Baptism without RCIA (Initiation Confusion)

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I am not a Catholic (yet) and have desired to be for some time. I’ve been attending Catholic Mass for about a year, often multiple times a week and have read the entirety of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I’ve also done my share of reading on the RCIA. I talked to the parish pastor a few months back in regards to coming into the Catholic Church for real. He asked me if I had been baptized yet, and I said I wasn’t sure. So I checked with my mom and it turns out that I was “dedicated” in a Baptist church as an infant… so I wasn’t actually baptized. I returned to the pastor with this information and he assured me that I could be baptized in the parish as soon as I felt I was ready for it and “in the meantime” suggested that I should meet with him periodically to “go over” what I’ve been reading and to see if I had any questions about practicing and catechizing myself (as he knew I was doing already…save for receiving the Eucharist, which I know to be the true presence of Jesus and therefore not for me at this time). So knowing all this, I’ve talked with the pastor a few times over the past couple months and he has assessed my situation and we have decided “not to delay it” any more and he’s prepared to baptize me and bring me into the Catholic Church. He said I could be baptized and receive the Eucharist (First Communion) in the same day, and “then in the spring, when the bishop comes” that I could then receive Confirmation.

Now as I’ve already mentioned, I’ve done my share of reading about the norms of Initiation of un-baptized persons, and a few things have jumped out at me about this turn of events that have puzzled me today:
  1. Yesterday, I asked him about RCIA and he told me that in my case, since he has found me to be well catechized, that RCIA might not be completely appropriate for me. He left the option open though, but my baptism is going forward and he already has a sponsor and a date lined up for me to receive it.
  2. He’s offering me the sacrament of reconciliation immediately preceding the baptism, as if I was already a baptized Christian, or as if he thinks there was some ambiguity in regards to whether I was baptized as an infant (and therefore, whether I’m a baptized Christian or not).
  3. I don’t know how normal it is for adults to receive Baptism and First Eucharist on one day, and then receive Confirmation at a later date. I know the norm is that Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist happen in that order for adults during initiation and that sometimes for “paschal reasons” the priest can administer the sacraments at other times of the year, taking into consideration various scheduling things that go on…
Basically, I am at a point where I feel like I’ve already been living the Catholic lifestyle for the last year of my life and the only thing missing is the sacramental graces, and I did explain that to him, so I’m wondering if he’s making some exceptions for me? The best explanation I could come up with as to his reasoning in my case is that he thinks there’s a question about whether or not I was baptized, and due to other personal pastoral instruction reasons, he’s treating me like a candidate, giving me reconciliation (as would be the case), but also giving me a “conditional baptism” (just in case), and then permitting me Communion as a member of the Body before Confirmation (in the spring). And since you wouldn’t give Reconciliation after Baptism, he’s doing it the other way around.

He assured me last time that after my baptism I would be a member of the church and could receive the Eucharist. Unfortunately I didn’t ask how normal that is.

I know it’s not a strictly orthodox way of going about it and I just wonder how often this happens. Any help would be appreciated.
 
RCIA is not mandatory. A pastor can waive it for a well catechized person. He can baptize and give first communion to anyone. Only a bishop can confirm or delegate this to a priest. There is nothing unorthodox about this. I would simply ask him why he wants you to confess before baptism and whether yours would be a conditional baptism. There is no point in speculating on his thinking. Ask him.
 
This is correct. RCIA is not mandatory; the purpose of the classes is to ensure that the person knows the Catholic faith. Most likely he’s providing confession as an insurance, in case you were baptized, so there is no danger of receiving unworthily.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
RCIA is not mandatory. A pastor can waive it for a well catechized person. He can baptize and give first communion to anyone. Only a bishop can confirm or delegate this to a priest. There is nothing unorthodox about this. I would simply ask him why he wants you to confess before baptism and whether yours would be a conditional baptism. There is no point in speculating on his thinking. Ask him.
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Thank you for your response.

Speaking of “waiving RCIA” … Another important piece of information I forgot to mention is that I originally came close to signing up for the classes last fall (the pastor even filled out the form with me sitting there) but at the time the classes couldn’t meet around my work schedule so that is why he said that I should meet with him privately to begin with. And these weren’t parish courses (the parish doesn’t offer them), they were set up by the diocese.

I will ask him about that Reconciliation before the Baptism thing, because that was one of those things that came up and unfortunately I didn’t catch it until I was thinking about it later and it sounds odd to me that he would even suggest that an unbaptized person should go to confession before their Baptism.

I just want to make sure everything is validly proceeding so I figured I’d check here because it’s been bothering me all day and I won’t see the pastor until Thursday (once again because of my schedule, which has been hard to work around).
 
PaulfromIowa said:
RCIA is not mandatory. A pastor can waive it for a well catechized person. He can baptize and give first communion to anyone. Only a bishop can confirm or delegate this to a priest. There is nothing unorthodox about this. I would simply ask him why he wants you to confess before baptism and whether yours would be a conditional baptism. There is no point in speculating on his thinking. Ask him.
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You’re right that RCIA is not mandatory but the priest who baptizes adults or receives them into full communion is also supposed to confirm them. He doesn’t need to have that faculty granted by the bishop, it’s given to him by Canon Law.

Can. 883 The following possess the faculty of administering confirmation by the law itself:
1/ within the boundaries of their jurisdiction, those who are equivalent in law to a diocesan bishop;
2/ as regards the person in question, the presbyter who by virtue of office or mandate of the diocesan bishop baptizes one who is no longer an infant or admits one already baptized into the full communion of the Catholic Church;
3/ as regards those who are in danger of death, the pastor or indeed any presbyter.
 
