Traditional Catholic Teaching - Lesson 13

Lesson 13 - Supplement A

Comments

Those of us who entered the Catholic Church as converts from other denominations grew up with some very strange ideas about Catholic devotional practices. To us, one of the dark unknown areas of doctrine was that of the sacrament of penance. We were led to believe things that were untrue. It turned out for most of us that "confession" was not such a big issue and quickly became a regular and valued feature of daily Catholic life. It has remained for the writer another precious treasure of the Faith. Ultimately, those who read this lesson will make their own mind up as to how they want to interpret the Scripture references Bishop Dwyer provided, and how they consider it appropriate to respond. We hope this lesson helps in making that choice.

The Gospel reflection in Supplement B has a particularly helpful focus on the nature and effects of a good confession. It may seem a little confusing to the sincere Protestant that in this beautiful Gospel account the despised Jewish collaborator (the tax-gatherer, protected by the Roman occupiers, and living off the fat of the land) makes a short confession in the Temple and is immediately "justified". There is no ceremony, ritual or priest, yet his confession restores his relationship with God. So why, in the Church, is there so much made of confession to a priest?

Here we confront the real issues between the two systems: traditional Christianity and the reshaped model of Martin Luther (1483 – 1546). Those of us who grew up under the influence of the latter also believed that to experience genuine, "original” and uncorrupted Christianity, one merely had to read the New Testament and just "do what they did". This belief was based on the assumption that the New Testament appeared when Christianity began, and contained all that Christians needed to know about our Lord’s teaching and how they were to live. As converts, we found it a whole new way of thinking to learn that the New Testament did not take its final shape until the Bishops of the Church in the fourth century declared what constituted it. In other words, the Church came first and the definition of the New Testament followed 300 years later!

It is therefore unacceptable to Catholics for anyone to ignore the body of teaching handed down by the Apostles and their successors and boldly claim that the printed documents of the New Testament (together with the Old Testament) are their only authority. The place and role of priests in the first centuries is well attested in many historic documents of the Church. These make it quite clear that the celebration of the Mass – the Holy Eucharist, and the dispensation of the sacraments, including penance (i.e. confession) were very much the daily work of the Bishops and their assistant priests. We therefore have no hesitation in presenting this lesson on the sacrament of penance as a true and authentic record, in essence, of the Christian life from the time of the infant Church.

End of Lesson 13 Supplement A

Supplement B: "He Who Humbles Himself Shall Be Exalted"

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