The children’s confession in the Catholic Church should be put to the test. A psychiatrist familiar with the countless cases of abuse advises against the practice of bringing children into the confessional.
Inhalt / Content
Children under 14 should not go to confession
A psychiatrist questions the Catholic Church’s practice of taking children to the confessional as part of First Communion. On this occasion, the children are usually only nine years old or in the third grade. Harald Dressing has doubts about the children’s confession, according to the Internetportal of the Catholic Church Germany, however, not because of the collision with the clear statements of the Gospel, but out of concern for the immediate well-being of the children, given the countless cases of abuse within the Catholic Church. In addition, the topics of guilt and sin cannot be grasped at this age. Therefore, one should consider whether children under the age of 14 should go to confession at all, according to the psychiatrist.
Ritual of fear
Confession for children of this age threatens to become a meaningless ritual that can also fuel fears. With the first Sunday after Easter Sunday, this is again a topical issue as this is the traditional day for the first reception of the Eucharist. Confession is also part of the preparation for this ritual.
Prepared for sacrifice in the confessional
The concerns are no accident. Dreßing headed the MHG study on abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany. The study results were published in 2018. In the years 1946 to 2018, at least 3,316 victims of abuse and 1,735 perpetrators were counted in all dioceses. There were also many cases in which those responsible in the Catholic Church used such a confession to prepare and plan an abuse. “Children were questioned and spied out as potential victims,” says Dreßing. For the children it is a “highly frightening situation” because the difference in power between the “confessor” and the penitent (penitent) is an important reason.
General presumption of this church
Quite apart from the disgusting attacks on children and young people by some “clergymen”, acting as a “confessor” and priest in the sense of the Roman Catholic Church is unparalleled blasphemy. The gospel gives no indication even of any hierarchy within the church, much less naming a “shepherd” as “father”. In this regard, there is a crystal clear statement in the Bible in Matthew 23:9:
“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”
The supposed forgiveness of sins by the priest is just as excessive self-importance. Even the scribes had the right knowledge at this point, as in Mark 2:7:
“Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?”
Away with confession and Eucharist
But that’s not all. This – as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would probably put it – the birthright of the overbearing arrogance of the Catholic Church goes so far that God has to kindly submit to the decisions of the priest. This is clearly evident from the writings of Alphonso Liguori, who was elevated to the status of “saint” and “Doctor of the Church”. More details here.
Confession and penance are to be addressed exclusively in prayer to God in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact. Confession should be abolished, especially for children and adolescents, and the Eucharist at the same time.
Bible verses from King James Version
