Can you go to Confession if you're not Catholic?

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forever_always

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My boyfriend, who was baptized as a southern baptist, but who has been attending church with me, has told me that he feels that he needs to go to confession. Does he need to be part of RCIA or a baptized Catholic to do this, or can anyone recieve the sacrament of reconciliation?

Please advise… thanks.
 
I think the answer is that he can certainly confess his sins to the priest, but that he cannot receive absolution. Like the Eucharist, one of the significations/effects of the sacrament of penance is to perfect, or re-establish, one’s unity with the Church. Unfortunately, those who are separated from the Church, and not actively seeking to be officially reconciled to Her, are unable to receive this grace, and these sacraments are consequently withheld from them. (One way to think of it: since your boyfriend is not yet a Catholic, ordinary honesty would prevent him from seeking to express a false unity with the Church through the sacraments.)

Such at least is how I would reason about this situation. You could do a lot worse than asking your parish priest about this though.
 
forever_always said:
My boyfriend, who was baptized as a southern baptist, but who has been attending church with me, has told me that he feels that he needs to go to confession. Does he need to be part of RCIA or a baptized Catholic to do this, or can anyone recieve the sacrament of reconciliation?

Please advise… thanks.
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Chrysostim has given you good advice, and I do think if you stop by the Church office when your Priest is in, you can ask to have a short talk with him and tell him of your friends desire.:)Carlan
 
I just started RCIA in September, but I’ve been going to Confession since mid-summer sometime. But then I went to Father first and asked him if I could, and explained that I was baptized and fully believed in the sacrament, and he already knew that I was definitely planning to convert. So I would say that it depends on where your boyfriend is in that process.

If he had not been validly baptized (with water and the Trinitarian formula) he could of course not validly receive absolution.
 
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