When converting to Catholicism, does one make his/her first Confession prior to baptism or after baptism?

[Br.Rich_SFO]

The OP is coming in from LDS. Since LDS baptisms are not recognized by Christian churches, he/she will be baptized “de novo” and will not need to make a general (life) confession beforehand.

That is correct LDS baptism is not a valid Baptism period and does not require Conditional consideration. The person would be a non-Baptized Catechumen seeking Baptism for the first time. I guess I missed that!

 

[bpbasilphx]

**
If the first Baptism was valid, then the person needs to confess before Easter Vigil.

If the first Baptism was not valid, the person can’t receive absolution until after Baptism.

I know there is no “conditional absolution.” So what happens?**

**Father Mary Louis (Thomas Merton) was baptized as a child as an Anglican. At the time of his conversion to the Catholic Church, the custom was conditional baptism, confession and absolution, then communion.

So he describes it in his book THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN.**

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

**
If the first Baptism was valid, then the person needs to confess before Easter Vigil.

If the first Baptism was not valid, the person can’t receive absolution until after Baptism.

I know there is no “conditional absolution.” So what happens?**

Father Mary Louis (Thomas Merton) was baptized as a child as an Anglican. At the time of his conversion to the Catholic Church, the custom was conditional baptism, confession and absolution, then communion.

So he describes it in his book THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN.

I would hope that there was also a Confirmation in there somewhere!

 

[jmcrae]

Again Conditional Baptism is mentioned in some material on RCIA. You won’t find it in any of the norms or Canon Law. It’s one of those things that the Church does not advertise so as to not confuse anyone. Each Bishop should have a policy on it. I’m not sure if the USCCB has anything. Pastors should be trained, but I guess many are not.

The pastor I was working with when I was participating in RCIA leadership came from a country that is nearly 100% Catholic, so he was never trained on RCIA at any time during his priestly formation. This led to a number of challenges, and for me as a lay person, I didn’t have access to a lot of information that obviously we needed to have.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I would hope that there was also a Confirmation in there somewhere!

I think at that time Confirmation was reserved to the Bishop. He was probably confirmed much later when the Bishop came around on the regular schedule.

 

[Jsmith17]

Again Conditional Baptism is mentioned in some material on RCIA. You won’t find it in any of the norms or Canon Law. It’s one of those things that the Church does not advertise so as to not confuse anyone. Each Bishop should have a policy on it. I’m not sure if the USCCB has anything. Pastors should be trained, but I guess many are not.

Br. Rich,
Jimmy Akin quotes the material your talking about in this article he wrote on this subject:

ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/HOW2.htm

It comes from the *National Statutes for the Catechumenate *by the USCCB

“If conditional baptism . . . seems necessary, this must be celebrated privately rather than at a public liturgical assembly of the community and with only those limited rites which the diocesan bishop determines. The reception into full communion should take place later at the Sunday Eucharist of the community” (NSC 37).

His article also contains a lot of answers to the other questions being asked in this thread. It was a great help to me when I was just beginning my journey back into the Church.