Not sure if I finished religious education

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kenb21

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I remember CCD from 1st through 8th grade (1980’s). I think by 8th grade I was a typical teenager and I just went because my parents wanted me to. I can’t remember anything except a big deal at church and then 8th grade graduation a couple of weeks later.

Next was high school sports, jobs, etc. so I just went to church a few times a year with my parents and grandparents in high school and college and then stopped going after that.

I am back at church now 20 years later. My parents have passed away and I really don’t know if I was confirmed. Could it have been reconciliation in 8th grade or was it most likely confirmation.

Thank you.
Ken
 
If you contact the parish in which you were Baptized, they will have a record of if/when you were Confirmed.
 
Yes, check with the parish about your confirmation. If you were not confirmed, check at your own parish concerning baptism as an adult. Your pastor will be delighted to have you.

As for your religious education, have no fear. It is never “finished.” Your parents’ duty was to give you a foundation to build on, not to turn out a product that never had to learn to know God, the demands of virtue, the riches left by our predecessors in the faith, and the needs of their neighbor any better than these were known at the age of 18!
 
Thanks for the replies.

I was baptized as a baby and we moved shortly after. I can contact the parish we belonged to for 1st-8th grade but I am nervous about it. I know I did communion and reconciliation but it gets blurry after that. I only remember something big at the end of 8th grade.

I am not looking forward to finding out. I think it’s 50/50.
If I was not confirmed would I need to do a year of RCIA?
 
kenb21 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I was baptized as a baby and we moved shortly after. I can contact the parish we belonged to for 1st-8th grade but I am nervous about it. I know I did communion and reconciliation but it gets blurry after that. I only remember something big at the end of 8th grade.

I am not looking forward to finding out. I think it’s 50/50.
If I was not confirmed would I need to do a year of RCIA?
Click to expand...
Check anyway; you should know. My parish has adult class for those who wish to be confirmed, it is not connected with RCIA and lasts for a couple of months.
 
kenb21 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I was baptized as a baby and we moved shortly after. I can contact the parish we belonged to for 1st-8th grade but I am nervous about it. I know I did communion and reconciliation but it gets blurry after that. I only remember something big at the end of 8th grade.

I am not looking forward to finding out. I think it’s 50/50.
If I was not confirmed would I need to do a year of RCIA?
Click to expand...
Technically, RCIA is for those who have not been baptized at all. However, many parishes do sort of lump together those who need to be baptized and those who just need to be confirmed. Your best bet is to speak with your pastor and sort it out with him. It’s possible he would ask you to sit in on RCIA. Or he may have another way in mind.

It is the parish that you were actually baptized in that would have your baptismal certificate. Do you know what parish that was? If not, then checking with the parish you belonged to in 1st-8th grade might help you to find out that information (e.g. when I registered at my current parish, I filled out a form which included dates and locations of those sacraments, so my current parish would be able to tell me where I was baptized if I asked even though they don’t have my baptismal records).
 
kenb21 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I was baptized as a baby and we moved shortly after. I can contact the parish we belonged to for 1st-8th grade but I am nervous about it. I know I did communion and reconciliation but it gets blurry after that. I only remember something big at the end of 8th grade.
Click to expand...
Do you know who your Godparents are? They should remember where you were baptized.
I am not looking forward to finding out. I think it’s 50/50.
If I was not confirmed would I need to do a year of RCIA?
Click to expand...
That would depend on the pastor.

When my pastor found out that I hadn’t been Confirmed with my class, and that I had missed it; I was Confirmed a month later. No more classes. Just making sure I got to Confession.
 
Thanks for the replies.

One of my godparents is still alive but I haven’t seen them for years. I have a picture from my baptism but it tells me nothing about where. It’s dated close to my 1st birthday. I know we moved long before kindergarden. All of the info should be with the 1st-8th grade parish.

I will contact them and let you know when I find out.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
If you contact the parish in which you were Baptized, they will have a record of if/when you were Confirmed.
Click to expand...
This. Don’t contact the parish where you were from 1st - 8th grade; it’s your “home church,” where you were baptized that is obligated to keep track of all your records from baptism to death. If that parish no longer exists, check with the diocese (or archdiocese) that it was in.
 
IrishAm said:
This. Don’t contact the parish where you were from 1st - 8th grade; it’s your “home church,” where you were baptized that is obligated to keep track of all your records from baptism to death. If that parish no longer exists, check with the diocese (or archdiocese) that it was in.
Click to expand...
Assuming the OP received first Contrition and first Eucharist in this other parish, would this other parish be expected to remember (have record of) where they sent record of these sacraments to? Could the OP learn their baptismal parish in this fashion?

Edit: added “first” twice
 
I contacted the parish where I received first communion and they graciously told me where I was baptized. That saved me contacting 25 parishes where I was born. Very big archdiocese! I eventually found my original baptismal certificate in my parents belongings, along with the one for first holy communion. But you will find out the originals are worthless, because a certified copy from the parish of origin is needed in the case of marriages. A marriage outside of the church is invalid.

I also was not sure if I had been confirmed. I was told that one REMEMBERS that.
 
mek42 said:
Assuming the OP received first Contrition and first Eucharist in this other parish, would this other parish be expected to remember (have record of) where they sent record of these sacraments to? Could the OP learn their baptismal parish in this fashion?

Edit: added “first” twice
Click to expand...
I would think most would still have a record of that even if they weren’t, strictly speaking, obligated to have it. So the OP contacting the childhood parish is one route towards determining the parish he was baptized in.
 
kenb21 said:
Thanks for the replies.

I was baptized as a baby and we moved shortly after. I can contact the parish we belonged to for 1st-8th grade but I am nervous about it. I know I did communion and reconciliation but it gets blurry after that. I only remember something big at the end of 8th grade.

I am not looking forward to finding out. I think it’s 50/50.
If I was not confirmed would I need to do a year of RCIA?
Click to expand...
It seems likely that the confirmation was at the end of 8th grade, which would be about age 14.
 
Casilda said:
I also was not sure if I had been confirmed. I was told that one REMEMBERS that.
Click to expand...
Call the parish where you were baptized (now that you know what it is) and ask for the current version of your baptismal certificate. The copy you get ought to be automatically updated to have your whole sacramental record on it. People call for these on a regular basis, because it is how they show a pastor at a different parish that they have received the sacraments of initiation, have not been married in the Church, have not be ordained, and so on.
 
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