I haven't met a Novus Ordo priest who hears Confessions. (They do walk-and-talks in jogging pants, as if they're magic fairies who don't need the Church vestments to hear and absolve sins.)
No: the Confessor has to be a priest, and he has to wear the purple stole. That's why priests carry one around, for emergencies. They can't hear you without the purple stole, any more than they can anoint you with pickle juice.
You're full of it.
Oh come on: tongue in cheek w/ the frustration finding a priest while traveling, but really, our local NO guy is a raging atheist and pro-abortionist. The one before him got married (that's how he "quit"), divorced, and is in Philly now —and he's a far sight better than the atheist priest.
If you're referring my being "full of it" to the stole, I really did believe they have to have the purple stole on; if I'm wrong, correct me. A link would suffice.
Also, I googled it this morning, just to be sure, and people have asked if deacons can hear confessions because apparently,
deacons HAVE heard confessions in some American parishes! And
CAF said that was a no-no. So it must be something new that's creeping in, for real. (Google it.)
There is a story in the Fathers of the Desert;
One day there was a certain monk who could not abide living in the cenobium with the other monks. So he set out to live in a hermitage by himself. The next day he went out to the well to draw water for himself. The jug fell down down. He set it aright and it fell down again. He set it aright again and it fell over. Finally in frustration he dashed it amongst the rocks and it broke into many pieces. From this he learned that what he was trying to escape would follow him wherever he would go. He learned that whether he was alone or with others he would have to learn to master his anger.

Explain that to me. It sounds like a "grasshopper" Buddhist saying and I never get those. Like, ever. Tell it like I'm stupid. How could the jug fall down? How did he get water?