The main reason for confession to a priest is that we are dealing with a sacrament, a way in which Christ set up a means for dispensing grace, ‘Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven’ (see John 20:22-23). The priest cannot really be said to forgive sins by the power of [color=red:2co85yxi]Christ[/color:2co85yxi], if he doesn’t know what the sins are. In the sacrament it is [color=red:2co85yxi]Christ who forgives[/color:2co85yxi]. Since Christ is ascended into heaven, we would not be able to see him or hear his voice forgiving us. But he acts in the person of the priest. When the priest says, ‘I absolve you from your sins,’ he is doing so in [color=red:2co85yxi]Christ’s name [/color:2co85yxi]and place; we hear the actual words of forgiveness, and the sin is removed forever.

” title=”Confused” /> [color=blue:2co85yxi]Ron,I assume you went to confession in your 30 or so years as being a Catholic(which you told me),what radical movement made you drift from the truth and go on the side road??[/color:2co85yxi]