Q: A recent case brought to mind something I did in the past. I brought a lady into the Church, not at the Easter Vigil because COVID delayed everything for her RCIA classes. She entered the Church on a Sunday Mass. She was validly baptized in another Christian denomination, so she made a Profession of Faith with Renunciation of Sin, received Confirmation and First Holy Communion. It was done around last October. Did I need my bishop’s permission for that? I assumed I didn’t need any permission, but now I’m questioning if I needed it. If I did need the bishop’s permission and since I have already done the Sacraments, is the lady not in the Church?
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A: You were correct to receive her into the full communion of the Catholic Church at a Sunday Mass. That is actually how that liturgy was designed. You should have used Part II section 5 of the RCIA. It does not include a profession of faith with renunciation of sin, however. It includes the recitation of the Nicene Creed with the assembly and a statement called “Profession of Faith,” which is a declaration of belief in what the Catholic Church teaches.
Whenever you receive a validly baptized Christian into the full communion of the Catholic Church, you do not need the permission of the bishop. You already have permission from the law, and the law requires you to confirm at that time. This is true no matter when you perform this ceremony, at our outside of the Easter Vigil because in this case the person has already been baptized.