More About Confession and Absolution — Catechism Answers w/ Dr. Scott Sollom

What this episode is about

The main topic focuses on the theological concepts of confession and absolution as described in the Catechism, addressing common questions related to what happens to souls after death in light of Jesus’ final judgment. Dr. Scott Sollom aims to clarify these questions, emphasizing the importance of understanding Catholic teachings and engaging with the community for deeper exploration of faith.

Key takeaways

• Death isn't a 'to be continued'—it's 'now playing' at the judgment theater, immediate and unmissable.
• Confession without honesty is like ordering a gourmet sandwich with a hair—turns the feast into a fiasco.
• Body and soul aren't stand-ins; together they're a knockout duo, at least until the final curtain call.
• Community is key: judgments aren't solo acts; they're the grand finale of a divine theater ensemble.
• Eternity has its quirks—time might be relative, but consequences are absolute at the judgment table.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Dr. Scott Solum (Host)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Ascension Press, Dr. Scott Solum, Francis University, Mother Teresa of Kolkata
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Thomas Aquinas
3. 9:00 – 12:00: Francis University
4. 15:00 – 18:00: Ascension Press, Bob Dylan
5. 18:00 – 19:10: Ascension Press

Notable quotes from "More About Confession and Absolution — Catechism Answers w/ Dr. Scott Sollom"

• Anyways okay so welcome to catechism Answers by Ascension press I'm Dr Scott solum professor of theology at Franciscan University and the director of The catechetical Institute…

  about Dr. Scott Solum · at 0:39

• There's lots of different answers for that I wasn't sure if this question was relating to that Thomas aquinus has a thing he calls AV Eternal like you're in eternity but you're…

  about Thomas Aquinas · at 4:43

• Sin this is a really good question and one that honestly that comes up quite a bit I in the theology classes that I teach at Franciscan one of them is a like a oneone class…

  about Francis University · at 11:10

• Toward worship worshiping something hope hopefully it's the Thrice holy God but we're built for worship and if you're not worshiping God you're going to worship somebody as the…

  about Bob Dylan · at 17:11

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Dr. Scott Solum — Person · Main speaker / host (episode presenter) · 1 mention · first at 0:42
  He introduces the show, frames the Q&A format, and provides the theological explanations (judgment after death, confession integrity, excommunication, Sunday obligation).
• Thomas Aquinas — Person · Referenced expert (theological authority) · 1 mention · first at 4:46
  Cited to illustrate a speculative theological concept about how created beings relate to eternity/time between particular and final judgment.
• Bob Dylan — Person · Referenced cultural figure (illustrative quote) · 1 mention · first at 17:18
  Quoted to support the moral/spiritual point that humans inevitably 'serve' something, reinforcing the argument about worship and Sunday obligation.
• Mother Teresa of Kolkata — Person · Referenced figure (humorous paraphrase) · 1 mention · first at 0:32
  Used as a cultural/saintly reference in a joke to open the episode; not part of the substantive theological argument.
  Pond just like the Glory Days of Minnesota and tonight is going to melt to paraphrase Mother Teresa of Kolkata if you shovel a pond it'll melt but shovel it anyways okay so welcome to catechism Answers by Ascension press I'm Dr Scott.

Companies & orgs

• Francis University — Company · Affiliation · 2 mentions · first at 0:43
  Mentioned as the institution where Dr. Scott Solum is a professor of theology.

Sponsors

• Ascension Press — Company · Sponsor · 4 mentions · first at 0:01
  The podcast 'Catechism Answers' is produced by Ascension Press, indicating a primary owned product relationship.
  If you shovel a pond it'll melt but shovel it anyways okay so welcome to catechism Answers by Ascension press I'm Dr Scott solum professor of theology at Franciscan University and the director of The catechetical Institute here as.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 if you're just dialing in for catechism Answers by Ascension press we will get started in about 10 seconds grab your water coffee or tea I was just sharing if if you could see all the amazing people that helped make this happen they're just wonderful people and I was just sharing that um it's frozen here in Ohio and um so we were able to shovel off a pond and go skating on it which doesn't happen a lot um but that's my that's my big exciting thing for the week skating on a pond just like the Glory Days of Minnesota and tonight is going to melt to paraphrase Mother Teresa of Kolkata if you shovel a pond it'll melt but shovel it anyways okay so welcome to catechism Answers by Ascension press I'm Dr Scott solum uh professor of theology at Franciscan University and the director of The catechetical Institute here as well super excited to be with you thank you for joining us um our job here is

