"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 2: Why Confess to a Priest? (#470)

Considering Catholicism · Jul 20, 2026 · 26m

Thomas wrestled with a very practical and painful question: Why does the Church insist we confess our sins to a priest when we can just tell God directly? In this episode Greg addresses the deeper anxiety underneath that objection—the fear that we’ll never really know if we’re forgiven, and the two common dead-ends many people fall into: anxious uncertainty or a shrugging casualness toward sin. Drawing on Scripture, the early Church, and his own experience, he explains why the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not a barrier but a gift of mercy that gives us something we can’t get anywhere else…