It does happen,a lot actually. When I was teaching RCIA the DRE said it was better to do it that way because otherwise those who didn’t go to reconciliation might feel left out and that they missed something. That apparently is one of the the major concerns.
So let’s have them simulate a sacrament so they don’t feel left out??
Where did this DRE get his/her credentials? From a Cracker Jack box?
It was the same for us though it was optional and we knew that it was pointless since all of our sins (up to that point) would be erased when we were reborn in Christ. I think it was more for getting a feel for it and overcoming any fear or trepidation of it (that I guess is quite common for many people). I was told it wasn’t mandatory and that it wouldn’t do anything but I went anyways. It lifted a heavy burden off my heart and let me celebrate my coming into the Church and Christ more joyously.
This particular DRE is, and I use the term somewhat loosely, a Master Catechist, who actively instructs Catechists in Southern California in their formation and training and has given presentations and speeches at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress on numerous occasions. She is generally regarded as an expert in the field of Catholic Religious Education.
~double facepalm~
.An act of saying aloud one’s sins is not a problem. Also, one may repent of those sins, asking God to forgive. Furthermore, the person could seek the advice of a priest for suggestions on how to avoid those sins in the future.
That is more or less exactly what I said or implied.
That is not at all what I said or implied.
This is restrictive and limits the use and meaning of the word unnecessarily; it is not wise to make assumptions; it is always good to study and analyse the context. Confessing to the police that one has committed murder in no way suggests sacrament and absolution - but it is still confession. Confession as preparation for baptism (for those of a suitable age) can surely be nothing but a great source of grace and a slap in the face for the one renounced by the candidate before he enters the water - a very positive renunciation.
The second baptism has no effect because a person can only be baptised once. To return to the Roman Catholic church, the person needs to go to confession.
I don’t know how to interpret what you are thinking right now that you say this. I fear there is a chance we are not communicating fully. Perhaps you are thinking I meant to say that you said something or another. I did not mean to imply anything about what you said by my second paragraph in my response to you. I was returning to the line of posts started by thistle talking about “First Confession”. I should have been more clear that I returned to the thistle context of going to confession, and not the rowlands context of confession without absolution. I don’t think the thistle context was one of police stations or the like, based upon what I know about thistle as a poster, and based upon Catholic usage like “I made my First Communion” or “I made my First Confession”. I was trying to say I interpreted thistle to be talking about his RCIA fellows going to actual confession, the sacrament of confession, which does include absolution. Perhaps thistle only meant that they talked to a priest, I concede that it is possible that I misunderstood.
I thought that too. After hearing about what’s taught at some RCIA classes, I was kinda hoping that it does.Am I the only one who opened this thread wondering if the OP was going to ask if baptism washes away RCIA? I wanted to see the responses to that one.
First off, this was in 1992 and not only applied to the group I was in but all RCIA people in the country (I was an ex-pat in Singapore at the time).
It doesn’t really matter how widespread it was, although that just makes it worse in my mind.
It was not a simulation for the baptized candidates. It certainly was for the unbaptized catechumens as it is not possible for them to receive the sacrament of reconillition.
Only if they died before baptism. Which has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
It means those in RCIA even one day before publicly becoming Catholics are in essence already baptised and Catholic through baptism of desire.
No, it doesn’t.
Great!
Well suppose you have no desire to ever return to the Catholic Church?
Then may God have mercy on your soul.
The such a person would be a Catholic in a state of mortal sin and dying unrepentant would go to Hell.
We’ll call it a practice run for the unbaptized