Southern Comfort wrote:No other person, whether being initiated or not, has to receive the sacrament of reconciliation before receiving Communion unless it is definitively known that they are in a state of grave sin.
But in the catechism we find:
CCC 1457 wrote:According to the Church's command, "after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year." Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion... Children must go to the sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time.
So children are explicitly required to make first confession before first communion - see http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CCLSANCT.htm - but nothing is stated here about an adult becoming Catholic.
RCIA 395 states:
395 If the ... reception take place within Mass, the candidate, according to his or her own conscience, should make a confession of sins beforehand, first informing the confessor that he or she is about to be received into full communion. Any confessor who is lawfully approved may hear the candidate’s confession.
The mention of conscience is ambiguous. Is the matter of conscience WHICH sins to confess, or the bigger matter of WHETHER making confession is necessary?
This leads us to a point which turns on the distinction of serious sins and moral sins. Today, we understand a mortal sin to concern grave matter, committed with full knowledge and free consent. Externally, we can only judge whether or not an action was grave; the extent of knowledge and consent can only be judged by the individual who has sinned.
The way Catechism para 1457 is set out seems to distinguish "serious" from "mortal" sins. Mortal sins, because of full knowledge and consent, must be confessed by their very nature. The catechism seems to apply here an additional requirement to confess annually any SERIOUS sin even though knowledge or consent may have been partial.
But the catechism here cites canon 988, which distinguishes "grave" sins from "venial" sins. A quick check of the Latin text of the Catechism reveals that "grave" would be the proper trnslation in para 1457 also, which in the context of the canon law clearly implies "mortal". So the Catechism in fact does not indicate an annual obligation to confess non-mortal sins.
We can get too caught up in law. This isn't about law - it's about our relationship with Christ, who spent a good part of his ministry on earth pronouncing forgiveness of sins. He entrusted this ministry to the apostles, who therefore had the right to decide the shape it should take as the Church evolved. This means that Jesus Christ, respecting the decisions made by his bishops on earth, is inviting his followers to receive His forgiveness through confession as we now practice it.
> It therefore seems that a child MUST make first confession before first communion, even if the child has never committed a mortal sin;
> It is arguable that the precedent set by the children's case requires an adult seeking full communion also to make confession - the matter of conscience is the selection of material, not whether to go;
> But a person morally certain that they have committed no mortal sins (grave matter + knowledge + consent) during the last 12 months is not strictly obliged to make annual confession.
On the other hand... as a disciple of Christ, beliving that it is very pleasing to Christ to confess our sins to those ministers empowered to forgive them, why pass up on the opportunity?