (V) absolution of party in a sin against 6th commandment – do; 

Those whose lifting is reserved to the Bishop:  (VI) abortion – excommunication reserved to Bishop; (VII) apostasy, heresy, schism – do; (VIII) physical attack against bishop – interdict (for layman), suspension (for cleric), (IX) attempt to say Mass – layman: interdict; (X) attempt to hear confession – laymen: interdict, (XI) penitent falsely accusing a priest - interdict (for layman), suspension (for cleric), (XII) religious attempting marriage – interdict (XIII)  cleric attempting marriage – suspension.  

Requirements for censures:  (I) subject must be at least 18 years old; (II) in state of mortal sin; (III) had willful and full knowledge of censures (IV) sin is externalized, (V) bad intention.  

Penitents in danger of death – may be absolved by priest, even if under censure.

Other conditions:  Free from censures or irregularities. (FSU – 560)

(1)	State of grace, for licitness.

(2)	Sufficient knowledge

(3)	Practice prudence and other Christian virtues such as zeal for souls, patience, and fortitude.

(4)	Ability to pass judgment on the sins heard

(5)	Ability to discern whether penitent has required dispositions, so as to give, postpone or deny absolution. (CCL 980).  Right to ask questions. (Internal vademecum – minute details avoided; if possible, to a more experienced, older priest; Q brief and to the point, but careful with words; without giving in to curiosity, no pointless Q.)  

(6)	Know how to teach and encourage the penitent, eliciting a true contrition and resolution of amendment. (e.g., spouses practicing contraception in good faith). (Holy See’s vademecum for confessors– example of the Lord who is capable of reaching to every sin; prudent inquiry into the sins; help and encouragement for penitent to reach repentance; advice given in these matters should be gradual and inspiring, so that they end up seeking holiness in married life.  When penitent has not confessed for a long time, before asking direct and concrete questions, to enlighten them of reasons for conjugal duties, etc.)

(7)	Impose appropriate satisfaction for the penitent.

(8)	In appropriate place (e.g., confessional box with proper conditions)

(9)	Must strictly keep the sacramental zeal

Manner in which to give absolution – in danger of death, can be given even removing the censure in a specific way.

Norms of sacrament in conditional absolutions:

e.g., comatose: To add: “If you are alive, and sorry for your sins…”

Abuses of the sacrament:

breaking of sacramental zeal

Making direct/indirect reference in public

Duty to repair the errors committed in the exercise of ministry – apologize, make reparation.

11.7 c) Other conditions: immunity from censures and irregularities

	- immunity from censures that prohibit them from celebrating the sacraments (cfr. cc. 1331-1333, 1335.).

	Three censures need to be considered here: a) excommunication; b) interdict; c) suspension.

	a) Excommunication: 1. Forbids participating ministerially in the Holy Mass or in other liturgical ceremonies. 2. Forbids celebrating the sacraments or sacramentals and receiving them. 3. Forbids carrying out ecclesiastical occupations, ministries or positions or performing acts of governance.

	b) Interdict (does not cut one off from communion with the Church): Forbids the same points as nos. 1 and 2 of excommunication.

	c) Suspension (applies only to a cleric): Prohibits all or some of the acts pertaining to the power of holy order or governance.

	In danger of death all censures are suppressed.

	- irregularities are factors which impede the lawfulness of ordination (e.g. grave psychic disorder, having committed a murder, attempted civil marriage, etc: cf. c. 1041)

12. Moral aspects of the minister's function

	a) to be a good penitent himself. In Pastores Dabo Vobis of 1992, JP2 repeats and emphasizes what he had written in the exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia: "The priest's spiritual and pastoral life, like that of his brothers and sisters, lay and religious, depends, for its quality and fervour, on the frequent and conscientious personal practice of the sacrament of penance. The priest's celebration of the Eucharist and administration of the other sacraments, his pastoral zeal, his relationship with the faithful, his communion with his brother priests, his collaboration with his bishop, his life of prayer - in a word, the whole of his priestly existence, suffers an inexorable decline if by negligence or for some other reason he fails to receive the sacrament of penance at regular intervals and in a spirit of genuine faith and devotion. If a priest were no longer to go to confession or properly confess his sins, his priestly being and his priestly action would feel its effects very soon, and this would also be noticed by the community of which he was the pastor" (RP 31).

	b) to have the spirit of penance. In Pastores Dabo Vobis he insists further: "it is vital to educate future priests to have the virtue of penance, which the Church wisely nourishes in her celebrations and in the seasons of the liturgical year, and which finds its fullness in the sacrament of reconciliation. From it flow the sense of asceticism and interior discipline, a spirit of sacrifice and self‑denial, the acceptance of hard work and of the cross. These are elements of the spiritual life which often prove to be particularly arduous for many candidates for the priesthood who have grown up in relatively comfortable and affluent circumstances and have been made less inclined and open to these very elements by the models of behaviour and ideals transmitted by the mass media; but this also happens in countries where the conditions of life are poorer and young people live in more austere situations" (no. 48).

12.1 a) Knowledge, prudence, necessary holiness of life in the confessor

	The confessor should have the qualities to administer the Sacrament of Penance worthily: 1) necessary and sufficient knowledge; 2) prudence; and 3) holiness of life.

	1) the necessary knowledge. It is a serious obligation, on which Saint Alphonse Ligorio wrote: "I affirm that the confessor who dares to hear confessions without sufficient knowledge, is in a state of condemnation" (Praxis confesarii, n. 18).

	There is no requirement of exceptional knowledge but of sufficient knowledge: 1) to administer the Sacrament in ordinary circumstances, i.e., to solve ordinary cases with readiness and security; and 2) to know how prudently to doubt in difficult and complicated cases, i.e., to abstain from emitting a judgement so as to take the necessary time to solve them by means of study and of consultation with other more learned priests.

	Sufficient science extends to all that is necessary for the proper fulfilment of his confessor's occupation, concretely knowledge of moral theology which cannot be replaced either by experience, or by genius, or by any other quality.

	Sufficient science requires a continuous review of moral theology, as well as the study of the new moral questions that keep coming up - through the reading of the documents of the Magisterium, the study of the laws of the Church, the knowledge of theological questions, etc.

	2) Prudence: the virtue which disposes one to discern well in all circumstance what is true and to choose the right means to carry it out. Thanks to this virtue moral principles are correctly applied to particular cases and doubts are overcome about the good to be done and the evil to be avoided. In the case of the confessor, prudence has to discern the penitent's true good and the appropriate means to obtain it.

	The confessor's prudence should be shown mainly: 1) in the questions necessary to achieve the integrity of confession; 2) in the judgement on the acts confessed, keeping in mind the actions, circumstances and dispositions of the penitent; 3) in trying to excite the penitent's sorrow; 4) in suggesting appropriate and opportune remedies for the sins confessed; 5) in the advice to lead a christian life that aspires to holiness; 6) in the imposition of a penance appropriate to the sins confessed and the penitent's circumstances.

