I am certain you need a priest for both. I'm a Lutheran and in order to have communion I have to get a pastor. Although I can confess my sins directly to God. No pastor required.

I know back when I was a catholic, you HAD to confess to a priest. Now, I think times might have changed a bit. At least in some catholic churches it has.

Some priests may let you receive communion with out officially hearing your confession but officially you have to confess and be absolved of you sins before you can receive communion.

Technically, you need to utilize the sacrament of confession in order to be considered a clean vessel for the Eucharist. However, and this is off the Catholic record, I say confessing you sins directly to God is just as good. The only problem with that is that there's no penance involved as woudl be administered by a priest. If, however, you feel at peace with God, go ahead and take communion. The whole meaning of religion is to bring people closer to God, not keep them away.

Well I believe we should follow the bible and what God says. It is only God that can forgive our sins. The bible says there is only one mediator and that is Christ. He is not mad at us and we do not have to got to a Priest or pope , or Mary. we have full access to Jesus, The only one that forgives us, saves us and sets us free! God knows your heart like no other. **The catholics say they follow the bible but if so then they would also read that it is Christ that has the power to forgive us of sins, no other! Ex communication is of man and not God, God will never ex communicate me. he said " I will never leave you or forsake you." I will stick to what God says and not man.

Depends on the sin. Mortal sins (i.e. really bad ones) need to be confessed to a priest before you can receive absolution and purify yourself enough to be able to ingest the Body of Christ. You cannot take communion without being absolved of your mortal sins. The 1983 Code of Canon Law says: "A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to . . . receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible" (#916). The requirement for sacramental confession can be dispensed if four conditions are met: (1) there must be a grave reason to receive Communion (i.e. imminent death), (2) it must be physically or morally impossible to go to confession first, (3) the person must already be in a state of grace through perfect contrition, and (4) (s)he must resolve to go to confession as soon as possible. Venial sins on the other hand (the little ones) can actually be cleansed by taking communion and these need not be confessed through the sacrament of penance. You can of course go to confession and confess these, and it is obviously preferable to at the very least ask God for forgiveness privately.

As a Catholic, you are required to go to confession at least once a year, and this is encouraged during Lent. A venial (minor) sin can be taken care of by the prayer for forgiveness at the beginning of each Mass. For more serious (mortal or grave) sins, then according to law, you must confess and receive absolution before once again taking part of the Eucharist. Not that everyone follows these rules, but those are the rules. Peace to all.

If a Catholic is in a state of mortal (serious) sin, he is obligated to recieve the sacrament of reconciliation or confession before recieve communion.

1)To receive Communion worthily, you must be in a state of grace, have made a good confession since your last mortal sin, believe in transubstantiation, observe the Eucharistic fast, and, finally, not be under an ecclesiastical censure such as excommunication. The requirement for sacramental confession can be dispensed if four conditions are fulfilled: (1) there must be a grave reason to receive Communion (for example, danger of death), (2) it must be physically or morally impossible to go to confession first, (3) the person must already be in a state of grace through perfect contrition, and (4) he must resolve to go to confession as soon as possible. a detailed answer can be found at the following source: http://www.catholic.com/library/Who_Can_Receive_Communion.asp 2)If you do not follow that, you are coupable of sin or you are not technically speaking a catholic. If you propagate your view, you risk excommunication. 3)If it is OK with your conscience, just do it, but do not say it around. It is not proven than an heretic must go to hell. 4)Nowadays many priest prefer not to examine this kind of things accurately, because it is hard enough to keep people in their community. But if they do, they must follow the views of the church. Must of the times, only people who openly contradict these views and try to propagate them are excommunicated. But it depends of the region. 5)There are also many people who try to modernise the church from inside, but many who went too far were broken by the institution. 6)I would like to tell a little story about a jew who found the back door to heaven. Petrus lured him outside with a trick. Afterward, Petrus looked for a priest to make a ritual cleaning of heaven. But nowhere in heaven could he find a single priest...

You have to go to confession first unless it has changed.