0:54 real simple we are we're just trying to cultivate and curate the questions that come up from father Mike Schmidt's catechism in a year and we do our best to answer the questions that we can in the short time that we have um if you would consider subscribing to our channel so you don't miss a video on YouTube that' be fantastic uh the subscription button is just below for Facebook as well so if you'd like to join on Facebook instead that'd be amazing it's a great Community there there's lots of great comments and conversations happening um in the very charitable comments section um if you have a question and you're on Facebook just place the question below whatever video you happen to be watching if you're on YouTube just put the question in the comments section so again thank you we have four questions and let us get started number one if Jesus is coming at the end of the world to judge

1:39 the living and the dead then what happens to the people who have died before that do their souls go to heaven or Purgatory or Hell or do they wait until the end when Jesus comes so quick answer is at the moment of death and remember death is the separation of body and soul that's that's all death means we we don't see to exist just our body our human body separates from our human soul this by the way this is why Jesus himself could die because he experienced um his human body and his human soul separating even though of course he's still god um holding really as it were his body and his soul in existence but for for me and for you uh death will be a separation of body and soul and we will go to an immediate judgment or what's called a particular judgment so uh hell Purgatory or Heaven uh pretty much right away the catechism picks this up a little bit it's going to be 10:21 and 10:22 it says in

2:40 10:22 each man receives his eternal retribution in his Immortal Soul at the very moment of his death in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ so so the answer to the question is um it's immediate yeah it's immediate um fun fact of course we're meant to be body and soul um my body isn't supposed to be like a playground or a carnival ride in which my soul has fun and and does all kinds of exciting things and then eventually I'm released of my body this Mortal coil and uh sprung free I become an angel or something and and and forever just simply cruising around as a soul I'm actually meant to be body and soul and um and so are you and so we do get our bodies back so when do we get our bodies back that's partly what the final judgment is for so when Christ comes definitively to judge the living and the dead in the fullness of time um that's when we will have a regathering it's not a second chance it's not it's

3:42 not a chance to kind of reconsider your options um but we'll be re regathered remember we're communal beings we it's not just just me and God and you and God and and you and God it's us and God and even the final judgment will be communal and our relationship with God will be laid bare and we will get our bodies back so um I suppose to to answer the question very specifically it's immediate judgment is immediate um hell Purgatory Heaven is immediate but then there is a final judgment we get our we get our bodies back side note this is just a little speculation we're dealing with the catechism here and the catechism is amazing because it is the sure Norm of our faith like if if this is kind of like whatever is I'm thinking theologically if it kind of Falls within the bounds of what's in the catechism then then then it could probably rightfully be considered Catholic um but this is like just a facts there's

4:34 speculation on what what happens like if if if there's time happening on Earth but you've already gone into eternity um how does time pass kind of a thing and there's lots of different answers for that I wasn't sure if this question was relating to that Thomas aquinus has a thing he calls um AV Eternal like you're in eternity but you're still a created being so you can experience change but that speculation and the catechism um doesn't really say one way or another what's happening in between the particular judgment and the final judgment that's probably enough on that let's go to question number two is it true if you purposely withhold grave sins in confession your whole confession is void is it true if you purposely withhold grave sins in confession your whole confession is void I thought for a little bit I love this question I'm grateful for it I thought I was thinking of how how could I best answer this and

5:24 the first thing that comes to mind is just by way of analogy imagine like you ordered a really fantastic sandwich from your favorite Deli or your sweet mom or something or your daughter made you a beautiful sandwich with everything that you like on it and nothing you don't like on it and right before you ate it you just took a peek inside to see kind of what's all in there and just to kind of like wow appreciate it and then you saw in it like this giant swirling spindly long hair all woven in and out of it and then you'd say to yourself you know like am I gonna eat this sandwich or not should I mean it's just a hair I mean is the hair gonna actually um you know render the whole sandwich void and I would say yeah man I wouldn't eat that sandwich I would at least pull that hair out maybe and then probably still not eat it but maybe if I'm being honest and so I'm I'm thinking this only in light of confession and and

6:12 confessing all of our sins which is to say not leaving kind of one sin behind to kind of infect the rest of our little sandwich Soul so here's um here's three thoughts on the actual question number one of course there's steps to receiving the sacrament of reconciliation we have the examination of conscience we confess all of our our sins um we're contrite for those sins and we do Penance and um Point number two is this Contrition is really really important part of the catechism says it's like the most important part of the penitence work for confession so of course Contrition is is um it's hatred for the sin it's it's the resolution not to commit that sin again so I need to be contrite because if I'm not contrite I'm not really doing my part of course most of the work is God's work but I have a part to play my part is necessary it's not sufficient but it's necessary my necessary part is