	One could also add that the confessor should be prudent: 1) to judge the opportunity of giving, defering or denying absolution; 2) not to scandalize the penitent, especially as regards the Sixth Commandment; 3) to correct his own errors and deficiencies; 4) to keep the sacramental seal exquisitely; etc.

	The means to acquire and improve prudence are: 1) humble and persevering prayer, frequently asking light of the Holy Spirit, mainly before beginning to confess; 2) intense and assiduous study of moral theology and the complementary sciences; 3) rectitude of intention, to look only for the glory of God and the good of souls; not one's personal glory, or creating a clientele, etc.; 4) circumspection so as to avoid precipitation in considering facts and their circumstances; and 5) docility of mind, which is specially necessary in young or inexpert confessors, distrusting themselves and asking and accepting the advice of those more learned and experienced.

	3) Holiness of life. Besides the state of grace (indispensable for the worthy administration of this Sacrament; otherwise, a sacrilege is committed), the confessor needs to possess and exercise the christian virtues, especially: 1) a loving charity, because in the tribunal of Penance he makes Christ present as redeemer and savior and as Good Shepherd: 2) a great zeal for souls, always being available to assist those who need it; 3) an unyielding patience; 4) a great fortitude so as to avoid human respect when admonishing penitents, so as not to be seized by laziness at the prospect of work, etc.; 5) an extreme purity, to avoid being influenced by what he hears in the confessional.

12.3 b) Obligations of the confessor during the celebration of the Sacrament

	"In hearing confessions the priest is to remember that he is at once both judge and healer, and that he is constituted by God as a minister of both divine justice and divine mercy, so that he may contribute to the honour of God and the salvation of souls" (c. 978).

	When he celebrates the Sacrament of Penance, the priest exercises the ministry of the Good Shepherd who looks for the lost sheep; of the Good Samaritan who cures the injured person's wounds; of the Father who waits for the prodigal Son and welcomes him on his return; of the just Judge who allows no distinction of persons and whose judgement is at the same time just and merciful. In a word, the priest is the sign and instrument of the merciful love of God towards the sinner.

	The confessor is not proprietor but servant of the forgiveness of God. The minister of this Sacrament should be united to the intention and charity of Christ (Presbyterorum Ordinis 13). In other words, he must be judge, master, doctor and father for the penitents.

	The confessor's main duties during confession are those of judge and doctor, to which those of master and father are added, by reason of the frequent presence of ignorance and the need to give orientation in the spiritual life.

	- As judge

	The confessor's first duty is that of rightly judging both the sins confessed and whether absolution should be given or not.

	As judge he must ensure the integrity of the confession. Hence he has the obligation of putting opportune questions to make up for any deficiency he sees regarding the detailing by the penitent of the number and species of his sins, or regarding his interior dispositions.

	The interrogation of the penitent must always be: 1) moderate, because detailed interrogations can upset the penitent and foster an unhealthy curiosity in the confessor; 2) discreet and prudent, both in the topics touched on and in the way of interrogating. The confessor should avoid everything that can scandalize the penitent; he does not need to ask many questions of the penitent he knows to be well formed; tactful language must be used; he should not enquire for the penitent's name, etc. (c. 979); 3) opportune: for example not to interrupt the penitent and wait so that he finishes his accusation, so that he does not forget other sins.

	The confessor should give, delay or deny absolution to the penitent. "If the confessor is in no doubt about the penitent's disposition and the penitent asks for absolution, it is not to be denied or delayed" (c. 980). The penitent's sincerity can and should be supposed as long as the confessor is not certain of the opposite or has some motive to prudently doubt it. 

	Absolution should be defered if the penitent's dispositions are clearly doubtful and there is no urgency to absolve him conditionally.

	Absolution can only be denied when one is certain that the penitent is unworthy to receive it. Those are unworthy who don't want to abandon a voluntary proximate occasion of sin, who are not prepared to forgive their enemies; who are not willing to make restitution; who are not ready to cease practicing unlawful acts; who will not give up a gravely immoral situation (dishonest work, unmarried cohabitation, etc.).

	If at some time the confessor cannot give absolution, he should not use harsh words, but rather explain the motive to the penitent calmly and kindly.

	- As teacher and doctor

	He has a grave duty to know and teach the doctrine of the Church's Magisterium, for his mission is not just to absolve but also to teach and counsel the penitent. "As a minister of the Church, he is to adhere faithfully to the teaching of the magisterium and to the norms laid down by the competent authority" (c. 978).

	He must teach the penitent all those truths that are necessary to make a good confession which is integral and contrite, helping him to form a sound and true conscience.

	Likewise, he should advise him on the obligations derived from confession: the restitution to be made, if this is the case; avoidance of proximate occasions; the execution of the penance, etc.

	The confessor has to prepare the penitent for contrition and a purpose of amendment, trying to enlighten his mind and move his heart.

	The penitent's contrition can be supposed through common signs - the very fact of coming to confession, the manner of confessing sins, the delicacy of soul, etc. In some cases, when the confessor prudently doubts the penitent's sorrow, he should ask him for some special signs as, for example, the determination not to sin again, to firmly cut a situation, etc.

	As he is not only judge and teacher but also doctor, the confessor should also investigate the causes of the penitent's spiritual illnesses, and provide him with the opportune remedies, through appropriate advice for his christian struggle.

	- As father

	As father, the confessor should always keep in mind during confession that he is representing Christ. For that reason, he must receive sinners and speak to them with the kindness and love with which Christ received and spoke to them.

	As father, he must seek: 1) to prepare the sinners who are indisposed; 2) to be concerned for their spiritual profit, guiding them according to their condition and state to respond to the divine call to holiness; 3) to be ready to hear in confession anyone who requests it.

	The confessor performs a mission of spiritual direction, in which he cannot be satisfied just to free the penitent from sin, but should rather endeavor that confession be a stimulus along the way toward holiness, however far the penitent seems to be from that goal.

12.4 The obligation of hearing the confessions of the faithful

	The minister has the obligation to hear the confession of the faithful entrusted to him and who reasonably request it. "All to whom by virtue of office the care of souls is committed, are bound to provide for the hearing of the confessions of the faithful entrusted to them, who reasonably request confession, and they are to provide these faithful with an opportunity to make individual confession on days and at times arranged to suit them" (c. 986).

	"In an urgent necessity, every confessor is bound to hear the confessions of Christ's faithful, and in danger of death every priest is so obliged" (ib.).

