The Sacrament of Forgiveness and Reconciliation: the Confessor's and the Penitent's Role towards Religious and Personal Maturit

The following study shows the sacrament of reconciliation in the theological, psychological and pedagogical dimension. It depicts the priest’s role and his competences. According to the study a priest (confessor) should be endowed with the ability to the dialogue; empathy; acceptance of the penitent, respect, authenticity and the interpersonal communication skills. The article also indicates the possible difficulties which could arise on the penitent’s part in the whole process of reconcilia- tion such as: the feeling of guilt or fear of punishment. The aim sacrament of reconciliation is to enable the penitent himself to remit all the bad deeds committed and to regain the comfort. The whole of interaction between the penitent and the priest (confessor) in the sacrament of forgiveness and reconciliation aims at bringing the former to experience the religiosity maturely and achieving the inner personal accomplishment