Being confirmed apart from RCIA Easter Vigil

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Fraevo63

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I am a baptized candidate in RCIA. I am starting to think I would like my confirmation before the Easter Vigil. I have been in RCIA since October but I feel I am ready and don’t want my confirmation in a packed Cathedral in downtown Detroit. I am 55 and unmarried and don’t want all that. I want to be confirmed and I really want Holy Communion. I also have not yet received first communion. I’m not wrong for wanting a more private confirmation am I??
 
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Following.

I highly doubt I’ll ever convert, but if I did I wouldn’t want it during Easter either. I’d prefer it much more private.

I’m also not hot on the sponsor requirement.
 
You are not wrong in wanting this. However, in practicality, it may not happen. Is Confirmation done by the bishop in your diocese, or has he delegated it to a priest. I’m no expert, but I thought this could only be done for grave reason. The only way to know is to talk to your pastor.

Congratulations on your upcoming Sacrament.
 
Pray on it. We must endeavour to do the Will of God, not our own will.
The Easter Vigil is an exquisitely beautiful and joyous Mass.
 
Fraevo63 said:
I am starting to think I would like my confirmation before the Easter Vigil. I have been in RCIA since October but I feel I am ready and don’t want my confirmation in a packed Cathedral in downtown Detroit. I am 55 and unmarried and don’t want all that. I want to be confirmed and I really want Holy Communion. I also have not yet received first communion. I’m not wrong for wanting a more private confirmation am I??
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Please talk to your priest. In some diocese, the priests do them all individually at the individual parishes and can confirm someone during a regular mass.

But in some dioceses the Bishop wants to confirm everyone himself.

The priest might say “OK” no problem.

However, the priest might also say “no” for a reason that might seem silly to you, but please pray on it.

One thing I will say though… I’ve attended the Easter Vigil at our Cathedral here in Philadelphia before and it is a very powerful mass. I wish I was getting confirmed with them at the Cathedral (I’m 41).

Hearing all of those people chat prayers during the Baptism is powerful, even for those not getting baptized.

So if you have the opportunity to be baptised by the Bishop, in the Cathedral, on the Easter Vigil - you would actually be very lucky in my opinion.

So please pray on this & talk to your parish priest.

God bless
 
Talk with your pastor.

Many parishes follow the everyone-does-everything-together model where catechumens and candidates all start in September and are baptized or received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. This is not required by the rites and in some dioceses is actively discouraged.

But the only one who can tell you what the options in your parish/diocese are is you pastor.
 
How the law is applied is up to your pastor and bishop, so you have to ask them.

If you were baptized in a Catholic church, the bishop is supposed to confirm. He will have to give special epermission for someone else (your pastor) to confirm you.

If you were baptized in another Christian church, you will be received into full communion by your pastor. It is recommended that this NOT be done at the Easter Vigil, to keep the focus on baptism. Any Sunday is appropriate, and I have seen it done privately, on another day. The pastor has the authority to do this from the rite itself, but it is ultimately the bishops choice how this is done. This is normal, not an exception.

So talk to catechists, ultimately your pastor, and find out if this can be done. The rubric is “No greater burden than necessary.”
 
Hi Fraevo63, I caution you about trying to get into
the Church “some other way” than is required accord-
ing to the stipulation of the Tradition of the RCC. I had
a friend who wanted so badly to enter the Church that
he asked ME to baptize him!! I did, but after talking to
some mature life-long Catholics, I came to my senses
but it was too late, the person I baptized started rebel-
ling against the teachings of the RCC and the long and
short of it, he turned away from the Faith and is now
shipwrecked in his faith( I won’t go into detail, but he
was new age and wiccan bent before I baptized him).
so Please, please talk to mature Roman Catholics whom
you see are living saintly lives and GET ADVISED as to
what is proper. See Prov. 15:22
 
The sponsor is representing the Church and he/she answers questions the bishop asks during Admissio (during the first Sunday in Lent) in the cathedral when all catechumens and candidates are presented to the bishop. One of the questions is if the candidate/catechumen is ready to be received into the Church. The sponsor is also to set a good example of how to live a good Catholic life.
 
My wife and I had to receive special dispensation to be baptized (me) and confirmed outside of Easter. It was due to her health at the time. As some others have said, speak to your pastor about the possibility.
 
