Sorry FRiend, it does indeed say exactly that: James 5:16 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
It always bears remembering that just because the Catholics teach it doesn't mean that it isn't so. As a Protestant, I don't believe that oracular confession is an absolute requirement for forgiveness of sins (in keeping with 1 John 1:9), but it is a wonderful way for believers to grow together in the Lord. A Catholic would call it a Means of Grace, and I wouldn't argue.
As a Lutheran we practice public confession in our worship services. It puts us all in the same boat as sinners, therefore, no one has a right to piety; rather, humbleness when we approach the content of our worship because it is all through God’s grace that we even have the right, as heir to His Kingdom, to even aproach God.
Jane R.