The Church does not teach that one is not Catholic until confirmed. Confirmation is not necessary for salvation, but it is not to be neglected either. Just as a child is no less human because he’s not an adult, so one baptized in the Church is no less Catholic because he’s not Confirmed. Make sense?
I suspect , like most cradle Catholics, you made you first confession a couple of days before your first communion and the first sin you confessed was fighting with a sibling.I am a cradel Catholic, I received the Sacrament of Baptism at approximately 2 weeks old.
I received my first Holy Communion when I was 7 years old. (the Sacrament of Sacraments).
I can’t remember how old I was when I first went to the Sacrament of Confession but I know I did very early, (I even remember the first sin I confessed).
I received the Sacrament of Confirmation when I was 11 years old.
I am still Catholic and always have been and always will be.
(Thank you Jesus).
You are probably right about the time frame of my first Confession but I distinctly remember that when I was 5, my mother had me in a shopping basket and I reached over to the grapes, (when she was looking at the apples, and took one off of the bunch.) I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I wanted one and did it anyway.
I hurried and chewed it up and swallowed it really fast (its a wonder I didn’t choke on it.) Then she turned around and said, “do you want me to get some grapes”?
Grapes have been an occassion of sin since man learned how to ferment them!
I swear, that woman, like the Nuns, had eyes in the back of her head.
Whenever I hear or read the Bible where Jesus said:
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. I still get a tinge of guilt.
I bet that Priest thought I was precious though.
Bless me Father for I have sinned, this is my first confession and I took a grape.
I think he said something to the effect that it wasn’t a sin, and I said, “yes it is, it’s stealing.” (I set him straight.)
When they taste the worst though is when they become grapes of wrath.
I was converted at 15 and had my First Communion. I was not Confirmed till several months later.
It seems you didnt understand the OP question, it wasnt whether he could take Communion or not, it was whether he is Catholic or not. Since your church has established certain Sacraments to formalize full initiation into its church, then youre right, it is cut and dried, according to your church’s own teachings, he is NOT a fully initiated Catholic, unless you then want to count Confirmation as not relevant. Instead of feeling defensive, try sticking to the topic and info at hand.
You are correct, though many hardliners here seem to forget their own church’s teachings.
Expected but not absolutely required? It seems your bishop is a bit of a renegade, or, as you describe the sacarament here, it is indeed not relevant.
None at all. Either it a Sacrament of Initiation or it is not, it is either relevant or it is not. Either your church’s teachings are consistent or they are not.
What is so difficult to understand, are you just wanting to argue no matter what?!
He is Catholic from the moment he is baptized. I am at a loss as to why you cant seem to grasp that.
Either you understand the the teachings of the Church or you not. The consensus here is the latter is true as far as you are concerned. You remind me the protestant I sat next to on a bus to the DC promise keepers rally several years ago. He had just completed an 8 part course on evagelizing Catholics. Like you he wanted to lecture me on Catholic Teachings and doctine. like you he didnt have a clue.
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Although Confirmation is sometimes called the “sacrament of Christian maturity,” we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth,** nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need “ratification” to become effective**.Welcome to the team Coach ! I didn’t choose this user name for nothing.
I guess they are left in their own world. Inconsistency seems to be a trait anyway…lookat the Pope’s having to apologize in Australia, the problem seems to have been universal for them.Welcome to the team Coach ! I didn’t choose this user name for nothing.
Thank you. I hope you read them Coach. They explain things better than we can. You become a Catholic the moment you are baptised. I became a Catholic when I was baptised at age five. (Long story as to why I wasn’t as an infant) I made my first Communion at age seven. I was Confirmed at seventeen. From the ages of five to seventeen, I was unconfirmed, yet still a Catholic. Confirmation does not make one a Catholic, it’s a completion of the things started at Baptism. Kinda like a “Becoming an adult” thing.From the Cathecism of the catholic Church:
1267 Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore . . . we are members one of another."72 Baptism incorporates us into the Church. From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of God of the New Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures, races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."73
1268 The baptized have become “living stones” to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood."74 By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light."75 Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers.
1269 Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us.76 From now on, he is called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the Church, and to “obey and submit” to the Church’s leaders,77 holding them in respect and affection.78 Just as Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties,** the baptized person also enjoys rights within the Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.79 **
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When you and “need” get doing telling each other how clever you are please adress post #36