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I was baptized and confirmed last December. No one even talked about waiting for the Easter Vigil
 
Fraevo63 said:
I am a baptized candidate in RCIA. I am starting to think I would like my confirmation before the Easter Vigil. I have been in RCIA since October but I feel I am ready and don’t want my confirmation in a packed Cathedral in downtown Detroit. I am 55 and unmarried and don’t want all that. I want to be confirmed and I really want Holy Communion. I also have not yet received first communion. I’m not wrong for wanting a more private confirmation am I??
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I was a Methodist and in a similar situation to you being already baptised and going through RCIA.
I was officially accepted into the Church at Easter 1992. I was 44.
My confirmation along with all newly baptised/accepted Catholics took place 6 months later.
My first Communion was on the day I officially became Catholic. You do not need to be confirmed to receive Communion.
 
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I would definitely talk to my priest about this. It’s hard sometimes for older adults to want to run here and run there and then be packed into a strange place. Explain that it’s not like a celebratory event like a graduation, where you have parents and others who are going to be with you and make a day of it. You have agoraphobia, you have arthritic knees, you have low blood sugar–I’d bring it all to bear and beg him for a private confirmation. I really doubt that you would be the first to request this.

I joined a couple of years ago, also a baptized candidate. I asked to join in Jan., and they slotted me into the RCIA program, which had been going on for several months. They were very nice about it. The group of us four went down to the Cathedral one Sunday afternoon, so the bishop could touch each of us and say hello. I hadn’t been eager for the trip, but with my sponsor and husband, it was bearable, and it was probably worth it, since that is the only time I’ll ever go there and the cathedral is beautiful. Our actual confirmation took place in our church on the Easter vigil. It was an impressive ceremony.

The more I read the OP’s post about going into downtown Detroit on a Saturday evening, I am seeing also that this may not be the safest thing to do, running around Detroit after dark. Another reason to bring up that agoraphobia. You should not be put through something that terrifies you, rational or not.

Definitely discuss this with your priest.
 
Fraevo63 said:
I am a baptized candidate in RCIA. I am starting to think I would like my confirmation before the Easter Vigil. I have been in RCIA since October but I feel I am ready and don’t want my confirmation in a packed Cathedral in downtown Detroit. I am 55 and unmarried and don’t want all that. I want to be confirmed and I really want Holy Communion. I also have not yet received first communion. I’m not wrong for wanting a more private confirmation am I??
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Canon law allows it. See CIC 883.2 below:
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.
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GLam1761 said:
I caution you about trying to get into
the Church “some other way” than is required accord-
ing to the stipulation of the Tradition of the RCC
Click to expand...
Thing is, there is no “requirement” that a validly baptized Christian be received at the Easter Vigil. None.

In fact, what most people call “RCIA” is instructional classes to prepare people for the Rites of Christian Initiation is one way that unbaptized people come into the Church.

RCIA Prep was never intended for baptized people. I know that most parishes shove everyone in the same instruction classes due to lack of time/volunteers/staff/etc.) That does not mean this is the only, or even the preferred method.

People from any walk of life may also enter after private instruction.
 
Ask your parish priest if it is possible for you to be received in your parish church instead of the cathedral. Easter vigil is a lovely time to be received into the Church.
 
Just adding my 2¢ here, as a returning Catholic who was never confirmed and whose husband was converting, we opted for a private baptism, dual confirmation and marriage convalidation. Sponser was hubby’s co-worker/best friend now godparent 🙂

Just talk to your priest. And a for what it’s worth, we did attend a bishop led confirmation mass that was held in the fall because of the bishop’s insistence on confirming the youth himself. This was a horrible memory of very poorly and scandalously dressed youth packed into a very crowded local parish (NOT the cathedral). I will never attend another.
 
As others have suggested please speak with your priest. Don’t let the RCIA Director or deacon answer for the priest. Speak directly to the priest himself.

In my Diocese adults who go through RCIA are received into the Church by the pastor at individual parishes during the Easter Vigil because our bishop has given pastors the authority to do so.
 
Blessings and joy to you! Welcome home. I understand and concur with what many here have said. One thing to consider is the great happiness of the community in receiving new members. You bring us joy and hope.

As a Sacrament of Initiation, Confirmation unites you with the wider community of believers. We are all the Body of Christ!
 
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