12.5 Possible abuses of the Sacrament on the part of the minister

	a) Inquiring about the name of a penitent's partner in sin (c. 979.).

	b) Absolving his accomplice in a sin against the sixth commandment. This would be is invalid, except in the danger of death (c. 977). Outside the case of danger of death, the priest would incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Holy See (c. 1378 §1).

	c) The crime of solicitation (cfr. c. 1387). Two requirements: the priest a) on occasion of confession, b) solicits the penitent to a sin against the sixth commandment. The priest is to punished according to the gravity of the crime, through suspension, or in the most serious cases, be expelled from the clerical state (c. 1387).

12.6  c) Obligations of the confessor after the celebration of the Sacrament

	If the confessor has committed mistakes in hearing confession (giving wrong advice, etc.) he must prudently correct them. But his main obligation after confession is to keep the sacramental seal.

The sacramental seal

	a) In view of the delicacy and greatness of the ministry of confession and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is obliged to keep an absolute secret concerning the sins that his penitents have confessed to him, under very severe penalties.

	This secret, which admits of no exception, is called the "sacramental seal", because what the penitent has manifested to the priest is sealed by the Sacrament - in an analogous fashion to the way that letters were formerly closed with a wax seal (sigillum).

	Canon 1388 lays down that "A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal, incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence".

	Those subject to this secret are: 1) directly, the confessor; 2) indirectly, all those who by chance or voluntarily, legitimately or illegitimately, hear something of the confession of another or come to know it - through consultation, work as an interpreter, in the capacity of a superior of whom faculties, etc. are asked (c. 983).

	The penitent is not subject to this secret. However, he is obliged by natural secret to keep silence on what the confessor has told him or has asked, since the confessor is not able to reply, explain or defend himself.

	The object of the sacramental seal is: 1) everything proper to confession, that is to say, all the sins, mortal and venial, that the penitent declared in regard to absolution - unless the confessor knows them by some other means; 2) everything that, by reason of sacramental confession, comes to the confessor's knowledge and whose revelation would be burdensome for the penitent - circumstances of sins, accomplices, the penitent's defects, the penance imposed, advice given, or the penitent's condition or state, the time of the confession, etc.

	Whatever does not refer directly or indirectly to the penitent's sins, even if heard in confession, does not fall under the sacramental seal. For example, acts of virtue, gifts or charisms received, etc. However, the natural secret remains, so the general and prudent norm, which should always be observed by the confessor, is that of absolute silence on all that he has heard during confession.

	The sacramental seal is always inviolable. It can not be broken for any motive or circumstance, whatever the private or public harm that one might seek to avoid or the good one might obtain (c. 983).

	Hence, the confessor is absolutely forbidden to reveal the penitent's identity, by word of mouth or in any way, and for any motive (c. 983).

	The confessor is wholly forbidden to use knowledge acquired in confession to the detriment of the penitent, even when all danger of disclosure is excluded (c. 984).

	Likewise, "A person who is in authority may not in any way, for the purpose of external governance, use knowledge about sins which has at any time come to him from the hearing of confession" (c. 984).

	Only the penitent himself, through a free and voluntary act, can authorize the confessor to reveal what he heard in confession in reference to sacramental absolution. Even so, prudence advises the maintenance of absolute silence.

	If the confessor comes by other means to knowledge of something he already knew through confession, he no longer falls under the sacramental seal. However, he must be very prudent so as not to give even remotely the impression of a violation of the seal.

	In later confessions, the confessor can talk with the penitent about the sins confessed previously.

	The confessor cannot talk in his personal confession about what he has heard in confession of other persons. All he can do, with extreme care never to reveal the penitent and his sin, is to ask or to consult, under fictitious names - Titius and Titia - and changing the circumstances, whatever is necessary in order to obtain advice on cases that he cannot solve.

	c) The violation of the sacramental seal can be: 1) direct: when one directly reveals something which is the object of the seal and/or the identity of the penitent; 2) indirect: when, on the basis of what is said or done, a proximate danger arises that somebody can discover the penitent and his sins.

	The seal is directly violated, for example: 1) if one reveals who the penitent is and the mortal sins confessed; 2) if one reveals who the penitent is and that he confessed mortal sins, in general, without specifying; 3) if one reveals who the penitent is and that he confessed venial sins, specifying the species of some of them (it would not be a direct violation of the seal if one says that Titius confessed some venial sins in general, since to confess at least a venial sin is necessary for the validity of the Sacrament); 4) if one reveals who the penitent is and his sins, although the listeners don't know the penitent at all; 5) if one reveals the sin and the sinner, although without saying that this is known through confession, provided that the knowledge is in fact only acquired that way.

	The seal is violated indirectly, for example: 1) if the confessor, without saying the penitent's name, gives so many details that one could probably discover who he is; 2) if he advises some parents to watch especially over their daughter in such or such seemingly innocuous circumstances, but whose danger for the daughter the confessor knows only through confession; 3) if the confessor, after confession, externally changes his attitude and relationship towards the penitent; 4) if he refuses to hear a penitent in confession, because he knows by a previous confession - and by it alone - that the person is scrupulous or not properly disposed.

E. Forms of celebration of the Sacrament of Penance

13. Ordinary way of celebration

	CCC: "Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession" (Ordo Paenitentiae 31; CIC, c. 960).

C.	Forms of Celebrating the Sacrament of Penance and the Reconciliation
1.	Ordinary Way of Celebrating the Sacrament:
a)	Time – reasonable time 
b)	Place – within the church
c)	confessional

2.	Three ways of Celebrating the Sacrament (CCC 1480-1484):
Ordinary – “individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church…” (CCC 1484).  “Regardless of its manner of celebration, the sacrament of Penance is always, by its nature, a liturgical action, and therefore an ecclesial and public action” (CCC 1482).

a)	Communal Ecclesial – penitential rite, homily, etc. after which individual confession is made by those present.  “This communal celebration expresses more clearly the ecclesial character of penance.” (CCC 1482.)  

b)	General absolution – strictly speaking, not a confession.  Prepare oneself interiorly for confession, and given general absolution of priest includes duty to go to individual confession.  (RP, 33). CCC 1483, Ratzinger: when general absolution is possible: (I) deaf-mute and priest who knows sign language not available; (II) person is in a place where he does not understand the language, (III) confession cannot be completed, e.g., Titanic.  In practice, it is an anticipation of the absolution and there is a clear will to confess, but it cannot be done at the moment.  Origin: this casuistry originated during the world wars of the 20th century, the term “general absolution” was borne.  “It is the anticipation of the sacramental absolution for the confession of sins, who because of a situation of urgent need do not have the possibility to confess, but intend to do it and need absolution.”  The Church cannot change the substance of the sacrament: with the conferring of the power of general absolution, the Church interprets the right to administer of the sacrament, and discovers its power, but bound to the will of God, which the Lord has established..  The Church is always bound by the fundamental will and the fundamental law of the Lord.  Development has a twofold character in the Church: to be bound to the will of God, and to be deepening the understanding of the sacrament.  Power of the Church depends on obedience and fidelity to Christ.  True obedience and fidelity is to follow what Christ established.  General absolution is not an ordinary form.

c)	Ordo Penitentiae – norms established are always bound to the will of the Lord.  CCL has accepted these norms in CCL 961-963.  Because of the misunderstanding of OP regarding general absolution, many committed the error of considering it as another ordinary form of confession. 

