Confirmation of children who were not baptized Catholic

[Javo]

Hello, I hope someone can help. Both my daughter and I were baptized Anglican, however I joined our local Catholic parish and their adult workshop and after a years instruction was confirmed a Catholic. I enrolled my daughter into a Catholic school, where she has celebrated her First Reconcilliation, First Communion and of course Eucharist. It is now time for her and her school friends to celebrate their Confirmation. However a note sent home states that children NOT baptized Catholic can not receive confirmation.
Is this correct? I was able to receive confirmation and my daughter has had far more instruction than I via the Catholic School system. I would appreciate anyones comments.

 

[Genesis315]

I think they are probably referring to unbaptized kids or baptized kids whose parents are still practicing another in another denomination. You should give them a call and explain your situation because their aren’t any impediments that I can see to your daughter receiving the sacrament.

 

[1ke]

Hello, I hope someone can help. Both my daughter and I were baptized Anglican, however I joined our local Catholic parish and their adult workshop and after a years instruction was confirmed a Catholic. I enrolled my daughter into a Catholic school, where she has celebrated her First Reconcilliation, First Communion and of course Eucharist. It is now time for her and her school friends to celebrate their Confirmation. However a note sent home states that children NOT baptized Catholic can not receive confirmation.
Is this correct? I was able to receive confirmation and my daughter has had far more instruction than I via the Catholic School system. I would appreciate anyones comments.

Go talk to your priest.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Hello, I hope someone can help. Both my daughter and I were baptized Anglican, however I joined our local Catholic parish and their adult workshop and after a years instruction was confirmed a Catholic. I enrolled my daughter into a Catholic school, where she has celebrated her First Reconcilliation, First Communion and of course Eucharist. It is now time for her and her school friends to celebrate their Confirmation. However a note sent home states that children NOT baptized Catholic can not receive confirmation.
Is this correct? I was able to receive confirmation and my daughter has had far more instruction than I via the Catholic School system. I would appreciate anyones comments.

You need to speak with your parish pastor. He should have her Sacramental records. With proof of valid Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, she should be good to go for Confirmation. I suspect that the letter is for those children who may be Baptized in another faith and attend another church and want to be Confirmed. They cannot do that unless their parents give them permission to become Catholic and they complete the RCIA like process for children.

 

[Erich]

…children NOT baptized Catholic can not receive confirmation…

Christian children not baptized Catholic and who have not made a Profession of Faith cannot receive any of the other sacraments, in particular First Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation. (Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, or Holy Orders either, but of course they don’t generally apply to children )

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

It would appear your daughter has made a profession of faith, as they allowed her to receive her other sacraments. Somebody should have a record of this somewhere, most likely the place where you were received into the Church and confirmed.

I have a relative who had a child bapitzed in the Episcopal church, but then changed her mind and came back to the Faith. The daughter was too young (a year and a half) but because one can only be baptized once, the Church supplied the other rites without pouring the water, and recorded it as a juvenile profession of faith. The kid received all the other sacraments without a problem.

 

[Wendy-Kay]

As long as the correct form is used, any baptism is valid. Even an athesist can baptize, although unless an emergency it ought be an ordinary minister. I have a friend that was baptized in a bathtub by a babysitter when he was a toddler. Since he didn’t have documentation and couldn’t remember if the trinitarian formula was used, he had it done “again” at the Easter Vigil. We jokingly called him “CC” for ‘candidate or catechumen’. To cover his bases, he still went to confession beforehand.

 

[puzzleannie]

Hello, I hope someone can help. Both my daughter and I were baptized Anglican, however I joined our local Catholic parish and their adult workshop and after a years instruction was confirmed a Catholic. I enrolled my daughter into a Catholic school, where she has celebrated her First Reconcilliation, First Communion and of course Eucharist. It is now time for her and her school friends to celebrate their Confirmation. However a note sent home states that children NOT baptized Catholic can not receive confirmation.
Is this correct? I was able to receive confirmation and my daughter has had far more instruction than I via the Catholic School system. I would appreciate anyones comments.

this is not true, they can and should be confirmed. The usual route for baptized non-Catholics of catechetical age is through RCIA, as adapted for those persons. As long as she is already receiving RE through her Catholic school, all she should need are the parent-candidate-sponsor sessions offered in the parish for Confirmation preparation. If she had no Catholic religious instruction, RCIA class would be necessary, but in her case she should be prepared along with her peers. See the pastor of your parish (not the school) about this and get it in writing from the diocese. The people at the school very likely do not deal with RCIA and may be mistaken.

 

[PhilipCal]

The Catholic Church recognizes “One Baptism for the forgiveness of sin”. Okay, your child has recieved First Reconcilliation, and First Holy Communion. The original Baptism was recognized for the reception of these Sacraments. Talk to your Pastor or Director of Religious Education. The Baptismal Certificate should be a part of your child’s Sacramental Record. Really don’t see a problem.

 

[John_Lilburne]

It seems that the daughter has not participated in the ceremony “Reception of Baptised Christians into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church”.

If she has there should be a written record of it with the parish:
“The names of those received into the full communion of the Catholic Church should be recorded in a special book, with the date and place of their baptism also noted.”
(Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, USA edition, n. 486; Australian and English edition n. 399).

She should not need a year of RCIA classes for this ceremony. The instructions are “The baptised Christian is to receive both doctrinal and spiritual preparation, adapted to individual pastoral requirements, for reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church.” (USA RCIA n. 477). In this case I do not think anything would be required.

The Reception ceremony would not need to be very public, from the USA RCIA book:
“473. … The rite is so arranged that no greater burden than necessary (see Acts 15:28) is required for the establishment of communion and unity. …
475. … Often it will be preferable to celebrate the mass with only a few relatives and friends. If for a serious reason Mass cannot be celebrated, the reception should at least take place within a liturgy of the word, whenever this is possible. The person to be received into full communion should be consulted about the form of reception.”