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PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
treatment that mental disturbances require. But psychological
treatment is not a substitute for confession. Its purpose is to
discover what are the conditions under which forgiveness of sin
can be appropriated and proclaimed.”
Dr. Oliver’s personal experience in the confessional has
convinced him that the confessor hears very little about the
more serious mental difficulties of the penitent. The penitent
talks, as a rule, about matters that lie on the legalistic levels of
religious behaviour; the results of self-appraisal and
selfcriticism: ‘I have done so and so . . .’ But to give lasting help
it is necessary to know not only what the person in question has
done but why he has done it. The penitent merely confesses
guilt, and it is difficult for the confessor, under the conditions
of a methodical, sacramental confession, to enquire closely into
the personal attitudes, habits and other relevant circumstances
of the penitent. If, during the confession, the spiritual adviser
observes signs of mental conflict or symptoms indicative of
faulty personal adjustment to the penitent’s surroundings or to
reality itself, the confessor has no warrant, strictly speaking, for
referring to these matters when, later on, he meets the penitent
outside the confessional. Consequently, as Dr. Oliver points out,
however alarming the consequences of the penitent’s
inadvertent disclosures may be, the confessor is guilty of a breach of
his priestly privilege if he makes any attempt to use the
knowledge gained in confession to give, outside the confessional, the
kind of help that cannot appropriately be rendered within it.
For this reason, Dr. Oliver recommends every spiritual adviser
to augment the ministry of confession with therapeutic work
based on firm psychological knowledge.
The Spiritual and Psychological Aspects of the Care of Souls
The care of souls outside the Church, outside the confessional
and parallel with worship and the administration of the
sacraments, need not in any way occasion neglect of the fundamental
principles of Christian redemptive action. There are, however
certain risks, against which it is necessary to be forewarned.
The practice of pastoral psychology becomes arid and finally
has nothing to give the penitent if it is divorced from living
piety and becomes a substitute for the redemptive message of
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