Why Freud's Couch Could Never Replace the Confessional

Jeremy Wayne Tate recently described sacramental confession as one of the most profound experiences of grace this side of heaven: speaking aloud the worst things we have thought and done, then hearing the good news of God's mercy in Christ. Sigmund Freud understood that buried things do not remain powerless. Fulton Sheen believed Freud's new account of the inner life stopped before reaching what a guilty soul finally needs. Analysis may help us understand. Only Christ can absolve. This essay considers therapy, guilt, online confession, and why Catholics can reach a point where life without the sacrament of confession becomes almost inconceivable.