Hi Lonnie,

Basically, you go to Confession, confessing your separation and absence from the Church and any other grave sins you can recall since then. In some rare cases, depending on what you did apart from the Church [for example, if you became a minister in another denomination] you may need to make a public profession of faith but the priest will instruct you appropriately.

Then you are home! Welcome!

Depending on your level of education in the faith, you may want to embark on a program of study of some sort, for example, reading the Catholic Catechism, or attending the local parish's RCIA classes (though you wouldn't enroll in RCIA yourself).

You may find this site a good bedrock of resources:

CatholicsComeHome.org

Eric

Dear Dr. Grassman,

My colleague Eric has already sent a response while I drafted this, but I'll send it along just the same. You are indeed already a Catholic, since you were baptized in a Catholic church.

Returning to Catholic life is easy enough: you can simply start attending Mass on Sundays (or Saturday evening, if you like); and before you start to receive Holy Communion, you should probably make a general confession covering the years while you were away from the Church.
You may choose any priest you wish for this.

Eventually, it would be a good thing to establish that you were confirmed. If you were not confirmed at age ten, you can be confirmed now. The Catholic Church does not recognize Episcopalian bishops as able to confer the sacrament validly, so the rite you received as an Episcopalian would not be counted.

Your parish priest will probably have to contact the diocese in France where you lived so that someone can check the parish records.

By the way, in case you are interested, there is a congregation of former Episcopal Church members in Corpus Christi who are now Catholics. They have permission to celebrate Mass with much of the beautiful Anglican traditional forms preserved.

They have a web page at:

• St. Anselm of Canterbury Catholic Mission, Corpus Christi

There are several such congregations in the United States, and by coincidence most of them are in Texas.

• Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church - Houston, Texas
  We are the Principal Church for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter established by the Holy Father to restore the Anglican Patrimony to the Catholic Church.

God bless!

— Richard Chonak
for AskACatholic.com

Lonnie,

It's wonderful that you that you want to come home.

If you were indeed confirmed at 10, Eric is correct, the only sacramental requirement is Confession.

It could also be that sacrament you received at 10 was simply First Holy Communion. You'll have to probe your memory and perhaps try to find some records.

If you were never confirmed, confirmation in the Episcopal Church is not considered valid because they did not retain Apostolic Succession.

You may be required to be confirmed, perhaps conditionally, if only your Confirmation is in doubt. In this case, RCIA would be a requirement.

I would highly recommend a good RCIA program either way. You should understand what you are committing to.

I join Eric in welcoming you home!

John D.

Lonnie,

Although you were baptized a Catholic, it sounds as though you were not catechized at all, and probably don't know your faith. You probably didn't have any idea you were doing anything wrong when you were confirmed in the Episcopalian Church. If you had no idea, then you did nothing sinful.

My colleagues are right to say that returning is simple:

• a matter of a profession of faith and
• maybe receiving Reconciliation, the Eucharist, and Confirmation for the first time.

The parish in France can tell you if you have received any of those sacraments. Confirmation in the Episcopal Church is, of course, non-sacramental because the true episcopacy is lacking. If you haven't received certain sacraments, then some instruction would be called for.

Meanwhile, I would suggest to read the Catechism, and to talk to your local pastor.

God bless!

Mary Ann

Dear Professor,

I forgot to mention one more issue: marriage! I'm not married yet, so I always forget this.

If you happen to be married, please discuss it with your pastor to make sure that your marriage is already valid under Church law. Numerous variables enter into this:

• whether your wife is also a baptized Christian,
• whether this is a first marriage for both of you,  and so on.

With regards —

— Richard Chonak

Lon,

I'm confused:

• If it was in a Catholic church by a Catholic priest with Catholic protocols, why was it not sanctioned by the archdiocese?

If it's a Catholic priest following Catholic protocols, it would have to be sanctioned by the diocese in which you were married.

• Was it a jurisdictional issue, i.e., you were non-U.S. citizens visiting the U.S. and thus could not get married in the U.S.? (I'm not sure what the rules are here.)

Eric

Hi, Professor,
Hi, Eric,

The default rule on mixed marriages provides that a Catholic normally cannot marry a non-Catholic; however, this rule can be waived if the bishop grants a dispensation, and it's a routine matter.

It sounds as if the priest chose not to seek that dispensation. Maybe he thought he was doing you a favor by expediting things, but I'd consider it a mistake on his part.

While an unauthorized mixed marriage of a Catholic and another Christian can be valid under Church law, that is not the case for an unauthorized mixed marriage of a Catholic and a non-Christian.

Since your wife was a non-Christian at the time of the wedding, then the status of your marriage will need to be set right as part of your return to normal Catholic life. You and your local pastor can arrange for whatever is necessary, so the next good step is to find a time to meet with him, and go from there.

With regards —

— Richard Chonak