Service to confession T-KAP-SJ>spowie-w-11

They are three main parts of this subject which refer to the so called further matter, closer matter and the steward (the priest) of the sacrament of penance. The further matter is the sins of the penitent, the closer matter is the acts of penitent who "elaborates" the further matter, i.e. prepares the confession (e.g. the examination of his conscience, the sorrow). There is also the specific role played by the priest: he needs to know his duties and how to fulfill them to help the penitent to have a good confession. The part of a priest is complex, because he is a judge, a doctor, a teacher, a father and a good shepherd at the same time. There are also other aspects of the sacrament of penance which are discussed: its history, the present form and particularly that of the absolution.

The first semester is focused on the sin: its contemporary understanding and the consequences of this understanding, the biblical concept of sin and its evolution, the sin in theology, its causes, the reasons of its proliferation among people, the kinds of sins (particularly the grave and the venial sins). The other important issues are: the role of priest as the "alter Christus", and the biblical perspective of priestly service in the confessional.
The second semester covers the preparation of the penitent to the act of confession, what he needs to do during the very confession and after it. The role of the priest is important since he is the one who (to a certain degree) is responsible for the confession and reconciliation of a penitent. The other issue concerns what the priest is to do before, during and after the confession and what is forbidden to him. There are also some other topics which the students know from the course of moral theology and which often occur in the confessional, eg. a problem of restitution needs to be discussed. However there are two important topics which are discussed by other professor, namely the sanctions (from the Church) in the confessional and the marital ethics.
During the II semester the students need also participate in the exercises which prepare them directly to the role of confessors.

J.S. Płatek, Sprawowanie Sakramentu Pokuty i Pojednania, Częstochowa 2001.
L, Ciccone, Trudne spotkania w konfesjonale, Kraków 2019.
S. Witek, Duszpasterstwo w konfesjonale, Poznań 1988.
Sztuka spowiadania. Podręcznik dla księży, J. Augustyn, S. Cyran (red.), Kraków 2005,
T. Kraj, Jak funkcjonuje moralność? Wybory moralne a wartości chrześcijańskie, w: Teologia i moralność 2 (26), vol. 14 (2019), s. 139-161.
C. Krakowiak, Warunkowe rozgrzeszenie???, https://docplayer.pl/11358966-Warunkowe-rozgrzeszenie.html

If anybody needs to read something in English he needs first to discuss it with prof. Kraj (the priestly service in the confessional is a "vulnerable" topic).

This subject is for the future confessors, i.e. the students need to be ordained deacons or to be the candidate to priesthood close to their ordination (as a priest or deacon and subsequently as a priest). To get the final vote the student needs to attend the lessons (during the pandemic he needs to listen and to learn what is recorded by Prof. Kraj and sent to the students). He also needs to participate (actively) in the exercises and to read what is obligatory for all students. Any other form requires the permission of Prof. Kraj who needs to know about it as soon as possible (not during the time of exams or close to it).