The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-01-11
CONFESSIONAL
Of CATHOLIC
CHURCH
Confession, or Can Man Forgive
SlHS?" Father SUIT On's, Sub.
jeGt Last N ght.

AT tle outset Of mis- address, OH
CONCESSION, or Can Man Forgi Sc
SINS az 81. Joseph church last night
! aJhs r Xavier Sutton asked his heal
ers 70 set aside all preconceiyed idea
on The subject OF confession and can
didly and fairy TO follow his arg,.-
nent. He urged this for the sake {.
ialrn ess 10 listener and lecturer alike.
he then told his hearers what the sac
rament o. penance, 20. which not only
inc Roman Catholic church holds. but
every religious body in the w0rl..
which has ever left the church, at no
matter now early a date still holds.
save the Protestant bodies forme'l b.
Luther, Calvin and the others OF Jhe-r
time
If psnance is a human institution,
said the speaker, mo one should Fave
anything to do VITA It. but ii it is 4
divine institution. how can one cali
ing himself a Christian dare TO tur.
his back upon it,? Protestants would
have tae world belitye, continued
tha priest s'that confession was a
r4an-made institUtion of comparative
ly recent date" He proceeded to ca.
amine tho. history to see if this were
true.
"Protestants would like to have
PEOPLE believe" said Father Sutton.
mat all The Catholic world went to
bed one night ar in the morning got
u: again going TO comics sion. If that
were the case there would surely be
historic record of the event. We
have an account, with the name Of
the founder. OF every heresy and
schism since the church was founded
It is not, reasonable to believe thai
such a practice as this, which the peo-
pie certainly do not seek because the
particularly love it. and which the
priests certainly did not seek to es-
tablish, could have been started and
accepted by all the Catholics in the
world without some record of the
event, Yet nowhere can suggestion
of such recOrI be found anywhere
throughout the centuries.
Confession was not started in the
18th century" said the lecturer, be
cause il was. then that the Pope con-
ferred on the British King Henry Viii
the title defender of the faith be-
cause he wrote a book defending the
seven sacraments, of which penance
is one 1t was not in the 18th cen
tCry." he argued. because then, at
thu Council of Llateran, held in
Rome the rule was made in the
church that every one must make
his confession As often as once year,
which rule is still in force, although
many Catholics go to confession val
UNFAIRLY as often as once d week or
once a month 1t was not in the
eighth century, for the Greeks car
red confession away with them when
they separated from the papal author
ity' at the time. And 50 1t was through
the earlier centuries, when the Ar
nIenians. the Arians, the HISTORIANS
and others went out. Nowhere in the
traditions. the writings Of the faith
ers, or in profane history" said the
speaker, lis there a single record OF
the founding of the practice of con-
fsssion to a priest of absolutiOn to
the penitent" From these facts he
argued that penance was not a human
institution.
WAS confession a divine institu-
tion?' the missionary asked And
then he proceeded to examine the
question along this line. He produced
book and quietly called the atteh-
ton of his hearers To the fact that
= was printed in Oxford and was the
King Jamas version of the Bible
From the book of Numbers be read
from the Mosaic Jaw the command
EhaIsinnars should confess their wrong
Goings. Then turning to the Gospel
according to St. Matthews, he read