The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-06-20
CONVERTS AND CONFESSION.

CONVERTS AND CONFESSION.
after Thou didst convert me, did
penance; and after Thou didst show
me, struck my thigh am confound-
ed and ashamed, because have borne
the reproach of my youth" Jer. 81,
| 10.
Orestes Brownson, perhaps the
greatest philosopher that America has
yet produced, and the greatest Ameri-
can convert to the Church, said: II
never performed a more reasonable, a
more manly act, or one more in &C.
cordance with the rights and dignity
of human nature, though not done
save by divine grace moving and as
sisting thereto, than when l kneeled
to the Bishop of Boston, and asked
him to hear my confession and recon
Gle me to the Church; or when read
my abjuration, and publicly protested
the Catholic faith. For the basis of
all true nobility of soul is Christian
humility; and nothing is more manly
than submission to God, or more rea-
sonable than to believe Gods word on
His own authority"
A prominent Scotch convert, writes
Rev. T. w. Drumm in "The Apostle
late,' records his experience thus: II
confess" he says, "this general confes-
sion filled me with dismay. Twas forty
three years old, had lived little better
than my neighbors, had painfully
accurate memory back to my eight
or ninth year. finally decided to go
! to a confessor I'd never be likely to
| see again; but circumstances at the
the very priest whom I knew best of
all. He was kindness, patience, en-
couragement personifed, and, instead,
of feeling my degradation, I felt a
sense of relief and happiness such as
| cannot describe. / do not go to
confession often enough, but consider
it one of the most inestimable bless
ings that God has conferred upon
man."
Confession seems to be bit puz-
zling to converts about to enter the
Church. Afterwards, like Brownson
and the other just quoted, they under
stand the good of confession perhaps
better than we who have practised it
all our lives They fear it before;
they generally love it afterwards. No
wonder they fear it,-their minds have
been filled with nasty prejudices and
ghosts of unreal difficulties. Let me
answer a few questions here that /
hope will set at ease many converts
about their confessions.
do you believe in self-repentance? %
"Can Professionals go to confession and
receive pardon?" Can non-Catholics
go to confession?" rs it necessary
for a Protestant who wishes to be-
come convert to the Catholic Church
to go to confession before being bap-
tised?" Must convert to the Cath
Ollie Church confess the sins of his life
from childhood, or is baptism sufficient
for the remission of all sins commit
ted previous therefor" What all is
supposed to be told to the priest at
confession?"
Yes indeed, we believe in self-repent
ance, and in the necessity of it as a
natural virtue, so that, with or with
out confession, the sinner cannot be
saved without it. In fact our sacra.
ment of pennance is self-repentance
sanctifed by Christ and raised to q
sacrament Self-repentance in the sin
ner is the foundation upon which our
T vi ha GOLF
repentance is our do penance," and
consists in sorrow for sin, satisfaction
for sin, and the determination not tC
commit sin in future with Gods help
Without these dispositions dissolution
is useless. UNLESS you do pennance
We shall all likewise PERISH Luke
Is, 5.
Yes Protestants and non Catholics
can go to confession-for advice and
consolation, and many of them do so
but they cannot obtain pardon or re
ceive the sacrament of penance in
the sense that a Catholic would; fol-
they have not been formally received
into the Church.
Some who would not confess, con
TESS unconsciously. A Protestant lady
used to come to Cheverus, Bishop OF
Boston, to consult him on spiritual
matters and obtain his direction and
consolation. One day she remarked
that confession seemed to her absurd
''Not SO absurd as you might believe, -
said the old Bishop, smiling, "you
| yourself at least have felt the good of
it and the need of it; for you see you
have been coming to confession to
me these several times without know.
ing it. Confession is nothing more
than the acknowledgment of sins and
difficulties of conscience in order to
be forgiven and guided right You
have been doing that" 1t was now
her turn to smile; shortly afterwards
she went to confession rightly, re-
ceived the sacrament, and became a
Catholic
The story is told of a convert who
had just been received into the
Church. He had been in the habit of
going to confession according to the
custom of the denomination to which
he had belonged In preparing for his
first confession as Catholic, he paid
a visit to an old Bishop who was also
a convert, and told him what he was
about to do, adding that it would be
easier for him than for others, since