confirmation undo

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Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
 
No sacrament can be “undone.” As a valid sacrament, no, your confirmation cannot be “undone.”

An annulment is just a public declaration of the fact that no marriage ever took place. An annulment does not, I repeat does NOT, dissolve a marriage. It simply recognizes that there was no marriage, for whatever reason, in the first place.

Again, annulments do not break marriages. They simply acknowledge that no marriage ever took place to begin with, and that two people are not actually married at all.

Your confirmation cannot be “undone.”

If I may ask, why does it matter to you if you’re confirmed? You don’t believe in the efficacy of the sacrament, so why do you care to have it “undone?”
 
No. Unlike Matrimony, the Sacrament of Confirmation leaves an indelible mark on your soul, and as such, cannot be declared null. To clarify, a marriage is not “undone” when it is annulled, it is declared invalid.
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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Marriages are not annulled. They can be found not to have existed but once there is a marriage that is consumated they are permanent. Confirmation cannot be undone. You are marked for eternity just as baptism does.
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation.
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No.
Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself.
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Luckily, the Sacrament of Confirmation doesn’t depend on you “making an informed decision for yourself.” 🙂 Infants can (and often do) receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at the same time that they get baptized, so your informed consent (though desirable) was not actually required, as long as you weren’t actually kicking and screaming to get away at the time. 🙂
Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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You would have to prove that the Bishop was insane and unable to form the intent to give you the Sacrament of Confirmation, or that he had never been properly ordained as a Bishop, in order for such a declaration of nullity to take place.

Even then, it would be assumed that the Sacrament would work “ex operato” - that is, by God’s will, such that those who believed they were being Confirmed actually were being Confirmed. It’s a very tricky thing, un-doing a Confirmation, and in all but the most obscure cases, I would consider it impossible. You have, in fact, received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Instead of rejecting them, I would actually suggest that you try opening them up and putting them to use in your life. Even an atheist can make use of Knowledge, can he not? 😉
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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(a) No. You are Catholic by virtue of your baptism and confirmation completes baptism. There is no such thing as “undoing” any validly conferred sacrament. Validity of confirmation does NOT depend upon your disposition in any way.

(b) Confirmation is not a “decision” on your part. The Bishop is the one who is doing the confirming. Your baptism is being confirmed.

(c) Every Catholic is obligated to respond to the Bishop’s call to confirmation at the appointed time.

(d) There is no way for you to be anything other than Catholic. It is an ontological reality today, tomorrow, until the day you die, and on into eternity.

(e) Marriages cannot be “annulled”. A declaration of nullity is a finding of fact that a valid marriage never took place. For a confirmation to be invalid, the form or matter would have to be invalid. For example, if I said the words of confirmation and anointed you with chrism, that would be an invalid confirmation seeing as how I am not a bishop.
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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No.
 
The true and lasting , eternal feelings of a young person. Maybe take some time and realize you might be wrong. You’ve been wtong before and will be again. Hopwfully you are this time as well.
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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As others have explained, you can’t undo the Sacrament of Confirmation.

However, I am intrigued. Why would you think that IF Confirmation could be “undone”, you would no longer be associated with the Church?
 
Corki said:
As others have explained, you can’t undo the Sacrament of Confirmation.

However, I am intrigued. Why would you think that IF Confirmation could be “undone”, you would no longer be associated with the Church?
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Good point - I was confirmed about the age of ten, but was certainly Catholic before then and would remain Catholic without my confirmation.

The analogy I like to make is this. Your biological parents are and always will be your biological parents, by virtue of the fact that they gave you life and DNA.

The relationship can not be severed regardless of whether or not you choose to associate with them, or acknowledge them as your parents, or to bear their name.

Similarly, your being baptised and confirmed Catholic gives you an unbreakable bond with the Church, a sort of ‘spiritual DNA’ if you will.
 
LilyM said:
Good point - I was confirmed about the age of ten, but was certainly Catholic before then and would remain Catholic without my confirmation.

The analogy I like to make is this. Your biological parents are and always will be your biological parents, by virtue of the fact that they gave you life and DNA.

