Should first confession be held after First Communion,...

Should first confession be held after First Communion, and did the Church change the form of confession?

Full Question

Our parish is having First Communion in the second grade and first confession in the fourth grade. Is that right? Also, when I go to confession, my priest does not want to know my sins or how many times I committed them. Did the Church change the way we go to confession?

Answer

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Children must go to the sacrament of penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time" (1457). This is backed up by the Code of Canon Law 914.

The Church has not changed the requirements for confessing our sins in confession. Canon 988 states, "A member of the Christian faithful is obliged to confess in kind and number all serious sins committed after baptism and not yet directly remitted through the keys of the Church nor acknowledged in individual confession, of which one is conscious after diligent examination of conscience."

Answered by: Catholic Answers Staff