By Brenda Hopf
Connecting Liturgy and Life
Editor’s note: For 2026, the weekly “Connecting Faith and Life” column has been renamed “Connecting Liturgy and Life.” The column consists of reflections on Part Two of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), which focuses on the Liturgy and the Sacraments.
cf. CCC 1461-1467
When speaking about the role of priests as confessors within the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Pope Francis often referred to them as “ministers of mercy.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1465) validates this sentiment: “When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep … the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God’s merciful love for the sinner.”
The Catechism tells us that “the confessor, is not the master of God’s forgiveness, but its servant … he must lead the penitent toward healing … He must pray and do penance for his penitent, entrusting him to the Lord’s mercy” (1466). CCC 1467 goes on to say that a priest is bound to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that are confessed to him, or he could face excommunication from the Church.
The Church also teaches that the confessor is much more than a listener. He acts “in the person of Christ.” Through the priest, it is Jesus himself who forgives, heals and welcomes us back into his loving embrace. This means that no priest forgives sins by his own power, but rather by the power and authority Jesus gave to his apostles when he said, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them” (John 20:23).
Confession to a priest ensures that the forgiveness of sins is not just a private matter between the individual and God, but part of the Church’s communal life. The priest, as a representative of the Church, reconciles the individual not only with God but also with the Church community, which is affected by each one of our sins.
Briefly stated, that is the role of the confessor. It is what we have been taught and what we say we believe happens sacramentally through the ministry of the priest. It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But let’s be honest. For many of us, when we finally get the courage to approach the confessional, we may still tend to get a bit anxious and question what the Church teaches. We procrastinate or even completely avoid receiving the sacrament. After all, that is another human being sitting in the chair across from us or sitting on the other side of the screen, and we are about to expose our human weakness in all its ugliness.
But what if we flipped the script and were to view what is happening through the eyes of the confessor, the minister of mercy, with all of his above-mentioned responsibilities? Might this help us to approach confession with less anxiety?
Here are some snippets from an article written by Father Mike Schmitz, a well-known Catholic priest, speaker and podcast host, which gives us a glimpse of his experience while sitting in that other chair. In his role as confessor, Father Mike describes the confessional as the most joyful, humbling and inspiring place in the world, a place where he gets to witness how God’s sacrifice on the cross breaks into people’s lives and melts the hardest hearts. He sees saints-in-the-making because they have not given up on Jesus. Father Mike believes the confessional is a place where our constant desire and effort to impress others goes to die so we can be healed. When he hears confessions, Father Mike sees his own soul. He says it is a scary and humbling place for a priest. He is not overawed by the person’s sins but is struck by the fact that the penitent has been able to recognize sins in their life that he has been blind to in his own. He believes confession is a place of victory where he gets to witness Jesus win his children back, and says, “It’s flippin’ awesome.” I have no doubt that most priests can relate to Father Mike’s sentiments and could share many of their own personal heartfelt experiences.
Thank God for these “ministers of mercy” who sit in the other chair and have been entrusted with administering this healing sacrament, giving us the grace we need to live as holy and joyful disciples of Christ.
Brenda Hopf is a member of Divine Mercy Parish.