in working with converts for over 20 years this is the first time I have ever heard this one. Short answer is yes, a Catholic who is in a state of grace may receive communion and being born out of wedlock does not effect one’s own sanctity in the least. It is true that prior to revisions of canon law in the last century there were some canonical rules that had to do with “legitimacy” but they have long since disappeared, and in any case never disqualified anyone from the Eucharist. Legitimacy is a civil law issue, not a church issue, and most states if not all have removed it as a legal status as well.
I would very much wonder about someone who heard (or misheard) this years ago and never once thought to ask a priest about it in all this time. If she is 65 and became Catholic at age 20, there were not really “classes” at that time, much more likely individual instruction by a priest, which makes the story even more unlikely. As one who is already baptized, the only way she would have been received into the Catholic Church was through profession of faith, confirmation and first communion, so I am still not buying this whole story.
