Q: At what point are OCIA candidates able to go to confession and make their first confession? We had an OCIA retreat recently, and I heard some first confessions, but I really was doing it based on the assumption that they knew and were catechized when they can go. But, since I don’t have much experience as a priest with OCIA/RCIA, I don’t actually know when they can go. It does seem strange that they go before officially being Catholic.
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A: OCIA candidates are eligible for confession whenever they comply with the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism. https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/documenti/testo-in-inglese.html . See no. 131.
Then OCIA 482 gives you the direct expectation that they confess before reception.