7:08 being contrite and having my heart disposed or open or have the my my heart has the capacity to receive this forgiveness so if I hold one sin back if I hold one sin back confession just doesn't work because without Contrition that one unrepented sin is going to prevent my heart from having the capacity to receive Mercy to receive Grace yeah like that one long hair in the sandwich it's it's just it's just not going to be edible it's the the sacrament itself won't it won't work so to the question um does it render the whole confession void um it does in so far as you won't have been forgiven of your sins and that Contrition that you don't have for that one sin might be an outward sign or an indicator of a lack of Contrition um in general to set your heart right with the Lord so that was question number two question number three what steps can people take if they don't receive Absolution from a priest

8:06 during reconciliation or if they could be excommunicated from sins of years ago that they weren't aware that the sin could result in excommunication so maybe I'm guessing in this situation maybe two possibilities one is you go to confession and you're not quite sure whether the priest actually gave you Absolution or not and secondly gosh did I kind of accidentally commit a sin a long time time ago where um kind of I incurred automatic excommunication the the fancy Latin there's lat C which which just means you you automatically excommunicated Yourself by doing X and so the question is um are there any steps that can be taken yes number one find a priest thank God for priests this is literally why God made priests right to communicate the grace of Christ to communicate the truth of Christ but in in particular uh in reconciliation and by the way did God have to do do that no he didn't have to do that um you'll have

9:01 to ask him yourself at the Pearly Gates why he did that but he did choose uh priests to continue the work of of uh healing and mercy and so find a priest and um SEC secondly excommunication is not necessarily um permanent right the the the goal of excommunication would be as like a it's it functions kind of like a a medicinal um element um it's meant to inspire conversion and healing so that it it helps the person who's the offender to realize the gravity of what they did to repent and then want to come back and when you want to come back um you can come back so you go to you go to confession let's say you're worried if you that you might have done something that's excommunicates and go to confession with a priest who has faculties to remit the excommunication um just like a priest say for example is going to confirm someone you know in mid December and the priest is going to ask the bishop for

10:04 faculties to confirm this person at this time and in this place and the bishop grants that person's faculties to to to to confirm that person somewhat similarly um um a priest needs to have faculties to remit an excommunication I don't doubt that in some dases in the world these faculties for remitting excommunication is standard and in other place it has to it has to be granted specifically so go to confession with a PRI who can remit um e excommunication and have a good conversation and get all those sins out and as my dad used to say just let them all stink and then um let the priest do that work of Christ and and and then just trust Jesus that you've been forgiven that life is good that Jesus loves you and you and you're not bound um to those sins even in your memory just help the let the Lord help you to just release whatever is going on in your heart regarding those sins that was question number three last

10:57 question number four it's hard for me to understand why communion can't be taken if you have skipped church can you explain why missing Mass on Sundays is such a grave sin this is a really good question and and one that honestly that comes up quite a bit I um in the theology classes that I teach at Franciscan one of them is a like a oneone class which is wonderful because it's it's an all skate everybody has to take one1 and um so many many of us teach it because there's lots and lots of students and um this question actually comes up a lot in that in that foundations of Catholicism class so I'm grateful for it and for the chance to try to speak about it a little bit I think I've got five points in terms of a response so um why can't communion be taken if you skipped Church the first thing I want to say is maybe just from the heart I'm always really inspired when I go to mass and I notice

11:48 somebody refraining from receiving Holy Communion um maybe they stay in their Pew maybe they go up and ask for a blessing maybe that changes from dases to dases but I always find that inspiring because that's a sign that this person is taking the Eucharist understanding the Eucharist as Jesus very seriously and and I can't help but be a little bit kind of feel a little bit in my heart um convicted like am I really recognizing the profoundness of what I'm doing am am I am I kind of being flippant about this or am I taking it seriously so and I honestly I try not to like look around and think other things I'm trying to focus on what's going on but sometimes you can't notice this or that person and I always think that's pretty that's it's pretty cool to not be too casual and I think that's part of maybe the heart of the answer to this question is to remember who Jesus is and what's happening when we're receiving Christ

12:37 and of course there's lots of reasons not to receive Holy Communion if you if you've um for whatever reason um not been able to do the a proper fast U beforehand Etc so that's the first uh the second thing I want to say is this just to pan out a little bit and look at the kind of the the larger picture the Lord who brought us into existence out of nothing right our Lord Lord in whom we live and move and have our being as Paul would say in the book of Acts um he he brings us into existence and then we sin against him sends his son we kill his son his son Rises to New Life and then forgives us even while we're still Sinners offers us eternal life through faith baptism and then there's just a couple things the Lord asks of us one of one of them is to keep holy the Sabbath in the grand scheme of things it's not a big ask you know to keep holy the Sabbath it's it's not um it's not it's not a