13.1 Time and place for the administration of the Sacrament

	"The proper place for hearing sacramental confessions is a church or oratory" (c. 964 §1).

	"As far as the confessional is concerned, norms are to be issued by the Episcopal Conference, with the proviso however that confessionals, which the faithful who so wish may freely use, are located in an open place, and fitted with a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor" (c. 964 §2).

	"Except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional" (c. 964 §3).

	According to the authentic interpretation (July 7, 1998) given of what is laid down in c. 964 §2: "the minister of the Sacrament, for a just cause and outside the case of necessity, can legitimately decide, also when the penitent requests otherwise, that sacramental confession be received in a confessional provided with a fixed grill".

	The celebration can be: 1) individual (Ordo Paenitentiae, form A); 2) communitarian. The latter in turn can be: (i) with individual confession and general absolution (Ordo P., form B); (ii) with general confession and absolution (Ordo P., form C). In any event, whichever the mode of celebration, the Sacrament of Penance is always by its very nature a liturgical action and, therefore, ecclesial and public (Sacrosanctum Concilium 26-27).

13.2 The only ordinary way of sacramental celebration of Penance, according to the Ordo Paenitentiae:

	CCC [explaining why individual confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way of reconiliation]: "There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: "My son, your sins are forgiven". He is the physician tending each one of the sick who need him to cure them. He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church" (1484).

	[It is not a question of debating, but of bringing people to love and prefer this mode (prefer to go as a group to the doctor?)]

	This normal form is termed "Rite A" in the Ordo Paenitentiae, in the Book of Rites published after the Second Vatican Council.  "The elements of the celebration are ordinarily these: a greeting and blessing from the priest, reading the word of God to illuminate the conscience and elicit contrition, and an exhortation to repentance; the confession, which acknowledges sins and makes them known to the priest; the imposition and acceptance of a penance; the priest's absolution; a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and dismissal with the blessing of the priest" (CCC 1480).

	There is also a "Rite B" where the Sacrament of Penance is celebrated in the framework of a community celebration, in which the penitents prepare themselves for confession, confess and receive absolution individually, and then give thanks together for the forgiveness received. This community celebration expresses more clearly the ecclesial character of the penance.

	Personal confession of sins and individual absolution are this way inserted into a liturgy of the Word of God, with readings and homily, examination of conscience directed in common, community petition for forgiveness, prayer of the Our Father and thanksgiving in common.

	[Many people won't have the time required for this]

13.3 Exceptional character of general absolution: dogmatic background and present disciplinary norms

	In cases of grave necessity one can have recourse to the community celebration of reconciliation with general confession and general absolution. This is the "Rite C" envisaged in the Ordo Paenitentiae.

	Such a grave need can occur when "there is imminent danger of death, and the priest or priests do not have enough time to hear each penitent's confession". Grave necessity can also exist "when, in view of the number of penitents, there are not enough confessors to hear individual confessions properly within a reasonable time, so that the penitents, without any fault of their, would be deprived for a long time of sacramental grace or of Holy Communion" (c. 961).

	It is for the diocesan Bishop to judge whether the conditions required for a general absolution exist (c. 961). A great gathering of penitents, such as can occur on some major feastday or pilgrimage, does not of its nature constitute an occasion of such a serious need (c. 961).

	"For a member of Christ's faithful to benefit validly from a sacramental absolution given to a number of people simultaneously, it is required not only that he or she be properly disposed, but be also at the same time personally resolved to confess in due time each of the grave sins which cannot for the moment be thus confessed" (c. 962 §1).

	"An exhortation that each person should make an act of contrition is to precede a general absolution, even in the case of danger of death if there is time" (c. 962).

	"A person whose grave sins are forgiven by a general absolution, is as soon as possible, when the opportunity occurs, to make an individual confession before receiving another general absolution, unless a just reason intervenes" (c. 963).

14. The celebration of the Sacrament in particular circumstances

14.1 Confession prior to the first Communion of children

	Children "who have reached the use of reason [and] are properly prepared and, having made their sacramental confession, [should be] nourished by this divine food as soon as possible" (c. 914)

	False idea that young children are "traumatized" by Confession

14.2 Confession of the dying

	"Any priest, even though he lacks the faculty to hear confessions, can validly and lawfully absolve any penitents who are in danger of death, from any censures and sins, even if an approved priest is present" (c. 976).

	Frequent confession, also as a source of sacramental strength...

14.3 Yearly confession

	"All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year" (c. 989).

14.4 General confession: necessity and opportunity.

	General confession is the repetition of some or all of the sins confessed during one's life.

	General confession is harmful when it can lead to new anxieties in the penitent. For example, in the case of the scrupulous person or with a tendency to scruples; in the case of those who have sinned greatly against chastity; etc. In these case, the confessor should move the person to contrition and to a generic accusation of sins.

	It can be useful in order to attain a greater and more effective contrition; to know the state of one's own soul better; to increase trust in the divine mercy; etc. For example, one could advise it in the following cases: 1) those who reasonably doubt the validity of some previous confession, so as to reach greater peace - except the scrupulous and meticulous; 2) in the face of death or serious illnesses; 3) in some particular moments: when making a retreat, when receiving the Sacrament of Marriage or of priestly Order, on the occcasion of a jubilee, etc.

	General confession cannot be imposed on anybody who does not freely accept it. It would be wrong if the confessor, in order to know the penitent better, sought to use general confession as a means, imposing it, even if only morally.

	When the penitent requests to make a general confession, the confessor should take care not to fall into two extremes: 1) to deny that possibility automatically, for example, thinking that scruples are avoided this way; 2) to accept it without consideration, without reflecting that it can be harmful for some penitents. The confessor must prudently investigate the penitent's motives, without undermining his good desires, and later guide him toward what best meets the needs of his soul, either general confession or some other forms of penance.

	If general confession is useful, the confessor should remind the penitent that it is not necessary to accuse himself of all the sins already confessed.

14.4 The repetition of confession

	Sometimes there is need for the repetition of one or several previous confessions which were not well made. One needs to distinguish between: 1) an invalid confession: one which lacked an essential element, as, for example, formal integrity; 2) incomplete confession - one which only lacked material integrity.

