I have something to ask on your A.S.K. Team. I saw a website that administer confession online. The Online website enables the penitent to select choices among the sins enumerated and then when I click submit the website will give me an absolution. Is this valid? Is the Catholic church allowing confession online?

Sincerely, Jonathan of Leyte

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Dear Jonathan of Leyte

The Catholic Church does not consier online confessions or confessions made over the internet as valid because as what Archbishop John Foley of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said:

“The sacrament of confession requires the physical presence of the priest and the penitent. Privacy is absolutely not guaranteed on Internet, and there is no certainty as to the identity of the two parties to the communication. You can’t have confession by e-mail, any more than you can have it by telephone or letter.”

The sacrament of confession must always take place in “the sacramental context of a personal encounter.”

“Internet offers the Church the opportunity to make the saving message of Christ accessible throughout the world. In societies that don’t allow the presence of priests, nuns, religious or lay missionaries, Internet can offer people undertaking a spiritual quest, or even just the curious, a chance to obtain information or find an inspiration that would otherwise be impossible.”

A few years ago, as telemarketing and TV shopping invaded the household of catholics, the Issue was raised if Confessions done by telephone would also be valid. The Church says no for the reason that the penitent and the priest should be present on that sacrament.

Now in the case of priests in the confessional, they are not hiding, they are just there and anyone can approach the priest if the need arises. But the primary purpose of the confessional is not to put a barrier or a wall, but to secure privacy.

In emails, telephones and electronic gadgets, even on webcams, the security of confession are always at risk. Emails can be hacked as well as websites, even webcams can be captured by third parties, so confessing your sins online would be detrimental to the sacredness of the sacrament and the privacy it entails. The sins confessed to priest should come and go in real time and should not be stored.

We cannot assure the identity of both parties on both ends. For example, a priest cannot be sure if the penitent is indeed what and who he is. He can be a heckler, a person who is just bluffing or anyone in the Internet who doesn’t want to identify themselves. The same way with penitents: they cannot be sure if the priest on the other end is really a priest or just pretending to be such. It could be someone who is recording your sins and will be used against you. You see the implications of Internet confession is so wide and complicated that the mere idea of pouring your heart out on the net is already a magnet for security and privacy issues. It would be safer if you yourself would approach a priest and confess it yourself.

But in your case, that there is no available priest, God would understand if you would confess yourself directly to him because God is omnipresent. But of course as a Catholic we are all obliged to obey the ministry that was passed on to priests by Jesus for 2000 years. If ever you have a chance to meet a priest missionary or have gone home to the Philippines, the first thing you should do is go to a priest and confess everything to him, including the sins you confessed to God directly because your disposition is only good as it lasts. When opportunity comes, grab it because you are given the Grace to have your sins cleansed, lest you will commit the sin of ommision for failing to do your duty as a catholic, that is to confess your sins on the proper authority.

The sacraments should always be personal and not substituted by electronics or machines. Hence even if the world will be in high tech end, I assure you, you won’t see any robots listening to your sins in the confessional even in the near 50 years of the future.

Sincerely in Christ,