Confession in Buddhism Growing up in the Roman Catholic tradition, we were encouraged to go to confession (penance) on a regular basis for reconciliation and to be absolved of sins. In Buddhism, the only mention of confession I've seen is in regard to a practice for monks prior to the reciting of the patimokkha. I understand there is no idea of absolving sins in Buddhism, but why is it considered benefical or useful for monks to confess but not for lay people to do the same? I'm assuming there is some sense of unburdening in the confession process and wondering what serves that function for lay people? Thank you.
This is a good question; if the monks can confess their "sins", why can't lay people?

On the one hand, monastic confession is a product of the rigidity of monastic practice, which requires some formal means of realignment. But on the other hand, reaffirming one's determination to keep precepts is a great practice for all Buddhists. 

The standard practice for lay people in Theravada Buddhism to correct a broken precept is to simply retake the entire set of precepts (five or eight). There are standard religious formulae for this, so that might be a similar concept to a confession.

Beyond that, though, I think there is less need for Catholic confession since there is less sense of "sin" in evil deeds; since our concept of morality is utilitarian in the sense of "it's evil because it brings suffering", there isn't the sense of intrinsic "sinfulness" of a deed, and hence there seems to be less of the shame and guilt associated with evil in Catholicism.

So, the practical equivalent to confession in our tradition is probably just talking with a teacher about your problems; e.g., rather than confessing you drank alcohol, you would discuss your alcohol addiction or your view that alcohol brings happiness.