	An incomplete confession should be completed as much as possible with the accusation of the sin omitted. For example, if the penitent, after receiving absolution, remembers another mortal sin he had forgotten, he should return and confess it, receiving a new absolution - or confess it in the following confession.

	A confession that is certainly invalid must be totally repeated; if the confession was also sacrilegious, this sacrilege must also be confessed.

	The invalidity of confession can come: 1) from the confessor who lacked faculties, or changed the formula of absolution substantially, or fell asleep and didn't hear mortal sins; 2) from the penitent, who lacked contrition, or deliberately silenced some mortal sin, or was not willing to fulfill the penance.

	When invalidity has been due to the confessor, without any fault of the penitent, it is piously believed that the penitent in good faith receives sanctifying grace by his or her contrition.  If the penitent discovers the invalidity of the confession, he needs to repeat those sins in another confession.

	If the confession was invalid through the penitent's fault, and keeping in mind that most of the times a sacrilege is committed, he should accuse himself again of all the sins confessed invalidly, adding that of the sacrilegious confession.

	If the penitent prudently doubts the validity of some confessions of his past life, he could repeat them, more or less generically, so as to be more sorry for the sins, to purify his conscience, etc.

	In any case, with regard to this type of confessions, one should be careful not to fall into scruples, which could indicate a lack of rectitude of intention: wanting to ensure a state of grace not out of love of God but of self-love. If the doubt is slight, it is better than the penitent makes an act of trust and of gratitude to God, without repeating the confession; he can also make a generic accusation of the doubts in his regular confession, leaving the situation in God's hands.

3.	Celebration of Sacrament in Particular Circumstances:
a)	Confession prior to first communion of children – appropriate that the soul is clean before receiving Our Lord for the first time.  Formative – so explain well prior to doing it.
b)	Confession of dying – not to scare them.  But explain the healing character.  Help them to examine their conscience.
c)	Annual confession – Since Lateran Council (1215), annual confession has been church law.

F. Indulgences

15. Doctrine and practice concerning indulgences

	"The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance" (CCC 1471).

15.1 The notion of indulgences

	CCC 1471 quotes Ap. Const. Indulgentiarum doctrina of Paul VI: "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints"

	CCC: "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 us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain" (1472).

15.2 Theological debate and the practice of indulgences in history

	Protestants don't accept that the Church can apply the merits of Christ's Passion to forgive the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

	[ In the field of historical development we can note:

	- In 1095 Urban II commuted penance (??) too those who went to the crusade. It was the first plenary indulgence.

	- In 1300 Boniface VIII declared the first Jubilee of the Redemption.

	- The Bull Unigenitus Dei Filius of Clement VI (1343), which determines to have Jubilees every 25 years, refers to the power of the keys that Christ left to his Church: The Son of God left a treasure to the Church so that she can apply it to the faithful who having confessed their sins wish to win the indulgence. ]

15.3 Dogmatic basis to the power of the Church to grant indulgences

	The Church by the power of the keys (by its authority) applies Christ's merits and those of the saints. These merits are the treasure of the Church which it can open to the faithful.

	Underlying the practice of indulgences is the doctrine of the Mystical Body, and that of the power of the keys and of the treasure of the Church.

	It should be borne in mind that there is nothing "automatic" about the granting of indulgences. Their concession depends also on works done by the faithful.

	"We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury, which is not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their efficacy" (CCC 1476).

	"This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them" (CCC 1477).

15.4 Types of indulgences and conditions for gaining them

	Can be plenary or partial according to whether it frees one from all or part of the temporal punishment. Can also be applied by way of suffrage (c. 994). "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin" (CCC 1471).

	The faithful can gain Indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.

	To receive an indulgence one must be baptized, not excommunicated and in the grace of God at least at the end of the prescribed works (c. 996).

	Plenary indulgence requires that all attachment toward deliberate venial sin be excluded (and of course the general requirements: confession in that week, communion and prayer for the Pope).

	One can only gain a plenary indulgence once each day.

	Partial indulgence: frees partially from temporal punishment. Each good deed done by one of the faithful has its merit, but when done with the intention of gaining a partial indulgence, the Church doubles the merit.

	Partial indulgences are gained for example:

	- When one of the faithful offers their ordinary work united to the Lord.

	- Does a work of mercy.

	- Does some act of mortification.

	Besides these works the general requirements must be fulfilled.

15.5 Usefulness for the christian life

	When indulgences are applied by way of suffrage, many souls in purgatory enter Heaven. This implies a great exercise of charity.

	They also lead the faithful to more frequent use of the sacraments, prayer, works of piety, helping others, etc.

	When the faithful want to gain an indulgence this intensifies their union with the Church; since a requirement is always to pray for the Pope.

	The CCC insists on the connection with the Communion of Saints:

	"The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God's grace is not alone. The life of each of God's children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person". (CCC 1474)

	"In the communion of saints, a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things. In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin" (CCC 1475).

Doctrine and practice of Indulgences

a) Notion – “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfaction of Christ and the saints.”  (CCC 1471, citing Paul VI, Apos. Const. Indulgentiarum doctrina).
	(i)  Origin – indulgences came about as a result of a deeper understanding of the sacrament of penance.  (SCH, 245).  Indulgence is a sacramental which emerged in the early middle ages (~6th cent).  Thus,  although the guilt is removed upon confession-absolution, the whole complex of sin is not fully repaired.  In the language of the Church, this means the separation of the punishment due to the sin in the sinner and the disorder caused by it externally.  Punishment is applied to both.  Satisfaction is geared to both.  After 6th cent., the penitential works demanded of sinner (public penance) could no longer be followed,   .  Tariff confessions, however, ignored the interior dispositions of the persons.  Oftentimes, they were very difficult and severe.  Starting 7th century a system of commutations emerged.  The penances were gradually mitigated.  Thus, emerged penitential fines (absolution tied up to penance).  But still the danger of lack of proper interior dispositions.  Luther started his revolt against these penitential fines (or indulgences), e.g., Pope’s giving indulgences for alms instead of going to the Crusades.  From there, he questioned more points of doctrine.  In primitive church, faithful believed that intercession of saints could lessen punishment.  But this could be … Originally called absolutions, but gradually became called indulgences (11th-12th cent.).  The new elements regarding Ind , the expected prayer of the Church 

Theologians – in terms of Church’s treasury of merit, they stressed Jesus Christ’s expiatory suffering, and also of good works of saints whereas others put the accent on the personal effort of the sinner.  

Opposition by Wyclif and Hus & whole Reformation – strongly opposed this doctrine of the Church’s treasury of merit and indulgences in general, especially those that could be obtained for money.  These were regarded as a cheapening and a mechanization of the whole process of salvation.  

