Can children go to confession in pairs?

[sabog]

My child attends a parish school and went to reconciliation this past week. He was told that he could go separately or with one or two friends. He went with another student because that child was afraid. The two were asked if they were sorry. Both answered yes and both received the same penance. Is this valid? My son then suggested we could go to reconciliation as a family! I am very uncomfortable with this and have been accused of being “too rigid.” At this point, I don’t know where to go with this one. Help, please.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

If it is your child telling you that you are “too rigid,” I can only recommend putting a stop to that kind of talk right away. If it is another adult, you might say, “Thank you for your opinion, but how does that solve the concern I’ve raised?”

As for the problem, no, no one should be going to confession together. In most cases, this is because the seal of confession binds not just the priest but any who listens in (deliberately or otherwise) on the confession. In your son’s case, it is not clear to me that the children confessed anything at all but were just prodded to say they were sorry for unspecified sins.

In any event, this practice is seriously problematic enough that I recommend directing your son not to go to confession with another child again (and kindly explaining to him why you won’t be attending confession as a family) and reporting the situation to the bishop of your diocese.