Once a Catholic, Always a Catholic???

[3DOCTORS]

This is how I’ve always understood it. I’m particularly interested in this as it applies to converts. I mean, when they are received into the Catholic Church, they receive the sacraments – possibly Baptism, certainly Confirmation and Eucharist. The Sacraments leave “indelible marks,” or so I was taught.

What I’m asking – provide references if you know of any, that’d be great – is, there’s no equivalent to an annulment for conversion and joining the Church, is there? I could think of only one possible scenarios, and again, these are my musings so don’t take them as anything authoritative.

One possibility - say the person was insane or under the influence (although it would be hard to think how they could get through an entire RCIA program without that being detected). Would their conversion be valid when they sobered up or got mental health treatment?

But say the person had an illness, and on his/her supposed deathbed he/she converted, then somehow recovered, and later didn’t even remember it and didn’t want to be Catholic.

I present these extreme scenarios in an attempt to figure out what to do, how to help, people who apparently converted for emotional reasons, or to please someone else, and then changed their mind – but who at the time thought it was what they wanted also. They couldn’t become “un-Catholic” then, the most they could do would be to be a non-practicing Catholic.

Even our pastor, welcoming this year’s RCIA participants, pointed out that if any were to die before next Easter, they could have a Catholic funeral. For any Canon Law geeks* reading this, I found the references in the 1983 CCL: 11, and 788-789 which may be pertinent.

But back to the person who is second-guessing their conversion: In evangelizing a person in that situation, we would want to try to get the person to see the decision to convert as irreversible, and encourage them to re-commit to it, right? Lovingly and patiently, of course.

*(i.e. amateurs like me, who don’t have to know it for their state in life but have an interest)

 

[ChildOfTheLight]

Hi

Once a catholic, always a catholic? Yep.

I think it goes like this. You can only receive the sacraments of baptism and confirmation once. Some may claim to have had more than one baptism, but this is really not the case. The second would be a conditional baptism preformed under the premise that it is valid if, and only if the first was not. The priest says “If you are not already baptised, I baptise you…”

These two sacraments cannot be invalidated by insanity, illness, intoxication or any other condition of the person receiving them as they do not require that persons consent. Some areas preform confirmation and baptism all at once as a baby. They are spiritual gifts, not symbols of a spiritual choice as they are in many protestant demoninations.

The catholic church is the should-be home of the whole world. We should hope all people will see the truth. That being said, there is no way to un-baptise yourself from the catholic church. We must pray for them to come home.

A person is not cut off from God’s grace unless they make the choice to be. It’s not a situation where if you are baptised, you follow the rules or don’t go to heaven. A person commits no mortal sin by not following catholic teachings if they feel they are not of God (though they are). I think this is true even after one is baptised. They can be saved so long as they try to find God (there is such thing as baptism by desire). The catholic church is the one true church and the only sure way to heaven, but no one who wants salvation will be outside God’s grace.

Now, one who is baptised is bound by catholic marriage laws, and confession/eucharist once a year, and stuff like that, but this only means that one is out of communion with the church if one does not comply. Mortal sin is still absent if one does not think the church is the way to God. If they later decide to come back, confession is all that would be required.

Does all this make sense?

Fight for their souls. Bring them home. Shower them with love.

Our God is a God who saves!

 

[runningdude]

These two sacraments cannot be invalidated by insanity, illness, intoxication or any other condition of the person receiving them as they do not require that persons consent.

Minor correction. Vatican II (Gasp! ) teaches that consent is required for individuals over the age of reason (usually age seven). Understanding the exact nature of the sacrament isn’t necessary. Some severally disable people may never be able to comprehend the sacrament, but they could still refuse. They can also accept! Otherwise great post

I posted my thoughts on the subject on an alternative version of the OP’s question here if your interested (click the little arrow next to my username):

An annulment does not undo a sacrament. It is a declaration that a sacrament never took place. For instance, an annulled marriage never was .

For baptism and confirmation, the threshold for consent in making the sacrament valid is much lower than the threshold for marriage. (cont’d…)