The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-02
CATHOLIC LECTURE
REV. FATHER HEALY SPEAKS ON
 CONFESSION.
Priest At Cathedral Addresses Large cengregation on a Docfrinal
 SubJest--Missicn In

V | Mobile. March t--(Special) )--The es- | pecially interesting and attractive sub jects of the lectures this week at the Cathedral are bringing out large audi I ences every night. Tonight the topic | was Confession" and for over an hour Father Healy had the rapt attention of all while he discoursed upon his inter esting theme.
 He swept away prejudices against the 1 practice of confession and presented its origin, its purpose and It's results, | in such a manner as to win the admira- tion of all who heard him.
 Father HeaIy based his principal proof for institution of confession in these words of the twentieth chapter l of St, Johns gospel: And when He l had said this, he breathed on them and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose
 sins ye shall forgive. they are forgiven
 them; whose sins ye shall retain they are retained.' ["
 The speaker said in part.
 First, if human language means anything, these words give the apos- ties. who were men. power to forgive sin.
 The great objection of non-catho- lies to the Catholic doctrine of con- fession is that no man can forgive sim Yet here we find Christ giving to the apostles, who were only men, the power to forgive sin. There is no escaping the plain words of Jesus Christ. Though they were but men, Christ conferred on them the power to pardon sin, just as he gave them
 the power to preach, and baptize. al- ways, of course to be exercised in the
 name of Christ. just as they preached and baptized in Hisxname.
 Second, that power was not to die with the apostles, but was to be trans ferred to the Church of God forever. For 1t is a power that mas to do with the sanetification and salvation of souls any every such power gwen the apos-
 ties was to last in their successor to
 the end of time
 The power to baptize and the pow CT to preach did not die with the apos- ties. Neither then did the power to for- give sin. which was given by the same Christ, to the same apostles. for the same end.
 Third, that power implies, necessar- fly. the confession of sins. For the power Is judicial; that is to say. it leaves open to the apostles two alter natives, either to forgive or not to forgive. Now it Is absolutely impos- sible that they should know which of these two alternatives to exercise un- less the state of the soul be discios- ed to them. Tn other words, without confession that solemn comforting of an extraordinary power becomes meaningless and worthless.
 "The sinner is to the law of Christ what the criminal Is to the law of the land. The criminal judge. who has power to acquit or convict, must hear the case. So the apostles. the criminal judges, as 1t were, of the offenders of Christ's law, must hear the case. They cannot know the case unless the sinner reveals the condition of his soul.
 Tt matters not what I may person ally think is the proper way of ob- taining Gods pardon; if Christ has chosen to impart forgiveness for sin through the action and decision of His apostles and their successors, 1 must have recourse to them. Christ gave the power of pardon to the apos- ties. who were men, and certainly He meant that power to be used by them.
 Catholics believe in praying to God for forgiveness, but at the same time do not dare ignore the power confer red upon His apostles by Christ.
 Father Healy answered a number Of popular objections to confession. He ridiculed the accusation that the cons fession was an. invention of Roman priesthood" and certainly no one who was present at this evenings lecture will ever again heed the slanderous charge that priests sometimes in some places receive money for forgiving sins.