An attack on the Catholic Church?

That is not true. A priest can definitely withhold absolution if the person does not do as he says he must. The person certainly doesn't have to reveal his sin (say murder for example) if the priest doesn't stipulate it, but if he does he is duty bound to give himself in. And if he doesn't give himself in, after the priest has told him too and he has said he would, the absolution is null and void and he is not cleared of his mortal sin, and is therefor deprived of sanctifying grace, until he does confess. It is up to the priest to judge each individual case, and decide whether the person has to give himself in or not.

"I believe you have no heart!"
"I wish I hadn't!"
Laurie & Jo

Every religion in essence is man made, it is man's interpretation of the world & nature.

The only difference is the Catholic Church is a 2000 year old religion making it the oldest Christian religion along with the Orthodox church, whereas many other religions are very recent.



Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

Cuconnacht, *do* people confess in the confessional that they have committed murder? I have no way of knowing this. Do you?

You are correct to a point. You must understand, sin is sin in God's eyes, whether it is murder, adultry, theft, etc. Man has put degrees or levels of crime/sin into mans law.

This is not a surprise, many modern audience' who watch older classics like Boy's Town often associate modern bias opinions against the characters who were priests. They cannot see a film without the prejudice & ignorance of their modern perceptions.

Pedophiles often seek professions that allow them easy access to children, these includes priests, clergymen, teachers, coaches, etc.


I think it is morally wrong to discriminate people who are not part of your own personal religion/culture. It seems people have no qualms holding an inquisition against both Catholics & Muslims nowadays while hypocritically damning the inquisition made in the past by Christians. They excuse their actions while condemn the very same action made in the past. People never change do they? They just jump from whatever religion/non-religion that suits them to feed their fear & hatred of the 'otherness.'



Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

You are absolutely ridiculous.

You obviously know nothing about the Catholic Church but ignorantly spread your woeful misinterpretation, bigotry & intolerance.
Some Christian YOU are.

Glad to know you at least don't represent my belief system or belong to ANY group in which I'm a member.
That is no small comfort.

You seriously think it's the CATHOLIC church that battles pedophiles and NOT YOUR church? Get a reality check. They have permeated every religion or anywhere else they can have access to children.

Seriously, you are a hateful & ugly bigot.
And you are NOT a Christian. Certainly a Practicing Christian. Maybe devote some effort into learning what that means.

Lastly, it's SO tiring to endure the likes of your herd.

Here's to hoping someone bashes whatever YOU practice--your beliefs-- instead of trying to educate themselves.
My strong sense is that it's quite likely your faith is of the most simplistic in nature. Along the lines of...just BELIEVE in Jesus, accept him into your heart & you are "saved"......probably doesn't much matter what sort of ass you are during your life, or your actions, eh?
I literally can't stomach when someone thinks one can reduce Christianity to such moronic terms. How embarrassing.

And SORRY, you are going to be VERY surprised not too far ahead but heck, I do NOT judge & maybe God gives some extra latitude for those with questionable brain power.

YOUR faith obviously does NOT include being charitable, tolerant or respectable toward others of various faiths. I can't begin to imagine your thoughts on MANY theological issues (and I will NOT get into Bible debate with YOU but you obviously know nothing about the sacrament of confession, so stay MUTE).

But most of all, I can only imagine your response (if someone challenges what you believe). Now that would be priceless to witness.

The point of the confessional is not absolution in regard to man's law, but to God's. If a serial killer was to walk into a confessional, confess to murder, and expressed the clear intent to murder again, the priest's role would not be to identify the killer to the proper authorities. The priest's role under the Church dictates would be to try and persuade the killer to stop from killing again, go to the law for arrest, and do whatever could be done to atone for the sin of repeat murder, but it would not be to go to the authorities as a priest and break the seal of the confessional.

As Catholics understand this, and I write as one, it is less important that this serial killer continues killing than that the killer's soul is not placed in eternal peril as a result of false witness given by a priest. A priest's job would not be to say "it's alright, God loves you, say ten Hail Marys and you'll be fine", but it wouldn't be picking the killer out of a police lineup, either. The priest's job involves holding the killer's soul, sacrosanct, as the one person who can save that killer from eternal damnation through direct, wise, and spiritually sound counsel, even if that killer is otherwise depraved. The soul of the killer, in the eyes of the Catholic Church, outweigh the temporal lives of a hundred victims. Likewise, the soul of a murder victim outweighs the temporal life of the killer. It's not fair, perhaps, but it's the way metaphysics often work.

That's the dilemma of "I Confess" in a nutshell, mitigated by the fact this Keller fellow doesn't seem likely to kill again, except if it's his wife or priest. Also, he doesn't seem to benefit from the priest's counsel, but that's an issue more with the film than with the Sacrament of Penance.