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I vaguely recall reading a passage (might have been in the FSR:PG, might have been in FS2nd Ed PotCS) at the weekend about the appointment of Confessors.

(Come to think of it I think it's in the section on sacraments of the Church in the Theurgy chapter of FSR:PG, under Penance)

It implies that the Orthodoxy appoints confessors to nobles and Guilders but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts how this would work in practise? Do priests just turn up on the door step? How far down the nobility ranks do they go? In an ideal (i.e heavily Orthodox world or House (Li Halan, I'm looking at you...)) situation does every knight have their own confessor OR is the reverse true i.e. they are considered so steadfast and orthodox in their beliefs that they don't need one? Does the Church look to provide MORE confessors to Houses, Guilds and worlds where they suspect more errant and sinful behaviours (e.g. we know that members of the SOE have to regularly have times of confession and doctrinal screening).

We know that Provost Alustro is Erian li Halan's confessor and IIRC she appointed him before one could be assigned to her (partially as a pair of fingers up at the establishment...) but is this the way it goes? Choose one yourself or you get what you are given?

Could you have a situation (oh, I'd love this actually...) where a noble or Guilder appoints their confessor but the Church sanctioned and appointed one arrives as well and won't go as this is their divine appointment and it should be the "false confessor" who needs to return from whence he came. (That'd make for a fun party dynamic)

IMHO...
All priests receive a mission upon ordination, and many are appointed as the personal confessors of nobles or other VIPs, or more correctly to a household of such. So, there isn't a confessor for every knight, but many kinghtly households will have one; in practice, these tend to be a bastard or cousin or down-the-ladder-of-power noble offspring, their mission arranged with the local Bishop in advance. It is both a pious position and a political one; conection and influence vs. religious concern and a call for teaching. Some families won't have personal confessors at their house, but will rather use the local clergy; commoners confess to the parish decon, important commoners to the parish priest, the nobles to the local Bishop, etc. All that said, there will be lots of alternative arrangements and variations.

Bishops appoint missions, usually, although some monk orders and the like might have their own arrangements.

For your twin confessor scenario to work, there must be some mixup in the bishopric; perhaps a change of boss; with the result that there are now two rivalling appointments. That, or the local eclessiastical jurisdiction is uncertain, contested by two bishops who each assign a confessor to the lucky noble or guilder.

Just a point about appointments based on some planets being more at "risk" of heresy; in MotJ, it states the Church treads very lightly on Leagueheim so other planets like pre-Li Halan conquest Rampart might also have very little influence of the Church. I can also imagine many of the church confessors for Decados don't have long careers or get rotated out frequently.

I envision confessors being both a societal expectation and a status symbol.

There would be a perception in the fading suns world that a Noble without a confessor is the bad element. He may not be extended the same hospitality as a noble travelling with one. The church would view him as a dillitant or degenerate and take him less seriously in their dealings and his prospects for advancement would be hurt. I could see Deacons commanding large church fiefs refusing to do business with anyone without first interviewing their confessor as a character reference. For these same reasons powerful Guilders who want to appear above board would have a personal confessor.

I don't see the Confessor as something every noble or retainer of a noble house has. It's just not practical for most knights to employ a confessor or even travel with most confessors. Their line of work is often too risky and since most knights serve in the employ of more powerful nobles it would be a redundancy for them not to confess to their lord's confessor.

For Lesser lords, having a confessor in your retinue is a sign to other nobles that you have "arrived" both social and economically. More powerful nobles might employ more than one confessor.

So I believe that confessors are something that notable persons go to the trouble of soliciting from the church without regard for actual spiritual benefit.