The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-19
A DIVINE INSTITUTION
Father Doherty's Able Defense
of the Confessional.
SIN IS SOUL SICKNESS
Confession Is the Bulwark OF the Cath
ole and the Barrier to the Nom
Catholic - An Element OF
Justification.

L At the mission to non-Catholics last
evening at st. Patricks church Father
Doherty lectured on the confessional, 1.-The
Bulwark to the Catholic and the Barrier
to the Non Catholic
Some time ago. he said, while trav-
cling through the wind-swept desert of
Arizona, we entered upon a fair, fertile
valley. To the north and eastward rose
in rugged strength ridge of mountains.
Cold, gray and austere, their pinnaeles
pointing skyward like vast cathedral,
the mountains rose like rampant
against the storm. Asking the name of
the mountains, l was told that they were
called the Superstition mountains. AT
once wave of fancy swept over me as
thought of Indian orgies and fiendish in
carnations held within their recesses. But
a glance about at the favored valley, wa
tered by streams from the mountains
summit and the peaceful protection af-
forded to the jewellers within it's shadows.
suggested the subject of this evenings
lecture, SO little known and appreciated
outside of the dweliers in the city of God
COMMISSIONED divine institution for our
| need.
Confession in one form or another is
not new, nor is it unnatural. 1t is the
| attempt of nature to compensate for evil
| after its execution. Sin is the sickness of
| the soul. The presence of a foreign body
| pernicious to its well-being is recognized.
| Relief is sought. for suffering is felt.
| sympathy is received, another sharing
| our burdens, find, humanity
| Speaking, a frank confession is good for
! the soul.
But besides the value to the soul of
| the sinner, there is element Of justifi-
| ton in the apologize acknowledgment
| Of sin when made to the one offended
| This is evidenced in human dealings, more
SO in relations with God. when, as
Voltaire has said, Repentance for our
faults can alone take the place of inno-
cence, and to show ourselves repentant
we must begin by declaring them
God who leads men to supernatural
destiny by natural means, has made our
human need the occasion for divine for
giveness, like the old Grecan legend of
the secret whispered into the earth, bear
ing a flower into the sunshine. To His
chosen people he has said: They shall
confess their sin and restore the principal
and more, and the context shows that
this restitution, made according to the
evidences the knowledge of the high
priest concerning the crime. A prominent
Jew said to me, I think that confession
is a good thing l replied, "You ought to
think so, because we got it from you
Confession is not an innovation of the
Catholic church. 1t is exhibited in differ
| ent forms in various religions. including
| the orthodox Jews of to-day, who have
| not changed from the time of Moses.
Jesus Christ came on earth to save
| from sin; He fulfilled, without destroying.
| the religious act of confession. He, the
| great high priest, forgave sins of His
own power. All-powerful, He gives this
power to his apostles, reathing on them,
he says, Receive We. s.Ae Holy Ghost.
Whose sins you shall forgive they are for
given them and whose sins you shall re-
tain they are retained This power was
over sin, to last as long as sin should last.
His word should not pass away, and from
that time to this the power to pardon has
been claimed and exercised in the Cath
Ollie church.
This power is notwithstanding and
retaining demand discrimination. and this
| from knowledge of the facts. The apos-
! ties and their successors were not mind
| readers; acknowledgment was required
on the part of the penitent
| Lately within few hundred years.
| the divine institution of confession has
| been denied, but all attempts to show the
| time of its introduction are futile. Con-
| fession as practiced throughout the ages
| Is a hardship. Any human institution
| would have created a rebellion in the
| church, and no such occasion IS in evil
| dence; on the contrary, as we pass along
| the shores of time our course is lighted
| by the beacon lights of faith of the fathers
| and doctors of the church. some of whom
| lighted their torch of faith close to the
| pentecostal fire ITSELF st. Fraencus Ter
| tullian, st. Cyprian, Origien, st. Angus
| tine, and the latter says: Let no one say
| I do penance in private-I do it before
| God 1t is in vain that Christ has said:
Whatsoever We loose on earth shall be
loosed also in heaven
Is it then in vain that the keys have
| been given to the church? Do we make
! void the gospel, void the words Of Christ?
| The Lutherans of Wurtemburg petitioned
| Charles v. to restore confession and the
| ministers of Strasburg, in a memorial in
| 1879 expressing the same regard for con-
| fesson as does DIR. de Costa of New York
| to-day. expressed their desire for it's re-
| turn. Henry VIII. before and Luther,
| even after leaving the Catholic church. de-
| Tended confession, and the English book
| of common prayer claims for its priests
| the power of pardon.
But it is the Catholic who best appre-
ciates the confessional. Ask anyone of
| the InOuSaHuS OIL fTeH ana women VINO
have received this sacrament of pardon
| during the mission. And now the parents
| are sending their host of little innocent
| children to confession during this week.
| Parents know how much the confessional
| las been to themselves, and they want its
protection for their little ones. Good
| Catholics are not afraid of confession.
| They see nothing unreasonable in fulfill
| ing their duty to the institution of Jesus
| Christ 1t is not to man that they con-
| fess, but to God before the minister of
| His pardon.
This act does not derogate from the
power of God any more than would the