The relationship can not be severed regardless of whether or not you choose to associate with them, or acknowledge them as your parents, or to bear their name.

Similarly, your being baptised and confirmed Catholic gives you an unbreakable bond with the Church, a sort of ‘spiritual DNA’ if you will.
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This is a very good analogy - 🙂
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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Maybe this is an odd way of answering, but why does it matter to you?

Either you believe the church has the authority and does what it says it does, and that confirmation leaves an indellible mark on the soul, in which case the question is why aren’t you in the church??? or you DON’T believe the church is or does what it says, and in that case you had a little bit of oil put on your forhead and nothing more.

So if you don’t believe in the church, then you had a man in robes put oil on your head and shake your hand, which did nothing (in your opinion)… and if that’s the case, then what do you seek to have “undone”?

The only situation I could see that would cause one to want to UNDO a sacrament would be if they beleived in the authority of the Church and didn’t want the grace the church says it provides… namely if someone left the church to become a Satanist or something similar…

PS - Marraiges aren’t “annulled”. They are declared null, which means that no marraige ever took place. A real marraige is actually permanent.
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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you cannot “undo” confirmation any more than baptism, as it imparts a permanent seal or character to the soul. You did not consent to your baptism, assuming you were an infant, but your parents made the promises for you in their faith, which they hand on to you, and through which the presented you for confirmation. Unless somebody held a gun to your head, you were asked at several points during the process and in the rite itself if you asked for the sacrament, and you said yes. That is all that is required. You don’t need a theology degree, you don’t need to be a saint, you don’t need to be “an adult Catholic and soldier of the faith” you merely need to accept the faith your parents gave you and allow the bishop to confirm you in that faith.

annulment does NOT dissolve a valid marriage, it is merely a legal judgement that a valid marriage never existed. The validity of confirmation depends on the action and intent of the minister, that is the bishop or his delegate, not the candidate.
 
You are stuck with the Holy Spirit and all the graces that were bestowed upon you when you were confirmed.

Oh, and you don’t stray to church. The Holy Spirit calls you. Face it, you will never win against the Holy Spirit. You may as well come back - today.
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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What everyone else has said but also…

What you are expressing here is a misunderstanding of what Confirmation is. Confirmation is not a personal choice of faith. It is not some sort of adult initiation into the Church. It is not a Catholic bar mitzvah. It is not an adult choice for the faith.

Anyways what would be the reason for doing this other than to spite your parents?
 
jstpeter said:
Is it possible to “undo” the sacrament of confirmation. Looking back, I realize I may have been naïve or influenced by my parents to truly make a decision for myself. Now, I am confident I will never stray back to the church. I’d feel better if I was no longer associated with the church. I know this might be an odd request, but it is sincere. Marriages can be annulled; can confirmations?
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Your understanding of annulment and it’s relationship to other sacraments, e.g. confirmation, is flawed. Marriages cannot be undone. The Church may issue a declaration of nullity concerning a particular marriage. This does not undo the marriage; it says a marriage never existed. You cannot undo confirmation. The only route open to you would be to impugn its validity.
 
Nowhere_Man said:
No. Unlike Matrimony, the Sacrament of Confirmation leaves an indelible mark on your soul, and as such, cannot be declared null. To clarify, a marriage is not “undone” when it is annulled, it is declared invalid.
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It is decared null, not invalid.

In mathematics, null is a term which means nothing, not zero but the absence of value. The number zero exists. A null value is nothingness. It doesn’t exist.

A marriage that is null is a marriage that never existed in the first place. Something which did not exist cannot be valid or invalid. It simply does not exist.

-Tim-
 
jmcrae said:
No.

Luckily, the Sacrament of Confirmation doesn’t depend on you “making an informed decision for yourself.” 🙂 Infants can (and often do) receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at the same time that they get baptized, so your informed consent (though desirable) was not actually required, as long as you weren’t actually kicking and screaming to get away at the time. 🙂
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Thats a scary thought.
 
Forum Administer,
Why do you let this garbage on this web site?

wick
 
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