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Question Title Posted By Question Date
Eucharist before confirmation June Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Question:

I had a valid baptism, but it wasn't in the Catholic Church. I was married in the Catholic Church. I've been through the RCIA program twice but we moved before I could be confirmed. The last place we lived the RCIA director told me I was already a Catholic because I accepted all of the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.

After we moved, the priest where we live now, heard my first confession and I received the Eucharist for the first time. It was an extremely moving experience and since that day I have fully participated at mass and received the Eucharist every week. I have continued to go to confession every 2-3 weeks and live a Catholic life to the best of my ability, learning and growing in faith every day.

Reading other questions on here, it sounds like I shouldn't have received the Eucharist before I was confirmed. I really don't want to stop now as the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist have become so important to me. We are moving again, but I fully intend to be confirmed as soon as I can be.

Am I wrong to continue? Are both of these sacraments invalid since I wasn't confirmed at the same time? Thank you.



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear June:

I praise God that you have Catholic faith and wish to formally join the Catholic Church, but you are not yet in full communion with the Church until you are confirmed.

Canon Law gives the details of when non-Catholics may receive the Sacraments of the Church. The provision that applies to you follows:

Canon 844.4: "If there is a danger of death or if, in the judgment of the diocesan Bishop or of the Episcopal Conference, there is some other grave and pressing need, catholic ministers may lawfully administer these same sacraments to other Christians not in full communion with the catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who spontaneously ask for them, provided that they demonstrate the catholic faith in respect of these sacraments and are properly disposed."

You need to refrain from receiving the Sacraments (both Confession and Eucharist) until you are confirmed.

By the way, you do NOT have to go through RCIA to be confirmed. Since you are moving around a lot, ask to receive private instruction. If you already know what you need to know to be confirmed then confirmation may be scheduled for you in short order, depending on how the bishop wishes to handle it. 

You also do not have to wait until the Easter Vigil if you will be moving before then.

If your local priest does not know about this, then contact your diocese offices and tell them your situation that you have been trying to get confirmed for some time but you end up moving before it can be accomplished. Ask if it is possible to be assigned to someone for private instruction and if arrangements for confirmation can be made before the next time you move.

But, unless the bishop, not a priest, says otherwise, you need to refrain from receiving the Sacraments until you are confirmed.

Welcome to the Church.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary
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