Communion without confirmation

[HolleyWilliams]

A question that has been troubling me…

When you are a child you many take communion after your first Holy Communion.

If you are not subsequently confirmed, at what age would you be obliged to stop taking communion?

Thanks

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

A question that has been troubling me…

When you are a child you many take communion after your first Holy Communion.

If you are not subsequently confirmed, at what age would you be obliged to stop taking communion?

Thanks

You’re not obliged to stop receiving communion.

However, you should check with your parish to find out how to prepare to be confirmed. They may offer a relatively short-term adult confirmation program and then you can receive the grace of the sacrament.

 

[fellicia]

It goes Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation. You do not need to be confirmed to take communion. Having said that if you are taking communion and do believe in Our Lord maybe you would like to talk to someone about being comfirmed!

 

[puzzleannie]

A question that has been troubling me…

When you are a child you many take communion after your first Holy Communion.

If you are not subsequently confirmed, at what age would you be obliged to stop taking communion?

Thanks

at no time
there is no requirement that a baptized Catholic be confirmed in order to receive first communion. Those who enter the Church through RCIA are confirmed first, and receive first communion at the same celebration.

 

[HolleyWilliams]

Thank you, that is very informative. I just assumed that all adult members of the church had to be confirmed to receive communion.

I have only just begun attending RCIA so I’m full of little (and not so little!) questions!

Am I correct in thinking that I’ll be confirmed at the end of the RCIA at the Easter vigil?

Thanks.

 

[HolleyWilliams]

at no time
there is no requirement that a baptized Catholic be confirmed in order to receive first communion. Those who enter the Church through RCIA are confirmed first, and receive first communion at the same celebration.

Sorry I just spotted that you already answered that question!

 

[jpjd]

Thank you, that is very informative. I just assumed that all adult members of the church had to be confirmed to receive communion.

I have only just begun attending RCIA so I’m full of little (and not so little!) questions!

Am I correct in thinking that I’ll be confirmed at the end of the RCIA at the Easter vigil?

Thanks.

Yes, you are correct. At the Easter vigil, you will be baptized and confirmed.

 

[bpbasilphx]

At the Easter vigil, you will be baptized and confirmed.

Or in the case of the original poster, just confirmed.

 

[quiet52]

Thank you, that is very informative. I just assumed that all adult members of the church had to be confirmed to receive communion.

I have only just begun attending RCIA so I’m full of little (and not so little!) questions!

Am I correct in thinking that I’ll be confirmed at the end of the RCIA at the Easter vigil?

Thanks.

If you received first holy Communion when you were a child, you’re not actually part of “RCIA” process when you prepare to be confirmed. However, because of the shortage of qualified volunteers in many parishes, confirmandi and RCIA participants frequently prepare for the sacraments together.

However, when this is the case, it’s not necessarily true that adults preparing for Confirmation are confirmed with the RCIA participants at Easter. Sometimes they wait until the bishop confirms the teens, or they wait until Pentecost, when their pastor can confirm them (depending on the diocese).

Ask your pastor or the RCIA leader when you’ll be confirmed.

 

[HolleyWilliams]

Ok great. I’m asking these questions in respect of my spouse really.

I’m baptised Church of England Protestant so I’ll just be confirmed at Easter I guess.

Out of interest…What is the difference, spiritually, in receiving communion either with or without confirmation?

 

[JulianN]

It goes Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation. You do not need to be confirmed to take communion. Having said that if you are taking communion and do believe in Our Lord maybe you would like to talk to someone about being comfirmed!

In RCIA, or in dioceses where the order of the sacraments of initiation has been restored, it is baptism, confirmation, Communion.

In the Eastern-rite Catholic Churches, all three sacraments of inititiation – bapstism, chrismation and communion – are normally administered to infants.

 

[thistle]

Ok great. I’m asking these questions in respect of my spouse really.

I’m baptised Church of England Protestant so I’ll just be confirmed at Easter I guess.

Out of interest…What is the difference, spiritually, in receiving communion either with or without confirmation?

At Easter when the non-baptised in your RCIA class are baptised you, as already baptised, will simply be formally accepted into the Catholic Church. Your confirmation will be later at a different date.
I was a Methodist, hence baptised and at completion of the RCIA program I was formally accepted into the Catholic Church at Easter. Our confirmation (for all the RCIA class) took place in October that year.

 

[Aramis]

At Easter when the non-baptised in your RCIA class are baptised you, as already baptised, will simply be formally accepted into the Catholic Church. Your confirmation will be later at a different date.
I was a Methodist, hence baptised and at completion of the RCIA program I was formally accepted into the Catholic Church at Easter. Our confirmation (for all the RCIA class) took place in October that year.

Canon law says that adults should receive all three sacraments of initiation together, or if baptized, be received, confirmed, and receive 1st holy communion in one service.

In the Canon Law for the Eastern Catholic Churches, all three must be received together unless no priest is available.

 

[thistle]

Canon law says that adults should receive all three sacraments of initiation together, or if baptized, be received, confirmed, and receive 1st holy communion in one service.
In the Canon Law for the Eastern Catholic Churches, all three must be received together unless no priest is available.

That obviously is not the case.

I have the three certificates from the Church showing the dates.
Our Sacrament of Reconciliation took place on Saturday, April 18 1992. Our formal reception into the Church was on Easter Sunday which was April 19, 1992. First communion was on that Easter Sunday. Our Sacrament of Confirmation took place on October 24, 1992.

 

[Aramis]

That obviously is not the case.

I have the three certificates from the Church showing the dates.
Our Sacrament of Reconciliation took place on Saturday, April 18 1992. Our formal reception into the Church was on Easter Sunday which was April 19, 1992. First communion was on that Easter Sunday. Our Sacrament of Confirmation took place on October 24, 1992.

That’s fine. They should have been done together. It doesn’t invalidate them by not having been.

 

[thistle]

That’s fine. They should have been done together. It doesn’t invalidate them by not having been.

To satisfy my curiousity where in Canon law can I find the rule you are referring to?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

To satisfy my curiousity where in Canon law can I find the rule you are referring to?

Can. 866 Unless there is a grave reason to the contrary, an adult who is baptized is to be confirmed immediately after baptism and is to participate in the eucharistic celebration also by receiving communion

 

[thistle]

Can. 866 Unless there is a grave reason to the contrary, an adult who is baptized is to be confirmed immediately after baptism and is to participate in the eucharistic celebration also by receiving communion

Thanks. I’m not sure that would apply in my case as it seems to refer to adults who are baptised at Easter after completing the RCIA program. I was already baptised as a child so I was not baptised when I converted. I was simply formally received into the Church.
Although a long time ago now and in a different country I keep in touch with the priest whose RCIA class I was in so I’ll ask him why it was done the way I said which appears to contradict canon law.