Coming home for baptized Catholic

[daniellet]

I was baptized Catholic but never received Confirmation or First Communion. I spent along time in Protestant churches and have been studying Catholicism on my own for about two years. There was a question about the validity of my first marriage. It has now been declared invalid due to lack of form. What is the procedure from here. I don’t want to have to wait to go through RCIA. It is also my understanding that I don’t have to go through RCIA because I am a baptized Catholic. How do I proceed? Thanks!

Danielle

 

[RiverRock]

Hi Danielle. Sounds similar to my story with my wife. You should talk to your local parish priest and see where they want you to go from there. We went through RCIA anyway. While I have to admit it was mostly fluff (partially because the teacher had no formal training and it was his first year), it did light my fire and I started reading anything and everything and learning on my own. This website has been my favorite of all. You can also start going to Mass, just don’t take communion yet. Well, to make a very long story short, we eventually made the rest of our sacraments. God Bless you on your faith journey.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

daniellet:

I was baptized Catholic but never received Confirmation or First Communion. I spent along time in Protestant churches and have been studying Catholicism on my own for about two years. There was a question about the validity of my first marriage. It has now been declared invalid due to lack of form. What is the procedure from here. I don’t want to have to wait to go through RCIA. It is also my understanding that I don’t have to go through RCIA because I am a baptized Catholic. How do I proceed? Thanks!

Danielle

If you were Baptized AND Catechized meaning you went to instruction in the Catholic Faith and therefore received you first Reconciliation, first Holy communion and maybe Confirmation then you are just returning to the practice of the Catholic Faith. You however were only baptized. Now understanding that you have as an adult studied the Catholic Faith and teachings it must be determined how well you understand and are willing to accept, live and profess them. It would take me about 6 weeks of meeting and talking once a week with you to determine if you needed to remain in RCIA or were ready to be received into the Church.

 

[RoseMarie]

I’m wondering about this sort of thing myself. I’m a practising Catholic (dabbled in it a bit, went Lutheran, then formally converted to Catholicism), but my fiance was baptised as a Catholic and has never received First Holy Communion or Confirmation, or any real Catholic instruction. His mother was a convert to Catholicism, but fiance’s biological father proclaimed himself a homosexual when fiance was four. They divorced, and his mother remarried a Southern Baptist. She hasn’t really practised since.