Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor Emeritus.

The Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

"How to be a good confessor"

Snippets from the April 2011 edition.


"God became man in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins.

"To accomplish that until his Second Coming, he established his Church with the power of the keys and animated her with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

"The new life of grace that he merited for us by his passion and death on the cross is communicated to us through the seven sacraments, which are administered by bishops, the successors of the Apostles, and by the priests who assist the bishops in their tasks of teaching, sanctifying and pastoring the people of God.

"One of the important duties of priests is to administer the sacrament of penance -- to hear confessions.

"Thus, one of the titles of a Catholic priest is confessor, that is, one who hears confessions.

"A major part of the training of seminarians to become priests is to learn moral theology and sacramental theology so that they can become good confessors.

"Parishes need holy priests and good confessors.

"It is not easy to become a wise and compassionate confessor.

"Some of the requirements of a good confessor are:

"1) he must be a man of prayer who is close to Jesus Christ and realizes that it is Jesus who forgives sins through him as his instrument for the salvation and sanctification of faithful Catholics;

"2) he must know moral theology;

"3) he must have a basic knowledge of psychology, especially the difference between men and women;

"4) he must be compassionate like Jesus himself and be endowed with good common sense.

"Those are the basic requirements of a good confessor.

"The model for confessors is St. John Vianney, who spent a large part of his adult life hearing confessions and giving spiritual advice to penitents who came from distant places in France to confess their sins to the saintly pastor in the small town of Ars...

"Recently I read a small book on this matter entitled Guidebook for Confessors by Fr. Michael E. Giesler (www . scepterpublishers , org, 2010).

"All priests should strive to be good confessors.

"Obviously, the book is intended for priests and was written to help priests become good confessors.

"This little book of 139 pages ($9.95) offers many helpful suggestions on the art of being a good confessor ..."

Way to go, Father! :)