CT:  cautious in statements, stating simply that …Prerequisites of indulgences: (I) baptized, (II) free from excommunication, (III) grave sin must have already been forgiven (IV) the prescribed conditions for receiving it must be fulfilled (V) one should have at least the general intention of obtaining an indulgence.  

Ind. A jurisdictional act of the Church, like it administers sacraments to faithful.  

a)	Nature of indulgences – a sharing in the cross of Jesus Christ, a sharing both by the Church, which grants the indulgence, and by the person seeking to gain it; for the cross of Christ is the source of satisfaction for the sin.  

b)	Indulgences for the Dead – through indulgences the Church has the power to assist those among the deceased who are undergoing a process of purification.  Indulgences do not mean that those to whom they are applied are absolved from their punishment: they are exclusively requests addressed to God.” (SCH. 251)

c)	Kinds of indulgences – plenary and partial.  Use of days before does not mean days in purgatory, but similar to public penances in primitive Church.  

d)	Usefulness for a Christian – penitential, deepens sorrow for sin, and helps appreciate the ecclesial character of penance. 

II. THE SACRAMENT OF ANOINTING OF THE SICK

16. Introduction

	For centuries this sacrament had been known as Extreme Unction and was commonly given only to those in grave and proximate danger of death. This created a restricted concept of the purpose and force of the sacrament and, perhaps out of fear for its apparent implications, led to neglect or over-delay in its administration.  The Second Vatican Council wished to correct this.  In the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the Liturgy, it insisted: "Extreme Unction, which may also and more fittingly be called Anointing of the Sick, is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive the sacrament has certainly already arrived" (no. 73). Subsequent legislation and practice now warrant the reception of the sacrament when a person is seriously ill, even though there is not immediate danger of death, and also before an operation which carries a certain risk with it.  Emphasis is now also laid on the possible healing effect of the sacrament.

	CCC: "By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ" (LG 11)" (1499).

16.1 Christian sense of illness and death

	CCC: "Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death" (1500).

	"Illness can lead to anguish, self‑absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him" (CCC 1501).

	"The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the presence of God. It is before God that he laments his illness, and it is of God, Master of life and death, that he implores healing. Illness becomes a way to conversion; God's forgiveness initiates the healing. It is the experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and that faithfulness to God according to his law restores life: "For I am the Lord, your healer". The prophet intuits that suffering can also have a redemptive meaning for the sins of others. Finally Isaiah announces that God will usher in a time for Zion when he will pardon every offence and heal every illness" (CCC 1502).

Christian sense of sickness and death.  For a Christian, sickness and death appear in a special way as participations in the cross of Christ, a participation which is grounded in faith and baptism.  It shows itself in all the hardships and afflictions of life, but especially in death. Sharing in the cross of Christ, however, implies sharing in his resurrection...Death is like a sharing in the death and suffering of Jesus.  At same time, it is a step to one’s everlasting life, which is a sharing in the resurrection of Jesus.  That’s why death and suffering have an eschatological (Greek for last) dimension.  Death is related to the last things: life everlasting (bliss or suffering). Seen in this way, participation in the death of Christ becomes meaningful for us for the first time.  (SCH, 253-254). “By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering.  It can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion.” (CCC 1505).  Therefore, sickness is good for purification and death, according our Father in The Way, it is the beginning of the true life.

16.2 The Messiah's coming, sign of victory over sin and death.

	Under the heading of "Christ the physician", the CCC states: "Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited his people" and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins; he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of. His compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he identifies himself with them: "I was sick and you visited me". His preferential love for the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort them" (1503).

17. Institution and external sign of the Anointing of the sick

17.1 The Anointing of sick persons, true Sacrament of the New Law

	CCC: "the apostolic Church has its own rite for the sick, attested to by St James: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders [presbyters] of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Ja 5:14-15). Tradition has recognized in this rite one of the seven sacraments" (1510).

17.2 Doctrine revealed in St. James's Epistle

	St. Thomas points out a distinctive feature regarding the form of this sacrament which is not an indicative and effective statement ("I baptize you": I absolve you"; "This is my Body"...) but an effective deprecation.  "The form of this sacrament is the prayer of supplication, as is evident from St. James...  Many reasons can be given.  First, because the person receiving this sacrament is deprived of his own strength and so needs to be helped by prayers.  Secondly, because it is given to the dying who are therefore leaving the jurisdiction of the Church and rest in the hand of God alone; hence they are entrusted to him by prayers.  Thirdly, because this sacrament does not have any effect that derives always from the action of the minister, as the character in Baptism and Confirmation, transubstantiation in the Eucharist and the remission of sins in Penance, which is of the essence of the sacraments of Penance, but not of the essence of this sacrament. It follows that the form in this sacrament cannot be in the indicative form as in those other sacraments just mentioned" - but in the prayer of supplication (Super Sent., lib. 4 d. 23 q. 1 a. 4).

17.3 Testimonies of Tradition and teaching of the Magisterium of the Church

	First clear references to the power of (St. James') "laying on of hands" go back to the third century; then they become more abundant.  From the 12th century Anointing was counted among the seven sacraments, although some theologians held that it had been instituted by the Apostles after the Descent of the Holy Spirit and under his inspiration. The Council of Trent defined that it was instituted by Our Lord, although promulgated by the Apostle, St. James. A common theological position is that Christ was the immediate author of the sacrament, i.e. that while on earth He commissioned the Apostles to employ some such sign for conferring special graces, without however necessarily specifying the matter and form to be used. In other words, immediate institution by Christ is compatible with a more generic determination by Him of the physical elements of the sacrament (Cath. Encyc)

	The term "Extreme Unction" predominated up to Vatican II. Anointing of the Sick is now universally used, in order to encourage more frequent use of the sacrament and to underline its salutary effect (also in a human sense, if God wishes),

18. The present-day celebration of the Sacrament

	"The celebration of the Anointing of the Sick consists essentially in the anointing of the forehead and hands of the sick person (in the Roman Rite) or of other parts of the body (in the Eastern rite), the anointing being accompanied by the liturgical prayer of the celebrant asking for the special grace of this sacrament" (CCC 1531).