13:30 whole lot for the lord of the universe to ask us to keep holy the Sabbath and this is the third point the the Lord does ask us to keep holy the Sabbath um of course in the Commandments this the Sabbath is the sign of the Covenant that God has with us the the Sabbath helps us to rest in the Lord that the Sabbath helps give a rhythm to our lives and I bring this up the fact that keeping holy the Sabbath is the is one of the Ten Commandments because as we know to give more of a technical response and this would be I suppose the fourth point to the to the question on receiving Holy Communion having skipped mass is we know that um a mortal sin it would need to be um freely done with with with with sufficient knowledge you consent and Grave matter and Grave matter as the catechism notes is stipulated by uh the ten commandments so so not keeping holy the Sabbath is against the Ten Commandments we also know and this is I

14:23 suppose the the last point the Lord's day is um the Fulfillment of the Sabbath right the the Sabbath kind of prefigured the Fulfillment of our worship in Christ which is on the Lord's day which is on Sunday and so to the extent where the question actually to be really um concrete and specific the question asked if you skipped Mass because we do know that I'm look looking here in 2173 maybe I'm going to flip the page of 217 2181 there's a couple things the catechism notes that there's it's possible to mismas like if if there's a serious reason and and it notes illness and it notes um you know the care of infants but the question itself was actually straight up skipping mess I'm just going to assume that was just like I just don't feel like going um and so in that case it's it's it's it's there's not a serious reason um the last thing I wanted to say about this I think this is really important just just a friendly

15:21 neighborhood reminder again this is the catechism this is the Ascension press catechism all catechisms work pretty much equally this is a really beautiful one with the leather and the various um colored ribbons um on the front of the catechism is that beautiful little emblem of the shepherd playing the pan pipes and the Sheep is is is there with the shepherd and and and the Sheep is there like sitting at Bay the Sheep is very happily there the shepherd's not making the Sheep stay there and this is the this is the emblem it predates Christianity I've mentioned this before but it's worth saying again um this is the emblem that the church chose to put on the front of the catechism of all the things that could be on the front of the catechism this is it and one of the the reasons for that of and there's symbolism all throughout this little image that you can read on the inside cover of the catechism um but but the main point I

16:06 think is um the Sheep is there because of the beauty of the music that the shepherd is playing and that's indicative of the catechism itself the catechism there's a there's a certain Beauty to the truth there's a certain Beauty and freedom to the way in which the Lord has invited us to live so whether it's the catechism itself or the Ten Commandments or keeping holy the Lord's day it's not meant to be like an extrinsic arbitrary hoop to jump through just to see if you can do it and gosh darn it maybe you can and then you get win a free prize or something um rather the the Commandments and all the truths in the catechism lay out this beautiful life that will actually make us joyful and and and and and and have freedom in Christ and bring us peace and happiness and I say that because 2176 is it 2175 or 2176 that's 2176 says this and essentially what what it's saying here is we're actually meant for worship the

17:03 human person is meant for worship we're religious beings right and by our very nature we we we really kind of tend toward worship worshiping something hope hopefully it's uh the Thrice holy God but we're built for worship and if you're not worshiping God you're going to worship somebody as the great Bob Dylan once said you're going to serve somebody so 2176 says the celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward visible public there's that public again we're communal creatures and regular worship as a sign of his Universal beneficence to all um so long story short this the the Sabbath is there for us the Lord's day is there for us to make sure we we are um in in this Rhythm of Life where we're worshiping god with one another it's so important to who we are and to our relationship with God and to our joy and to our peace that um it's

17:59 it's it's a commandment in and of itself so to skip it would be I suppose a really kind of um flippant shortsighted way of minimizing What the Lord Has Done For Us that's why it's grave that's all the questions that we have for today thank you for joining us we are going to actually have um another podcast on Thursday this coming Thursday uh same time same place but on but on Thursday uh 12:30 eastern time if you can join us for that that'd be amazing if not next month same time same place again I hope you have an amazing week and um God bless you and thank you for joining us uh with catechism answers and Ascension press let's pray in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen all glory be to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be a World Without End Amen in the name of the father son holy spirit amen thanks again it's good to see

18:57 you for

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "More About Confession and Absolution — Catechism Answers w/ Dr. Scott Sollom"?

Dr. Scott Solum (Host).

What is "More About Confession and Absolution — Catechism Answers w/ Dr. Scott Sollom" about?

The main topic focuses on the theological concepts of confession and absolution as described in the Catechism, addressing common questions related to what happens to souls after death in light of Jesus’ final judgment. Dr. Scott Sollom aims to clarify these questions, emphasizing the importance of understanding Catholic teachings and engaging with the community for deeper exploration of faith.

What is mentioned in this The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Dr. Scott Solum, Francis University, Thomas Aquinas, Bob Dylan, Mother Teresa of Kolkata. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "More About Confession and Absolution — Catechism Answers w/ Dr. Scott Sollom"?

The episode runs 19 min; the transcript is about 3,723 words in 22 timestamped sections.

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