I've never seen a practice like that described in the Bible and I'm quite certain that Jesus did not recommmend anything like that. But Jesus and John the Baptist did recommend that people should "repent." Now, I feel the most interesting part of that is in the way Jesus described repentance... he said "sitting in sackcloth and ashes." So he was advocating a particular kind of repentance... a kind that I feel is described very well here: http://gospelenigma.com I included this link because none of my answers can be understood without putting them into the context of the Kingdom Gospel... and that free resource explains that Original Gospel. And thanks for asking this interesting question. In short, I don't think Jesus wanted and "intermediary" between ourselves and our heavely Father.

Yes. The Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin." When a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven. Catholics also believe that when someone sins they not only hurt their relationship with God, they also injure the entire church, the body of Christ. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (John 20:21-23) Several important things are happening here all at once and within the same context: • "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." God the Father sent Christ to us for many reasons, one of which was to forgive our sins, so Christ sends the Apostles and their successors to, among other things, forgive our sins. • Jesus, God the Son, "breathes" on the Apostles. The only other moment in Holy Scripture where God breathes on humanity is in Genesis 2:7, when the Lord "breathes" divine life into man. When God breathes on humans significant things happen. • And then and only then Jesus says, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Jesus says this a bit differently in Matthew 16:19: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Oral confessing of sins is recommended over and over in both the Old and New Testaments: • James 5:16 • Acts 19:18 • Matthew 3:5-6 • Mark 1:5 • 1 Timothy 6:12 • 1 John 1:9 • Numbers 5:6-7 • Nehemiah 9:2 • Sirach 4:26 The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with a priest ordained in the name of Jesus Christ not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me. Remember all sacraments are encounters with God. This sacrament is a healing encounter between God and the penitent. For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1422 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm With love in Christ.