Mark86 said:
I am not a Catholic (yet) and have desired to be for some time. I’ve been attending Catholic Mass for about a year, often multiple times a week and have read the entirety of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I’ve also done my share of reading on the RCIA. I talked to the parish pastor a few months back in regards to coming into the Catholic Church for real. He asked me if I had been baptized yet, and I said I wasn’t sure. So I checked with my mom and it turns out that I was “dedicated” in a Baptist church as an infant… so I wasn’t actually baptized. I returned to the pastor with this information and he assured me that I could be baptized in the parish as soon as I felt I was ready for it and “in the meantime” suggested that I should meet with him periodically to “go over” what I’ve been reading and to see if I had any questions about practicing and catechizing myself (as he knew I was doing already…save for receiving the Eucharist, which I know to be the true presence of Jesus and therefore not for me at this time). So knowing all this, I’ve talked with the pastor a few times over the past couple months and he has assessed my situation and we have decided “not to delay it” any more and he’s prepared to baptize me and bring me into the Catholic Church. He said I could be baptized and receive the Eucharist (First Communion) in the same day, and “then in the spring, when the bishop comes” that I could then receive Confirmation.

Now as I’ve already mentioned, I’ve done my share of reading about the norms of Initiation of un-baptized persons, and a few things have jumped out at me about this turn of events that have puzzled me today:
  1. Yesterday, I asked him about RCIA and he told me that in my case, since he has found me to be well catechized, that RCIA might not be completely appropriate for me. He left the option open though, but my baptism is going forward and he already has a sponsor and a date lined up for me to receive it.
  2. He’s offering me the sacrament of reconciliation immediately preceding the baptism, as if I was already a baptized Christian, or as if he thinks there was some ambiguity in regards to whether I was baptized as an infant (and therefore, whether I’m a baptized Christian or not).
  3. I don’t know how normal it is for adults to receive Baptism and First Eucharist on one day, and then receive Confirmation at a later date. I know the norm is that Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist happen in that order for adults during initiation and that sometimes for “paschal reasons” the priest can administer the sacraments at other times of the year, taking into consideration various scheduling things that go on…
Basically, I am at a point where I feel like I’ve already been living the Catholic lifestyle for the last year of my life and the only thing missing is the sacramental graces, and I did explain that to him, so I’m wondering if he’s making some exceptions for me? The best explanation I could come up with as to his reasoning in my case is that he thinks there’s a question about whether or not I was baptized, and due to other personal pastoral instruction reasons, he’s treating me like a candidate, giving me reconciliation (as would be the case), but also giving me a “conditional baptism” (just in case), and then permitting me Communion as a member of the Body before Confirmation (in the spring). And since you wouldn’t give Reconciliation after Baptism, he’s doing it the other way around.

He assured me last time that after my baptism I would be a member of the church and could receive the Eucharist. Unfortunately I didn’t ask how normal that is.

I know it’s not a strictly orthodox way of going about it and I just wonder how often this happens. Any help would be appreciated.
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First of all congratulations on all the personal preperation you have done. I agree with your pastor, you will be an exemplary Catholic. Your situation is a little unusual but you can trust your pastor in all this. The usual procedure would be Baptism ( in your case it may be what is called " conditional " to cover the possibility that your " dedicatin " was not formally correct ), then confession, then First Eucharist, then Confirmation. RCIA would not harm you any since you already have read the Catechism and since your pastor has covered the essentials with you already. So use your own judgment on that.

Good Luck and Welcome!

Linus2nd
 
Linusthe2nd said:
First of all congratulations on all the personal preperation you have done. I agree with your pastor, you will be an exemplary Catholic. Your situation is a little unusual but you can trust your pastor in all this. The usual procedure would be Baptism ( in your case it may be what is called " conditional " to cover the possibility that your " dedication " was not formally correct ), then confession, then First Eucharist, then Confirmation. RCIA would not harm you any since you already have read the Catechism and since your pastor has covered the essentials with you already. So use your own judgment on that.

Good Luck and Welcome!

Linus2nd
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The OP was raised in the Baptist Church which doesn’t do infant Baptism. A dedication is not the same thing at all.
 
Given the number of times I have heard about people baptizing infants secretly, I am really happy that this priest is having you confess your sins before a conditional baptism! I realized just the other day that this may be the problem with people’s baptizing the children of others in secret.

You seem very fortunate in your priest! Pray for him.

And welcome to the Church 🙂
 
Phemie said:
The OP was raised in the Baptist Church which doesn’t do infant Baptism. A dedication is not the same thing at all.
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Right. A dedication typically consists of bringing the child in front of the church, having the parents make certain promises, and then having the congregation pray over the family. There is no question of it being a baptism - it simply isn’t.
 
Thank you everyone.

This really puts to rest a lot of my chief concerns, and I also have read most of the RCIA book itself which seems to corroborate what you’ve all been explaining (particularly chapter 3). I didn’t realize just how much of the initiation rites and blessings were optional, even under normal circumstances.

It’s true, Baptists (despite the name) don’t baptize infants, but perform a “dedication” which is really more about the parents pledging to bring the child up Christian, which my parents eventually did. The choice to become Catholic was completely mine.

And yes, my pastor has been amazing throughout and he certainly will be in my prayers, as will you all.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
RCIA is not mandatory. A pastor can waive it for a well catechized person. He can baptize and give first communion to anyone. Only a bishop can confirm or delegate this to a priest. There is nothing unorthodox about this. I would simply ask him why he wants you to confess before baptism and whether yours would be a conditional baptism. There is no point in speculating on his thinking. Ask him.
Click to expand...
Having read this somewhere else as well, I wish this could be for me.
I did not come into this knowing nothing. What few classes I have had, it was noted that I knew much.
I’ve had but 12 classes since my first inquiry, which was a challenge to get.
Sloooowwwwwww…
 
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