My sister read somewhere that in some early monastic communities, confessions were made to each other as lay persons, and not to clergy. Is there any truth to this claim?
In religious life there has been what is called the “chapter of faults” where members confess to the community their transgressions against the rule of their order. But this was not a sacramental confession. Only validly a ordained bishop or priest has the power to forgive sins. This has always been the case.
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