I think you're right in saying that absolution is unnecessary, Jande - but it certainly can be powerfully reassuring. I suppose some people get their reassurance from reading the bumper stickers that say "Christians aren't perfect - they're just FORGIVEN." Well, in my book God loves and forgives everybody, not just Christians or people who go through specified rituals. One way or another, though, I think we all need to go through processes of reconciliation on many occasions in life.

As has been expressed here, there are some dangerous misconceptions that tend to get attached to the idea of absolution. Some people get the false impression that the priest dispenses God's forgiveness, and controls whether God forgives or does not forgive. Others seem to think that all Catholics have to do is go through the motions, and then they're free to go out and do the same thing again - and as long as they're clean when they die, that's all that counts. If you perform a ritual and have not commitment to its essential meaning, that ritual is empty and meaningless. If you finish my class and still have those misconceptions, you get an "F."
-Joe Offer-