Who in RCIA should received the sacrament of Reconciliation

[FrDavid96]

“Required” to go to confession – no. I don’t have the book in front of me at the moment but it says something like “in accordance with their conscience.”

Personally, I think the answer is that you go to confession before receiving your First Communion. If nothing else, it means you’ve had that experience at least once. More importantly, it is part of the preparation people should make before receiving communion. We have always strongly encouraged people to go.

Confession must always precede First Communion.

That’s a given.

 

[FrDavid96]

… After reading this thread, however, I’m still a little confused as to whether baptized adults are required to make their first confession before receiving their first Holy Eucharist.

I"m not sure why there’s confusion.

Confession must always precede First Communion.

This thread is about the timing of that first Confession (and possibly later ones), before First Communion. It isn’t about whether-or-not, but when.

To answer your question directly: yes, baptised Christians are required to make a first Confession before being admitted to First Communion.

 

[tad]

Thank you, Father. I’ve always thought, as you have confirmed, that the baptized must make their first confession was required before first Holy Communion. This is what is throwing me off in this thread:

“Required” to go to confession – no. I don’t have the book in front of me at the moment but it says something like “in accordance with their conscience.”

I’ve assumed, out of charity, that my pastor knew something that I didn’t know, but it appears that, once again, we were going outside the norms at my parish.

 

[tafan2]

I did go have a talk with my pastor, and he offered me the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but I refused

Just out of curiosity, why did you refuse?

 

[tad]

Confused I guess.

As I told Father at my first confession, I was afraid they wouldn’t let me in the Church. “Not a chance”, was his response to that.

I also wanted to be obedient. As the nun in charge of RCIA said, “We’d never you give that (reconciliation) as your first Sacrament!”. I sincerely thought I wasn’t supposed to.

 

[tafan2]

Easy to see your confusion, with the nun in charge spouting such nonsense. She hadn’t thought you baptism was your first sacrament? And even assuming she meant the first sacrament by the Catholic Church, she obviously had a negative view of confession.
RCIA programs were broken a long time. A friend of mine converted back in the mid 90s, and ask me to be his sponsor. I went to all the classes with him. I know exactly what you mean by just not wanting to scare anyone off. They were not interested at all in instructing the candidates and catechumens in the teachings of the Church.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

I know exactly what you mean by just not wanting to scare anyone off. They were not interested at all in instructing the candidates and catechumens in the teachings of the Church.

I’m very glad my RCIA is not pulling any punches. For instance, we have already had the advocate in to review everyone’s marriage status.

 

[JohnLilburne]

Some excerpts from the Introduction to Rite of Reception of Baptised Christians Into Full Communion With the Catholic Church :

3.a) The rite should be seen as a celebration of the Church, with its climax in eucharistic communion. For this reason the rite of reception is generally celebrated within Mass.
b) Anything which has the appearance of triumphalism should be carefully avoided, and the manner of celebrating this Mass should be precisely defined. Both the ecumenical implications and the bond between the candidate and the parish community should be considered. Often it will be more appropriate to celebrate the Mass with only a few relatives and friends. If for a serious reason Mass cannot be celebrated, the reception should take place where possible during the liturgy of the word. The person to be received should be consulted about the form of reception. …
5. The baptised Christian is to receive both doctrinal and spiritual preparation, according to pastoral requirements in individual cases, for his reception into full communion with the Catholic Church. …
During the period of preparation the candidate may share in worship according to the norms of the Directory on Ecumenism.
Any confusion between catechumens and candidates for reception into communion should be absolutely avoided. …
9. If the profession of faith and reception take place within Mass, the one to be received – with due regard to the individual case – should confess his sins beforehand. He should first inform the confessor that he is to be received into full communion. Any confessor who is lawfully approved may receive the confession.

[Excerpts from the Introduction to the Rite of Reception of Baptised Christians Into Full Communion With the Catholic Church © 1974, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.]

The Sacrament of Penance by Catholic ministers for Non-Catholics is discussed in the 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism in n. 125, 129-131, at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...993_principles-and-norms-on-ecumenism_en.html .

 

[TheLittleLady]

For those baptised non-Catholic, this happens when they are received into the Church in a particular rite (the proper name escapes me at the moment).

As I understand it, The validly baptized non-Catholic Christian is imperfectly joined to the Church.

That join is made complete with Profession of Faith, Confirmation and Eucharist.

 

[tad]

I’m very glad my RCIA is not pulling any punches. For instance, we have already had the advocate in to review everyone’s marriage status.

No one asked me my marital status until after I was confirmed and I went to talk to Father about having our marriage blessed by the Church.

 

[tad]

Yeah, what they were teaching at my parish is what I call ‘Catholicism lite’. I made up for it by going to daily mass, but the RCIA program there wasn’t very good. Even after I got confirmed I learned to stay away from their other ‘educational’ opportunities.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

That really is too bad. Have you thought about offering to join the religious ed team?

 

[tad]

That really is too bad. Have you thought about offering to join the religious ed team?

The year after I was confirmed I was so excited about it I wanted to go through RCIA again as a sponsor. The sister in charge told me that I would have to wait a year. We only confirmed one person that year.

Looking back at it, it’s probably good I stayed away from the religious ed team. I would have probably just argued with them a lot.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

“Required” to go to confession – no. I don’t have the book in front of me at the moment but it says something like “in accordance with their conscience.”

Following up on my own post. From the Rite:

1. If the profession of faith and reception take place within Mass, the candidate, according to his or her own conscience, should make a confession of sins beforehand, first informing the confessor that he or she is about to be received into full communion. Any confessor who is lawfully approved may hear the candidate’s confession.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

According to your conscience does not mean you can skip confession. It means that you should examine your conscience to determine what sin should be confessed.

 

[tafan2]

That’s a good interpretation, the cynic in me says the ambiguity was intentional.

 

[Illuminatrix]

I’m a candidate and have regularly been receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. My priest told me to wait to receive the Eucharist until my Confirmation. Having read through many of the replies to this thread, I’m a little confused. Should I not be going to Confession? I desperately desired to receive the Sacrament knowing the state of my immortal soul after reading St. Teresa of Avila’s thoughts on the subject in her book, “The Interior Castle”.

 

[JohnLilburne]

As I wrote above:
The Sacrament of Penance by Catholic ministers for Non-Catholics is discussed in the 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism in n. 125, 129-131, at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_25031993_principles-and-norms-on-ecumenism_en.html .

 

[DarkLight]

The other reason I was told is it can be a bit of a mess when conditional baptisms are involved. So the person typically goes through both the conditional baptism and confession before confirmation and first communion.

 

[Joe_5859]

Yes, we had someone in that boat at my parish last Easter. They went to Confession in case they were validly baptized and received conditional Baptism in case they weren’t. Honestly, the Baptism was fairly likely, it just couldn’t be corroborated. It was at a small corner church that no longer existed.