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Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
  • 1. Contrition
  • 2. The Object of Contrition
  • 3. Degrees of Contrition
  • 4. The Time or Season of Contrition
  • 5. The Effect of Contrition
  • 6. Confession
  • 7. The Nature of Confession
  • 8. The Minister of Confession
  • 9. The Quality of Confession
  • 10. The Effect of Confession
  • 11. The Seal of Confession
  • 12. Satisfaction
  • 13. Possibility of Satisfaction
  • 14. The Quality of Satisfaction
  • 15. Means of Making Satisfaction
  • 16. Those Who Have the Virtue of Penance
  • 17. The Power of the Keys
  • 18. The Effect of the Keys
  • 19. The Minister of the Keys
  • 20. Use of the Power of the Keys
  • 21. Excommunication
  • 22. Persons Concerned in Excommunication
  • 23. Dealing With Excommunicated Persons
  • 24. Absolution From Excommunication
  • 25. Indulgences
  • 26. The Granting of Indulgences
  • 27. The Gaining of Indulgences
  • 28. Public Penance
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
• The Last Things
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

6. Confession

1. Confession of sins is necessary for the normalreception of the sacrament of penance. As penance is necessary forthe salvation of one who has committed mortal sin after baptism, soalso confession of these sins is necessary.

2. Confession is not a requirement born of the naturallaw, but is requisite by the supernatural institution of Christ.Our Lord gave his priest the power to forgive sins, setting up thesacrament as a kind of judgment in which testimony (or confession)indicates whether sins are to be forgiven or retained.

3. All who are bound to contrition and satisfaction arebound to confession. And, since all who have sinned are bound tocontrition and satisfaction, all who have sinned are required toconfess. The Church, by her law, imposes on all her children theduty of confession.

4. Confession is to be made in truth and sincerity. Hence,a man would do wrong, no matter what his motive, if he were toconfess a sin he had not committed.

5. A person who has committed mortal sin should confess itas soon as he reasonably can do so. But we cannot say that he isstrictly obliged to take the earliest opportunity ofconfessing.

6. Confession is required of all adult children of theChurch. There is no such thing as dispensation from the duty ofconfessing.

"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise. "
Thomas á Kempis

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"To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself. "
Thomas á Kempis

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"Lord, here burn, here cut, and dry up in me all that hinders me from going to You, that You may spare me in eternity."
St Louis Bertrand

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