If someone in mortal sin during RCIA dies, would they be damned?

[WannabeSaint]

Non Catholics who convert to Catholicism and want the join the church have to go through RCIA. They cant receive the sacraments until they’ve completed RCIA though which can take weeks.

What would happen if someone had a mortal sin on their soul from their non-Catholic life and died during RCIA? Would they be damned since they were never able (nor allowed) to go to Confession?

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

We dont know who is “damned” on a personal level. Those who die in mortal sin are doomed to hell. God may provide a way out of mortal sin if the person is in the process of seeking the sacraments. But whatever that process would be, would have to involve the free will ifbtge person in question.

 

[John_Martin]

A person “IN” mortal sin (doing mortal sin actively, standing in defiance of God because he prefers the “goodness perceived” of the pleasures of the sin) is not “seriously” in RCIA.

However, most likely all have mortal sin in their past, yet in the “process” of RCIA are walking down the path to the confessional (like the Prodigal Son on the long hundred mile road walking toward home to tell his father, “I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am not worthy to be called your son.”)

While the prodigal’s father is not God and could do nothing if his son happened to die on milepost 50, our LORD does see the RCIA-ite coming home, coming in contrition, and wanting to be with Jesus in the home of the Father. RCIA is akin to “pre-confession Penance” - living a life of the Penitent described by John the Baptist when people, soldiers, tax collectors, asked him what they should do for Penance, and then they did it until they met Jesus, like Matthew did in his Tax Booth.
Our LORD knows this person heading home, and whether in life on earth or in death, he runs to meet this penitent.

John Martin

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I note that if the RCIA candidate was seriously on the track to Catholicism and had not been baptized, and died before becoming baptized, upon death he would be considered to have received “baptism of desire” because he had desired to be baptized and taken necessary steps. Baptism removes all previous sin including mortal sin.

If the person had already received a non-Catholic baptism accepted by the Church, and was instead progressing towards confession, Eucharist and Confirmation, but had not yet reached the point of confessing, then John_Martin’s post would apply.

 

[Sbee0]

Non Catholics who convert to Catholicism and want the join the church have to go through RCIA. They cant receive the sacraments until they’ve completed RCIA though which can take weeks.

What would happen if someone had a mortal sin on their soul from their non-Catholic life and died during RCIA? Would they be damned since they were never able (nor allowed) to go to Confession?

I’d wonder whether they really are in a state of mortal sin since up to that point they’re likely lacking the full knowledge to incur mortal sin.

 

[TheMortenBay]

I know the Catechism says converts are to receive a Catholic funeral and that they’d probably be accepted into full communion ahead of time if there was still time for the last rites before death (including confession and Viaticum (communion)).

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

WannabeSaint:

Non Catholics who convert to Catholicism and want the join the church have to go through RCIA. They cant receive the sacraments until they’ve completed RCIA though which can take weeks.

What would happen if someone had a mortal sin on their soul from their non-Catholic life and died during RCIA? Would they be damned since they were never able (nor allowed) to go to Confession?

I’d wonder whether they really are in a state of mortal sin since up to that point they’re likely lacking the full knowledge to incur mortal sin.

Wait,
So are you saying only Catholics can sin mortally?

 

[TheMortenBay]

So are you saying only Catholics can sin mortally?

This is just one possible conclusion of the modern, liberal understanding of “No salvation outside the Church.”

 

[John_Martin]

I’d wonder whether they really are in a state of mortal sin since up to that point they’re likely lacking the full knowledge to incur mortal sin

I assure you, I had committed mortal sin many times over as a Lutheran, prior to the long road of RCIA. There is an “ignorance” that is sinful, as well as defiance and rebellion, all willfully done to have what is not God, as if it were.

Yet, on the RCIA road I had no fear of dying being able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus, who (in persona Christi) was teaching me to observe all his commands.

John Martin

 

[Sbee0]

Sbee0:

WannabeSaint:

Non Catholics who convert to Catholicism and want the join the church have to go through RCIA. They cant receive the sacraments until they’ve completed RCIA though which can take weeks.

What would happen if someone had a mortal sin on their soul from their non-Catholic life and died during RCIA? Would they be damned since they were never able (nor allowed) to go to Confession?

I’d wonder whether they really are in a state of mortal sin since up to that point they’re likely lacking the full knowledge to incur mortal sin.

Wait,
So are you saying only Catholics can sin mortally?

No not really, at least not always. By full knowledge I don’t mean that you need to know that a mortal sin is a “mortal sin” as Catholics understand it. E.g. Adultery. It’s a cut and dried violation of the 7th commandment (grave matter) so it’s universally understood as a serious offense against God and your spouse (full knowledge) and in nearly all cases you make the free decision to commit adultery (full consent to commit the act) thus I believe would certainly be mortal for a non Catholic as all those conditions are met. I think all Christians have a sense that some sins are more serious than others.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Wait,
So are you saying only Catholics can sin mortally?

Non-Catholics can sin mortally and in fact many other religions would regard the same natural-law-type-violations as gravely sinful (adultery, murder, theft of a valuable item, telling major falsehoods etc).

However, there is a greater potential for non-Catholics to not have a full understanding of/ intent to commit certain past sins that a Catholic would likely have considered grave/ possibly mortal.

 

[LateranBasilica]

God is mercy. Repentence is between God and the person at the hour of death.

And that is for anyone of any denomination, or not. As individuals we should try to live a just and upright life and rely on God’s mercy and Grace.

Especially coming up to Divine Mercy Sunday

As Pope Francis says ’ the Church is a field hospital for sinners.

 

[stpurl]

Full knowledge is not as rare as many think. One needn’t be Catholic, for example, to know that adultery is a grave evil.

 

[Joe_5859]

What would happen if someone had a mortal sin on their soul from their non-Catholic life and died during RCIA? Would they be damned since they were never able (nor allowed) to go to Confession?

The Church Fathers answered this question many centuries ago. Look into “Baptism of desire.”

 

[goout]

1857 For a sin to be mortal , three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.

Grave matter is objective. Grave matter is grave matter independent of the personal considerations.
Mortal sin, or sin that destroys the life of God within a person, must also be committed with the full knowledge of these factors, and the deliberate will to commit the offense with that full knowledge of the gravity and the knowledge of the consequences. ]

[1859] Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent . It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart133 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.