Not all Christian religions use Confession as a way to repent for one's sins. It is primarily used in the Catholic, Protestant, and Lutheran denominations.

Confession is a pretty foreign concept to me as a non-denominational Christian (if that term is confusing, call me Baptist). We confess sins to God/Jesus, not a pastor. A pastor (and, in my opinion, a priest) has absolutely no authority to forgive sins.

Confession makes use of the pastor as a go-between for man and God. Christian churches who have a Christ-is-the-Messiah take on things believe that Christ IS the mediator between God and man. Thus, we can pray directly to God/Christ and have no need of an earthly "middle man."

Scripture urges us to confess our sins (faults) to one another, meaning one to another, not to a priest. In layman’s language, if I have offended you, I am to go to you, admit that I did the offence, and ask for your forgiveness. You may, or not forgive me, but my part is to admit what I have done and ask for your forgiveness. Some churches have cashed in on this scripture long time a go and commercialized it. To extreme of absolving the sin, (which only offended person or God can do) often without encouraging the person to directly deal with the offence. I guess, it’s lot easier to confess to God, and be done with it, then go over to the neighbor ant told him that you were stilling his tomatoes all summer…. Confessing Sin (faults) is serious business. If you sinned against God, you should ask God to forgive you. He already is quite knowledgeable about what you are talking about, and does not need an interpreter to explain it. If you sinned against manor woman, then go, and admit it and then you’ll have a clear conciseness before God. God urges us to forgive one another before we bring any offering to Him for a reason; because He knows that most of us don’t have a gut’s to go to the person we offended and admit what we have done… That is why we need to learn to forgive...even in our prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others” we are asking His forgiving of our sin to be conditional… to us forgiving sins of others against us... I don’t see any room here for confessing our sins to anyone else but the person we have offended, and then to God. Here are some scripture and references that may help understand my view, James 5:16 (English Standard Version) “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another…” Acts 19:18 (English Standard Version) “Also many of those who were now believers came,(A) confessing and divulging their practices.” Cross references: Acts 19:18 : Matt 3:6; Mark 1:5; Rom 14:11; James 5:16

Because when Jesus came, he told us to STOP doing that, and to confess our sins to HIM to ask for forgiveness. Jesus became our advocate with God, we no longer need Priests to fill that role.

Maybe the life of Catholic priests is very boring and they like the dirty stories?