my reading notes (3)----why not just confess one's sin directly to God?

The answer, as history reveals, is that one can confess directly to God, but the priest is involved in the sacrament precisely as the representative of the Christian community. Granted that it was a very limited sense of community for many people, the role of the priest maintained at least a minimal sense of the fact that both sin and reconciliation have effects on the larger community. Even the most private sins affect the whole Body of Christ. Thus, while one can be forgiven by God directly, there is still unfinished business until the breach with the community is healed. Reconciliation with the community is the sacrament, the visible and effective symbol, of reconciliation with the Lord. The priest is the representative of the Christian community and offers reconciliation with the church; since reconciliation with the church is the sacrament of reconciliation with God, the priest is also the representative of the Lord, but it is the community role that is the most basic. It is an image that should not be seen by itself, because reconciliation with God is intimately linked to reconciliation with the Church.