Is God's Forgiveness Limited to the Confessional?

I do not believe that God's power to forgive my sins is constrained by a need for a priest to tell me I'm forgiven.  That said, I've found the sacrament of reconciliation to be beautiful and powerful because it has been explained to me as the priest standing in the place of the Christian community and facilitating my reconciliation with the community.  But then, in today's paper, I see this quote from Bishop Donald Trautman, the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy:  "Only in the confessional do I have the absolute guarantee that God has forgiven me." 

Does this still represent the official Church teaching?  If so, is it any wonder that many Catholics find evangelical churches more conducive to fostering a personal relationship with God?