Is it inappropriate to call yourself Catholic before Confirmation?

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I’m currently in RCIA and I’ve known I wanted to become Catholic since last March (unfortunately when all the RCIA programs were wrapping up!) but it was good because I had the whole spring and summer to do a lot of research and decide without a doubt it was for me. I’ve been living a Catholic lifestyle ever since then and regularly go to Mass and even Confession. My Confirmation was supposed to be at Easter Vigil but, well, for obvious reasons, it has been postponed indefinitely.

My question is- is it inappropriate to tell people I am Catholic since I have not yet been confirmed? I have heard that it is not, and that I should say i’m in RCIA or formation. My reasoning is that not everyone knows what RCIA is especially Protestants and it’s easier to explain in passing, since talking about converting religions inevitably leads to sharing your whole testimony/conversion story (which may sound selfish… but don’t get me wrong I do love sharing my story, it’s just a lot to talk about every time with people are inevitably curious “why I made the switch” and “what I was before” when we were just casually talking about where we go to church)

But If that is true (I’ve only gotten an opinion from a few sources so I don’t know if that is the overwhelming majority) then I will accept it, of course, as I don’t want to do something inappropriate toward my new faith
Any thoughts are appreciated!
 
My guess is it’s okay. After all, a child of 5 or 6 who has not yet been confirmed, but who expects to be confirmed in due course, can say “I’m a Catholic,” so why would it be wrong for an adult in the same situation?
 
If you were received into the Church, you are Catholic. But that typically happens at the same liturgy as Confirmation so my guess would be you aren’t Catholic canonically yet.

But in conversation, you aren’t speaking in a legal sense so it would be fine to describe yourself as Catholic, or in the process of becoming a Catholic.
 
Just say, “I’m becoming Catholic”, “I’m in the process of becoming Catholic”, “I’m in a program called RCIA for people who intend to become Catholic”, etc.
 
Yes, it’s as simple as what @TheLittleLady said. No reason to say you are if you aren’t, no reason to not just explain where you are at in your journey. I don’t know how often it comes up that someone asks what religion you are, but it’s not hard to explain.
 
There is a rite of welcome/acceptance at the beginning of catechesis that marks the beginning of being Catholic for some technical purposes, like being buried in a Catholic cemetery. (They won’t do that before you die, I hope)

If youare in catechesis, you’d probably be considered Catholic.
 
That was my line of thinking, I see a number of people in the comments saying they would rather have me say I’m becoming Catholic though. Maybe the difference is in the children being baptized in the Catholic church?
 
Living in the south, it does come up more often than one would think, haha
 
Same me for me but it was February I’ would be Catholic expect this is not normal times so i am Catholic ( been baptised protestant ) never been to confession did not think it was allowed till after confirmation or just before
 
I was told you can go to confession as long as you have the intent of becoming Catholic in your heart! Other priests may feel differently about it, but if you want to go, I recommend just asking. I was blown away by how amazing it felt
 
Would anyone say that a baby born to a Catholic family who hasn’t been baptized yet is not Catholic?

And when the bub is baptized but hasn’t received first Holy Communion yet, or Confirmation, is it not Catholic?

No it totally is!

By all means you are Catholic, you just have not been formally initiated in by the Holy Spirit as of yet. But the Holy Spirit is definitely in your heart leading your closer to Him, in your desire to come into the fullness of faith.

All Christian’s who are baptized, whether Anglican or Lutheran are apart of the body of Christ and thus apart of the Catholic Church (though they do not know it). They are just not apart of the fullness of the faith, until they completely accept the Catholic Church to be the true Church of God. If they were to attend Mass, they would receive graces, as you do each time you go. It is not limited only to those who are completely in the Church.

You are Catholic by essence of desire, and when you receive confirmation you will be confirmed Catholic by the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 10 Cornelius and his family received the Holy Spirit in confirmation before he was even baptized, but no one would deny he was a Christian before his baptism, because if he was not he would not have been able to receive the Holy Spirit.

Some people in history have even died before they could be baptized or recieve Holy Communion, but they are 100% Catholic. They died with the desire to be Catholic.

For instance, St Jacinta only received First Holy Communion and extreme unction shortly before her death, but I haven’t ever heard if she received the sacrament of Confirmation. But she is undoubtedly Catholic.
 
Thank you for this. This is how I like to look at things, but i didn’t know if there was something I was missing because a lot of other people don’t seem to feel the same. i feel like there’s this distinction made between children who were raised Catholic and people who choose to become Catholic as adults. but i was baptized in a Protestant church, and that baptism is considered valid, so I do feel as though I am Catholic in my heart
 
All the baptized are Catholic; most are inside but a number are outside in protest.
While all the baptized are Catholic, not all have finished being taught nor are yet confirmed; some are Catholic children, not yet having received First Communion; some are like you, coming inside from protestant protest and being taught as all Catholics must be taught before they are confirmed by the Apostolic hand.

Only those not baptized are not (yet) Catholic.
You are a good Catholic because you are embracing the teaching and desiring confirmation and fullness of the Holy Spirit.
 
If nothing else, you could just say, I go the Catholic Church! It’s true and if others assume that means you’re a Catholic, you won’t get those people that assume they can still save you from entering it! There are some that if they hear you’re in study to become catholic, will think there is still time to rescue you…no one needs that. You know the path you’re on…and can share it with those that you wish to share it with and any that are just being busybodies will accept that you are Catholic!
 
I said I was Catholic before I was confirmed. I mainly did so for the purpose of making it clear where I stood on my theological views. I was already in RCIA. I wanted to go ahead and start working it into my identity because there was no question in my mind if it was true by that point.

I think it was good because I started learning how people were going to treat me after I was confirmed anyway.
 
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