18.1 Essential components of the sacramental sign

	[the matter] anointing of the sick person - on the forehead and the hands - with blessed oil.  On the forehead he pronounces the words [the form]: "Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Amen"; and on the hands: "May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up. Amen"

2.  Institution and external sign of the Sacrament.  Based on Scriptures, Tradition and Teaching of the Church.  (It is a true sacrament of the New Law.)

a)	Scriptures – In NT, James 5, 14.  “Is anyone ill?  He should send for the elders…to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer offered in faith will save the sick man, the Lord will raise him from his bed, and any sins he may have committed will be forgiven…” But even in OT, God shows special compassion for the sick and dead. “It is the experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and that faithfulness to God according to his law restores life: ‘For I am the Lord, your healer”(Ex 15:26)” (CCC, 1502).  Same was true with Our Lord in his compassion toward the sick and his many healings. But he did not heal all the sick.  His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom. (CCC, 1503-1510).  The anointing takes place within the Church, not just with some person, and this shows the ecclesial trait of the sacrament.  Since the Church is sacramental (salvific) in nature, by this anointing by the community, one can conclude that that action was sacramental.  Before 11th cent, it was not recognized as a sacrament.  It was included in the sacrament of penance in the remission of sins.

b)	Theological Development (SCH 256-257)

Anointing of the sick with oil was widespread in antiquity.  Indications of it were present in the prayer of consecration over the oil for the sick in the Traditio Apostolica of Hippolytus (~215); consecratory prayer of Serapion of Thmuis (4th cent.)  First clear evidence for a sacrament of anointing of the sick appears in a letter of Pope Innocent I (402-417),  when he considers it  primarily as a sacrament of the sick and not of the dying; cites James 5:14.  The same may be said of other texts, e.g., of Caesarius of Arles (540), Cassiodorus (c.550) and the Venerable Bede (end of 7th cent.).  In Carolingian theology, AS became a supplement to penance and was administered as a preparation for death.

In Eastern Church, discussion more concerned with an anointing which is to be administered to the dying, and which was prefigured in the anointing of the Lord with oil before his death (Jn 12:3-8).  After the period of Chrysostom, understanding changed and AS was administered to those of the faithful who were suffering from spiritual or mental weakness.  Finally, all sinners were anointed.  Thus, the AS developed into a penitential anointing. 

 In Western Church, since the 11th cent, the anointing of the sick was generally defined as a sacrament.  View that it is not a remedy for sickness but a preparation for death increasingly gained ground.  By end of Middle Ages, development moved more towards the spiritualistic and eschatological.  St. Thomas: AS is an aid for coming to grips to death.  CT prepared the ground for a middle way.

CT, citing Mk 6,13 (announced it in a certain way when Christ sent his disciples by pairs to preach and to heal the sick anointing them with oil) and James 5:14ff, taught that it was a sacrament.  It pointed out that according to the Church’s apostolic tradition, wording of James states the matter, the form, and the competent minister, as well as the effect of the sacrament.

Vatican II:  “Extreme unction” which also and more fittingly be called “anointing the sick”.  Not only for those at point of death.  CCC 1514: Thus, any faithful who begins to be in danger of death, whether from sickness or old age, becomes an appropriate subject to receive it.

CCL 998: “The anointing of the sick by which the Church commends to the suffering and glorified Lord the faithful who are dangerously ill so that he may support and save them, is conferred by anointing them with oil and pronouncing the words prescribed in the liturgical books.”…OUI specifies the use of consecrated olive oil (or if not available, any vegetable oil) as remote matter (by one who can consecrate-Bishop or equivalent, usually Holy Thursday Chrism Mass), the form, and the minister.  Form: “Through this Holy Anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.”(Sacram unctionem infirmorum, cited in CCC 1513).   Proximate matter: the anointing of the forehead and hands of the sick person with oil, carried out by the priest.  If not convenient, anointing any part of the body will do.  In Eastern Churches, all senses.

19. Effects and necessity of the Anointing of the sick

	The CCC lists the effects as follows: 

	"A particular gift of the Holy Spirit. The first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age. This grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who renews trust and faith in God and strengthens against the temptations of the evil one, the temptation to discouragement and anguish in the face of death. This assistance from the Lord by the power of his Spirit is meant to lead the sick person to healing of the soul, but also of the body if such is God's will. Furthermore, "if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (1520)

	"Union with the passion of Christ. By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Saviour's redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus" (1521).

	"An ecclesial grace. The sick who receive this sacrament, "by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ," "contribute to the good of the People of God". By celebrating this sacrament the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part, though the grace of this sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to God the Father" (1522).

	"A preparation for the final journey. If the sacrament of anointing of the sick is given to all who suffer from serious illness and infirmity, even more rightly is it given to those at the point of departing this life; so it is also called sacramentum exeuntium (the sacrament of those departing). The Anointing of the Sick completes our conformity to the death and Resurrection of Christ, just as Baptism began it. It completes the holy anointings that mark the whole Christian life: that of Baptism which sealed the new life in us, and that of Confirmation which strengthened us for the combat of this life. This last anointing fortifies the end of our earthly life like a solid rampart for the final struggles before entering the Father's house" (1523).

	The CCC (1532) further lists the effects: "the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance"; "the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age"; "the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul"

 Effects and Need of the Anointing of the Sick (cf. CCC 1520-1523; FSU-I, 571-572):  

“Its proper effect is likened to the finishing touch, the ultimate perfection, of the effects of the sacrament of Penance: it completely removes the traces left by sins already forgiven and strengthens the person to avoid sins in the future.” (FSU-I, 571, citing St. Thomas).

CCC 1520-1523):

Particular gift of the Holy Spirit – “The first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age” (CCC 1520);

Union with the Passion of Christ – “…the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ’s passion; suffering, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.” (CCC 1521)

Ecclesial grace – “…the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part, contributes to the sanctification of the Church…” (CCC 1522)

Preparation for the final journey – “…fortifies the end of our earthly life like a solid rampart for the final struggles before entering the Father’s house.” (CCC 1523).

Tanquerey:

(i)	Gives sanctifying grace that strengthens the soul against difficulties which occur at the time of death;

(ii)	Heals the body, if it is advantageous for the soul;

(iii)	Remission of sins which are still present, and of the punishment due to sin.  It remits the mortal sins which perhaps remain and which cannot be forgiven through the Sacrament of Penance; and furthermore, it remits venial sin, given the proper dispositions. Fills the person with peace and consolation of soul during his sickness.

FSU-I: distinguishes direct and indirect effects

Direct effects are the same as CCC, but adds 

healing of the body if it is advantageous to the salvation of the soul (from TANQ)

If sick is properly disposed, it removes the traces left by sin and forgives all venial sins (from TANQ).

Indirect effects:  Based on CT, AS also forgives mortal sins when the following conditions are both met: 

it is doubtful whether the sick can receive the sacrament of Penance, even conditionally (e.g., unconscious)

the sick person had repented of his or her sins before losing consciousness, at least in a general and implicit way. (FSU-572).

20. Subject

20.1 The subject capable of receiving the Sacrament

	CCC: "The Anointing of the Sick "is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived" (1514)

20.2 Dispositions for receiving the Sacrament fruitfully

	St. Thomas: "contrition is of the essence of the sacrament of Penance, but not of the essence of Anointing"; in the sense that a particular sacramental effect of Anointing is to bring about contrition (Super Sent., lib. 4, d. 23 q. 1).

