Children to be received into Catholic faith

bonty44

Hi
I am CofE, OH is Catholic and the children have been baptised CofE.

However, OH would for various personal and spiritual reasons like the children to be received into the Catholic Faith, but I am not quite sure what that entails. The children are 7 and 5. Would I be able to take them to my CofE church with me?

Any advice greatfully received

Marcheline

Hi, I'm not sure on this one (despite being a Catholic) and the best advice I can give is to speak to your local Catholic Priest about it. If they are able to be 'baptised twice' as it were, then there would be nothing preventing you from taking them to the C of E Church with you, except for the moral issue of getting your children baptised into a faith when you do not intend them to practise it.

bonty44

Thanks for your reply.

OH does fully intend for the children practise the faith so we are not behaving immorally.

However, I am not Catholic and I would like to be able to take my children to church with me. I dont' think that is immoral. I simply want to know what 'being received into the Catholic faith' means. I don't think it means that the children will be baptised twice (I didn't think anyone was allowed to be baptised twice unless there was some uncertainly about the validity of the original baptism) Dont' we all believe in the same God anyway? ( I mean CofE and Catholics, obviously there are other religions too)

KellyWelly

Did you get married in the Catholic Church? Usually in 'mixed marriages' in the Catholic Church they make you both promise to raise the children Catholic.

Anyway for them to be received Catholic, if they are not going to a Catholic school, I think you or your OH would need to be taking them regularly to mass (how regularly depends on the priest, probably) and they would begin preparations for First Holy Communion at about 7 years old. This would entail them going to preparation classes at church and doing their first confession.

You can still take them to the CofE though if you are serious about their Catholicism to the extent they are going to be received then would your OH be taking them to mass? Also there might be some question about them taking communion in the CofE not from the CofE's POV but the Catholic Church has a closed communion and Catholics don't take communion in churches that are not in commuinion with each other - the pope excommunicated the Anglicans back when Henry VIII was getting all amorous with the wrong lady, so the CofE is not in communion with Rome.

KellyWelly

You definitely wouldn't get them baptised twice, Christian baptism is only performed once unless the original baptism for some legalistic reason isn't valid.

Being received into the faith after baptism as an adult would entail first confession, first communion and then chrismation/confirmation. Since your children are already baptised but not old enough for confirmation then they would just do the confession and communion bit.

bonty44

Thanks Kelly Welly for your reply.
Both children attend a Catholic school. We did not get married in a Catholic church because, when we met, I was more of a church-goer than my husband but certain personal things have happened in recent years which has meant that OH has rediscovered his faith and attends Church regularly.
Do they have to wait until they are 7? Is this because they then supposedly know their own mind? OH is getting somewhat impatient!
I understand that they won't take communion with me in the CofE church but would still like them to come to Family Mass with me once a month (OH can take them to his Church the rest of the time and I'll go to mine, at least then we're presenting an 'almost' united front to our children and not arguing about whose faith is better than whose)

bonty44

Ooops, I think this crossed posts.

What would my children have to confess about? This is the bit I have trouble understanding; they are only 5 and 7, I should hope that they wouldn't need to confess anything at all at at that age!!!

suki1964

bonty44 wrote: »

Ooops, I think this crossed posts.

What would my children have to confess about? This is the bit I have trouble understanding; they are only 5 and 7, I should hope that they wouldn't need to confess anything at all at at that age!!!

Ah well, thats the Catholic faith for you - we are all born of sin

Savvy_Sue

I agree that you need to speak to the priest about this, but I can't see that anyone can stop you taking your children to any church you choose, regardless of whether they've had water poured on them under a different ritual or they normally go elsewhere!

I think that catholics accept cofe baptism and vice versa, if they don't there is a thing called 'conditional baptism' which uses the words "If you have not already been baptised, then I baptise you ..." etc. This neatly sidesteps whether or not the 'other' baptism was valid.

The possible 'sticking points' come when they're of an age to receive communion / the bread at mass. Traditionally in the CofE, children are confirmed as teenagers and don't take the bread and wine until after that. In the Catholic church, 'first communion' happens at a younger age, after which they receive the bread. In the churches I've been to, it's normal to go up for a blessing if you're not receiving, either with your arms crossed over your chest or with a prayer book in your hands. In the past, the CofE was more 'open' than the RC church to those of other traditions receiving communion - if you'd normally do it in your own church, you're welcome here. I don't know if the RC church is still a bit more 'closed'.

So if you all go to church together - which you might wish to do sometimes - you might have to work out in advance who's 'allowed' to do what. And there are differences in behaviour, eg crossing yourselves, genuflecting, a shorter version of the Lord's Prayer.

Has your husband always been practising? Is there a reason why he wants this change now?

Sorry, I've got some answers to those questions now. I think your best bet is to go and speak to the priest. The school may also have some helpful booklets.

KellyWelly

Well it's the "sacrament of reconcilliation", for children they probably go in and say 'I didn't tidy my room and I called my sister a pig' or something like that. They don't get rebuked and to be honest in my experience confession is more like counselling. The priest just listens and if appropriate gives advice. For kids it's more getting into the habit and not being excluded from the life and family of the church, I think.

If they are in Catholic school you don't need to worry about it at all - the school will do the preparation classes with the children who are going to do their First Holy Communion in Y3.

bonty44

I think OH feels that it will support the children in their faith if they are Catholic, if that makes sense, as they attend a Catholic school and take part in the rituals in Assembly. Also he believes that the Catholic faith is the one true faith and wants the children to be received as Catholics. And it doesn't help that MIL has told him that we have condemned their souls by not having them baptised Catholic.