Is the priest a stumbling block for a true confession?

This past weekend, I was given an opportunity to work with 22 youths attending a three day retreat. We had a couple of 12 year olds in the group and the oldest was 19. Two counsellors and I prepared them on the second day for confessions by helping them to do an Examination of Conscience. Questions were many as they had plenty of time to reflect upon many aspects of the Commandments. At the end of the process, many began to have cold feet over confessing their sins to a priest. This was a problem many of us adults also faced at some point in our lives, so we had arranged for a priest who hasn't been involved with any of these kids in the past, a total stranger for them. Even then, they began to question the necessity of a priest in the confession process. Some even began to question the confession itself; they wondered about the need for confession since the all knowing Lord our God already knew the sins committed. Most of such questions came from the elders of the group; they were all more than happy to have a one on one conversation to God Himself rather than going through a priest, though the priest was a 85 year old Franciscan Friar. 

As I have mentioned it in one of my previous blogs, Lying at the Confessional, I knew all too well about how they felt. Luckily, these youngsters had the courage to speak about it and seek answers to a dilemma. Though I overcame my problems with confession for the most part, I never had a proper answer to the need for priest. I did understand that a confession is needed because it our chance to accept responsibility for our transgressions. It is true that God knows about all our sins, but we only receive forgiveness for those sins that we confess with repentance and a promise not to repeat that sin again. There is a very good chance that we might not be able to keep that promise; it is okay to do that as long as we do not repeat the sins thinking that God would forgive us again if we confess it again. We must not deliberately try to take advantage of God's mercy. 

I was happy when I heard several of the youths asking a question I had forgotten about, and I thanked God for digging up one of the doubts from my unconscious mind. The answer came from the Catechism of Catholic Church. 

CCC1444: In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head. 

Another reason for the involvement of a priest made even more sense, and it is has everything to do with the human aspect of the priest. "Go; first be reconciled to your brother" (Matthew 5:24), confession is an act of reconciliation, it involves not only the reconciliation with God but also the reconciliation with those whom we have sinned against on earth. In many cases such a reconciliation is impractical because we can never tell with surety whom all have been hurt by our sins. It can also be unwise in some instances because of the unforeseen and/or unwanted consequences following an apology. Whenever possible we are supposed to apologize to our "neighbors" for our transgressions, but discretion is certainly advised. In such occasions, the priest is our "substitute neighbor"; in addition to representing Christ, he also represents our neighbors, those we have hurt with our sins. 

CCC1455: The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible. 

We knew the young men and women were satisfied with the answers when it took the priest almost four hours to hear the confessions. 

I will end this with another quote from the Catechism, in case anybody is still having doubts about doing a sincere examination of conscience, confession and penance. 

CCC1458: Whoever confesses his sins . . . is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear "man" - this is what God has made; when you hear "sinner" - this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made .... When you begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you are accusing yourself of your evil works. the beginning of good works is the confession of evil works.