Was it a sin if I did not confess in a Protestant church?

[Rae8]

Hello:

I’m a new convert and not yet confirmed. I was wondering about this. When I was in the Pentecostal church, we took communion. Some of the churches do it every Sunday, others only on certain Sundays & Easter. But when it was offered, in whatever church I was attending at the time, I participated. (I had been baptised as an adult).

I read and heard that it is a sacrilege to take communion if you have not confessed your sins. So I’m thinking I now know the answer to this question but will ask it anyway. My question was why can I not take communion in the Catholic church if I have always taken it in the past in protestant church? But I’m thinking now that it may be because I have not been confirmed yet and therefore not able to confess to the priest?

In the Pentecostal church, I confessed my sins in private to the Lord but perhaps more in a general way though at times, I did list them in my mind and each time asked for forgiveness. But now I’m hoping I did not commit a sacrilege by taking communion those times as perhaps I did not give enough attention to my confessions right before the communion. They did not emphasize the importance of it so I didn’t know.

Thank you in advance

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

What you did as a non-Catholic, you received their communion sincerely and there was no sacrilege. Now as a Catholic, you ought to know that we do not believe that Pentecostal churches have a valid Eucharist because they don’t have clergy who are validly ordained.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

What you did as a non-Catholic was sincere. You received their communion sincerely and there was no sacrilege Catholics do not believe that Pentecostal churches have a valid Eucharist because they don’t have clergy who are validly ordained. Our laws do not oblige them as they do Catholics.

In the Catholic Church one sins mortally if he has had a mortal sin on his soul and receives the Eucharist without having first been absolved by a priest in the the sacrament of Confession.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.