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Confession, The Confessor. 17 Jan 2024
The confessor speaks as representing Jesus Christ. He ministers forgiveness in the form of an absolution. This is a sacramental act with a simple and clear sentence.
Humans
Human persons do have emotions and thoughts. And usually a confession holds some preaching and a penance. Are those two the words of Christ? Very carefully I assume not, and at the same time I believe they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. I make it simple, those words need to be discerned, BUT the penance is binding and required. Some of the preaching part may have limited value. And worse, it may cast guilt and bad feelings on the penitent. The priest is not blameless for such words. If the priest's ministry is formal or harsh and causes bad feelings on the penitent, the priest has a degree of responsibility.

Feedback on Priests Ministry
When a sacrament is ministered clumsy ... it were nice if the minister could learn. Why does it feel so impossible to give honest feedback to a priest about his sacramental service and ministry?
It is hard to criticize Jesus and God. I don't find Jesus criticizing any priest in the new testament, for they have the hard task to represent God while being human.
It would however be possible that a priest asks for feedback and learns from that. And I am sure that the comments will be painful.
Prayer
Jesus, I ask for mercy and grace for participants of confessions.

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