Being Called "Catholic"

  • Thread starter Thread starter TristanCross
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Does this question come up a lot?

Seriously, though…if you were not baptized and joining the Church, you would start your path to becoming a Catholic by becoming a “catechumen.” Because you are baptized, though, you are in much the same place as a Catholic who was baptized as a child but who received no formation. Not exactly the same, but much the same: once you commit to the pathway, you become a “candidate” for full communion with the Church. Once you officially become a catechumen or a candidate, you enter a priveleged state in which you are entitled to a Catholic wedding or funeral. You are a Catholic catecumen or a Catholic candidate at that point, and not quite simply Catholic yet.

You will become simply Catholic when you are in full communion, which will happen after you are confirmed and licitly receive Eucharist,* which will in turn happen after you receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

This is according to my own understanding of current canon law. I welcome those who care to expand on, correct, or clarify this, as I am not an expert.

(*by this I mean that a baptized non-Catholic does not become Catholic simply by illicitly self-admitting himself or herself to Holy Communion.)
 
TristanCross said:
At what point can I call myself “Catholic”?
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My thinking would be that you can call yourself Catholic after you make a profession of faith and complete your sacraments of initiation. Before that you’re a candidate for full communion with the Church or “in RCIA.”
 
I was baptized in the Lutheran church. Do I need to be rebaptized?

What am I, then?
 
TristanCross said:
I was baptized in the Lutheran church. Do I need to be rebaptized?
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As long as you were baptized in the proper formula “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”" – which AFAIK the Lutheran Church does – you are baptized, and do not need to be rebaptized.

From the Catechism:
**IV. WHO CAN RECEIVE BAPTISM? **
1246 "Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be baptized."46
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** V. WHO CAN BAPTIZE? **
1256 The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and, in the Latin Church, also the deacon.57 In case of necessity, anyone, even a non-baptized person, with the required intention, can baptize58 , by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The intention required is to will to do what the Church does when she baptizes. The Church finds the reason for this possibility in the universal saving will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation.59
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Rebaptism might only be needed if you were baptized irregularly, such as “In the Name of teh Creator, the Redeemer, and the Comforter” or some other New Agey formula, or not baptized with water, etc.
1239 The essential rite of the sacrament follows: *Baptism *properly speaking. It signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery of Christ. Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate’s head.
1240 In the Latin Church this triple infusion is accompanied by the minister’s words: “N., I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” In the Eastern liturgies the catechumen turns toward the East and the priest says: “The servant of God, N., is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” At the invocation of each person of the Most Holy Trinity, the priest immerses the candidate in the water and raises him up again.
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TristanCross:
What am I, then?
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Coming home. :hug1:
 
TristanCross said:
I was baptized in the Lutheran church. Do I need to be rebaptized?

What am I, then?
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If you received a water baptism in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit you wont need “re-baptized.”

When you start RCIA you will be a Candidate since you are already baptized.
 
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