Q: In the Ritual for Confirmation under Section II, 7-9, the Bishop may delegate specific priests to administer Confirmation. OK, I get that. In Section III #9, Confirmation is conferred through anointing and the laying on of the hand; – OK, that is Bishop and or his appointed or delegated Priest. Then separately is the “laying of hands” accompanied by the prayer Almighty God… The next paragraph says the Priests who are at times associated with the principal minister join him in the laying of hands. (referring to the actual Confirmation laying hands.) THEN the next paragraph, “through the laying …
Reception into Full Communion
Q: I have a question. Can you recommend a good resource, book or articles, for the theology and practice that grounds Reception into Full Communion for children? Specifically, we are wrestling with working with children 7 or older who are baptized outside the Catholic Church whose parents and/or they are seeking Reception into Full Communion. What has been done here and many other places is a Profession of Faith and then the children are placed with their peers, usually separating First Eucharist and Confirmation. == A: I can’t think of anything that tackles exactly that question. There should be something! …
Sacraments of Initiation
Q: I ran across a wrinkle that has me (canonically) curious regarding Sacraments of Initiation received at the Easter Vigil. It seems highly problematic to my current understanding – which maybe you both can enlighten. RCIA (soon to be OCIA) no. 226 states that if there is a great number to be baptized [the bracketed ‘exceptions’], they may be divided into groups and baptized by assisting priests or deacons…. Then, no. 232 states when there are a great many persons to be confirmed, the minister of confirmation may associate priests with himself as minister of the sacrament (see no. 14). So, according to OCIA, a priest …
Masses with First Communicants
Q: Should the renewal of baptismal promises be done at Masses with First Communicants? Thanks for the help! == A: We have no formal ritual for first communion. It’s completely a grassroots ceremony. Communion is one of the initiation sacraments, so I understand the instinct to renew baptismal promises on that occasion. However, we have no ritual calling for it, as we do for confirmation. Perhaps it’s best for the children to experience communion at Mass as normally as possible. If it’s a Sunday or solemnity, then, their first communion Mass includes the creed.
Restored order
Q: Where is the USCCB on the “restored order” of the sacraments? I’m seeing articles about different dioceses implementing this, about 14 or so, and now a book by LTP on this subject. Is it presently up to each Ordinary? == A: I’m unaware of the USCCB saying anything on this. Here’s a post from a few years ago: https://paulturner.org/restored-order/ The age of confirmation is up to each bishop.
Reception into Full Communion
Q: We have been trying to shift the catechumenate in our parish from a 6-month class to a continuous accompaniment of catechumens on individual journeys of faith, electing and then baptizing them at an Easter Vigil when they have had a suitable catechesis as described in article 75 of the RCIA. In contrast, we have begun to receive into Full Communion those who are already baptized throughout the year and as soon as they are ready. We expect there will be some unavoidable situations (especially complex family situations) that might require the celebration of the combined rites at the Easter …
Holy Orders
Q: Regarding Holy Orders, I’m aware that, like with Baptism and Confirmation, Holy Orders is understood to be a non-repeatable Sacrament. However, what confuses me is this: When a man is ordained a transitional deacon, and is eventually ordained to the priesthood, wouldn’t that man have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders more than once? == A: You can find the Apostolic Constitution of Paul VI in the front of the ritual book for ordinations. Near the beginning he says, “Among the rites of Ordination the first to be considered are those that constitute the hierarchy through the Sacrament of …
“Fast track” RCIA
Q: Our parish does a “fast track” RCIA program. So if you attend Mass with you Catholic spouse, you can become Catholic without going through RCIA. You can choose baptism and Eucharist or Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. Is this something new? == A: First of all, “RCIA” is a book of rites. We often use the acronym as a shorthand for the pertinent catechesis as well. No adult becomes Catholic without going through some of the rites in that book, so it’s impossible for one to “become Catholic without going through RCIA.” However, even the RCIA permits flexibility on the …
Uncatechized Catholics
Q: One of the candidates in our RCIA has been baptized Catholic, but was not raised as Catholic because her family left the church. She has had no faith formation at all since her childhood. Do we have to wait for Easter Vigil for the completion of the Sacrament of Initiation (First Communion, First Confession & Confirmation)? or can we do it earlier than the Easter Vigil? Please advise me. Thank you. == A: RCIA 409 envisions that uncatechized Catholics complete their initiation sacraments at the Easter Vigil. But it allows other timetables. In this case, because the baptism was in the Catholic Church, the Bishop is …
Conditional baptism
Q: In your book, When Other Christians Become Catholic, you clearly address the circumstances under which conditional baptism is recommended. May (or at least some) priests conditionally baptize candidates for Full Communion “just in case,” even when there is no reason to doubt that baptism but when there isn’t proof of a certificate. In our parish this has occurred frequently on the morning of Holy Saturday privately, as recommended in the RCIA. When this occurs, and these candidates are received into Full Communion at the Easter Vigil, they have been confirmed along with the other candidates and the neophytes. In the …