20.3 Repetition of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the sick.

	CCC: "If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, he can in the case of another grave illness receive this sacrament again. If during the same illness the person's condition becomes more serious, the sacrament may be repeated. It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation. The same holds for the elderly whose frailty becomes more pronounced" (1515).

Subject:  baptized, seriously sick/old person in danger of death (or dangerous operation), use of reason:

No use of reason (child) – does not have personal sins; cannot be administered.

21. Minister

21.1 Only priests and bishops can administer it

	CCC: "Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick. It is the duty of pastors to instruct the faithful on the benefits of this sacrament. The faithful should encourage the sick to call for a priest to receive this sacrament. The sick should prepare themselves to receive it with good dispositions, assisted by their pastor and the whole ecclesial community, which is invited to surround the sick in a special way through their prayers and fraternal attention" (1516).

21.2 Obligation of administering the Sacrament

	Since it is generally considered not to be a sacrament necessary to salvation with necessitate medii (like Baptism), the obligation to administer it, is not absolute. Nor is that of receiving it.  Yet it could show a serious lack of pastoral concern on the past of a priest, and of zeal to benefit from God's generosity on the part of the sick person, to neglect it when it is indicated.

21.3 Pastoral orientations for the celebration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of sick persons

	The celebration of the sacrament forms part of the general ministry to the sick, in which not only the minister but all the community of the faithful should play a part.  The minister should help the family and friends of the sick person to realize this, and when possible to be present at the administration of the sacrament.

21.4 The continuous rite for the administration of the Sacraments of Penance, Anointing of the sick, and Eucharist in the form of Viaticum.

	When possible, a dying person should first receive the sacrament of Penance, then be anointed and finally receive the Viaticum.  Viaticum, when death is close, is then more truly seen to be the last sacrament of Christian life.

Viaticum, the Last Sacrament of the Christian

	"Viaticum" has the sense of Holy Communion given as nourishment for the final home-coming stage of the Christian's journey or way.

	"In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of "passing over" to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day". The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father" (CCC 1524).

	"Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called "the sacraments of Christian initiation," so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life "the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland" or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage" (CCC 1525).

a)	Danger of death does not have to be imminent and certain; the beginning of the danger is enough.  (Pastorally, not to wait for the last minute).

b)	May be repeated when one falls sick again, or even when one’s condition deteriorates within the same sickness. (CCL, 1004, 2)

Minister:

a)	“Every priest and only a priest, validly administers the Anointing of the Sick.” (CCL 1003; CCC 1516, 1530).

b)	Licitness:  administration of sacrament belongs to the priests with care of souls: the parish priest or his substitute, chaplain of a hospital, etc.  CCL 1003.

c)	For reasonable cause, any priest may administer it with the consent—at least presumed—of the pastor of the sick person.  In case of necessity, any priest can do it even if the pastor’s permission is not presumed.

Necessity:  

This sacrament is not necessary as a means of salvation.  However, it is not licit for anyone to scorn its reception.  The obligation to receive it is considered as light in itself, unless there is danger of grave scandal or a formal contempt of the sacrament. (FSU-I, 572).

The Ritual Ordo unctionis infirmorum emphasizes four elements:

a)	The laying of the hands: done in silence, emphasizing gesture itself, and allowing all priests present to do it;

b)	Prayers of the faith: whole Church who prays for her sick and calls the priests for the laying on of hands, prayer, and anointing;

c)	The blessing of the oil or the equivalent prayer of thanksgiving:

d)	Anointing of the sick person: essential nucleus of the sacrament.

Rites of the Anointing of the Sick (Also from OUI):

a)	Outside the Mass:

(i)	Introductory rites: preparing the sick and those present, consisting of greeting, sprinkling of holy water, instruction (prayer of the priest), penitential act

(ii)	Liturgy of the Word: biblical reading, followed by a homily whenever possible;

(iii)	Liturgy of the Sacrament, composed of three parts:

Prayer of thanksgiving or blessing of the oil.  Trinitarian formula, presenting oil as an element God uses, avoiding any magical connotation;

The Anointing.  Climax of the celebration.  Application of matter and form by minister.

Prayer after anointing:  expresses again and asks for the effects of the sacrament

(iv)	Concluding Rite:  Lord’s prayer and a blessing.  If the sick person is to receive Communion, he does so after the Lord’s Prayer.

b)	Anointing within the Mass

(i)	“it is very fitting to celebrate it within the Eucharist, the memorial of the Lord’s Passion” (CCC 1517) if situation of sick allows it;

(ii)	Anointing is celebrated after the homily in this order:

Litanies – though this can be said during the prayer of the faithful

the laying on of the hands

prayer of thanksgiving for the oil

anointing

(iii)	Sick person and others present may receive Communion under both species.

In articulo mortis (the Continuous Rite) – sick falls gravely ill to the point that death is more or less imminent, there is a continuous rite which makes it possible to receive the salvific force of the sacraments of Penance, Anointing and Eucharist (as Viaticum).  Its order is:

(i)	     Greeting
(ii)	Sprinkling of holy water
(iii)	Instruction
(iv)	Penance or penitential rite
(v)	Confirmation, if necessary (laying of hands omitted)
(vi)	Prayer of thanksgiving for the oil (or blessing, if necessary)
(vii)	Anointing
(viii)	Lord’s Prayer
(ix)	Viaticum
(x)	Conclusion.
(xi)	If there is no time to administer the sacrament in the above order, the scheme to be followed is: (aa) Penance – could be generic (bb) Viaticum, and (cc) Anointing, if there is time.  If due to special circumstances, only Anointing (w/o Viaticum) can be given, it is done according to the continuous rite, beginning with the instruction, and after the anointing, one of the final prayers is said, choosing what is most fitting to the state of the sick person.

If the sick person is already dead, the priest prays to God for the forgiveness of the latter’s sins and his admittance to His kingdom, but does not administer the Anointing.  If he doubts if the sick person is really dead, he administers the sacrament to him absolutely and not conditionally.  (CCL 1005).  Thus, there is no longer conditional Anointing.

Abbreviations Used:
	CCC				Cathechism of the Catholic Church
	CCL				Code of Canon Law
	CT				Council of Trent
	FSU-I			Faith Seeking Understanding, Vol. I (The Sacrament of Penance and the Anointing of the Sick, pp 552-574)
	RP				Apos. Exh. “Reconciliatio et Paenitentia”
	OUI				Ordo unctionis infirmorum
	SCH				Schmaus, “Dogmatic Theology”
	TANQ			Tanquerey, “A Manual of Dogmatic Theology,” Vol. II	

     (ADD: Latest document, Motu Proprio of Pope John Paul II, Instruction Misericordia Dei, April 2002)

																							August 2005