Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology
Section IV. On the Necessity of the Sacrament of Penance
The necessity both of means and of precept must be examined; nevertheless only that of the divine precept, because the ecclesiastical precept has been discussed in volume I, n. 1104.
I. Necessity of means. The sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation by necessity of means for those who have sinned gravely after Baptism. This is clear: 1. from these words of the Council of Trent: "This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism itself is for those not yet regenerated";1 2. from Sacred Scripture. For Christ declared that sins are retained for those for whom they are retained by the judges constituted by him.2 But sins would not truly be retained if another means of obtaining pardon were available to the sinner apart from those judges. There are added: 3. the testimonies of the Holy Fathers; and 4. the argument of prescription. These, together with other arguments, you may compare in the Dogmatic theologians.
Corollary. From what has been said it follows that perfect contrition and the act of charity do not justify the sinner except insofar as they are at the same time a recourse to the sacrament of Penance in desire, or insofar as they at the same time include the purpose of submitting oneself to the judges constituted by Christ. Hence, for one thus justified there remains the obligation afterward of having recourse to the judge.
2 John 20:23.
II. Necessity by force of divine precept. 1. The existence of the precept follows from the necessity of means.
- The time for fulfilling the precept. The precept obliges:
a) Of itself: 1. in the article of death; for one who then does not fulfill the divine law rashly exposes himself to the danger of never fulfilling it; 2. it is disputed whether it obliges at some times in life, but the affirmative seems to have to be held, because it is difficult to admit that Christ instituted a tribunal by which the sinner is reconciled with God, and at the same time granted the sinner the faculty of avoiding that tribunal until the end of life (St. Alphonsus, VI, 662, 663, 665). For the rest, it is certain: 1. that the divine precept does not oblige immediately after a sin has been committed; 2. that satisfaction is made to the said precept by fulfilling the ecclesiastical precept (St. Alphonsus, VI, 663).
b) Accidentally: 1. if confession is held to be a morally necessary means of avoiding sin (St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 6, art. 5); 2. according to many, before the reception of the Eucharist, if one has sinned gravely (n. 179), in which case there is certainly an obligation, whether from divine law or from ecclesiastical law.