Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 114.  Thu  8-08-91 10:46  (RECV'D)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Patrick Spellman
 Subject: RCIA

³ As I'm about to start the RCIA, I was wondering how long the schooling
³ lasts.  I'm currently Luthern, but have had a stirring to enlarge my
³ Christian belief.  Well, anyways, here goes:  How long does the program
³ run?  Is confirmation only available during the Easter Vigal?  Is my
³ Luthern baptism valid?  Will I have to participate in the sacrement of
³ penence before confirmation? Lord's Supper?
 
Dear Patrick,
 
The length of the RCIA program differs from parish to parish.  You
can get the information you need by calling or visiting the rectory
of the parish where you live.
 
After the program is completed, the priest director usually confirms
those who are ready for this sacrament.
 
Baptism under Lutheran auspices is valid.  One already baptized who
wishes to become Catholic will go to confession as part of his
reception and as preparation for Eucharist and confirmation.  In
preparing for confession under these circumstances, it is necessary
to remember that serious sins must be confessed which SEEMED SERIOUS
AT THE TIME THEY WERE COMMITTED.  If a sin NOW seems serious because
of fuller instruction, but did not THEN seem serious, it need not be
confessed.
 
This flows from the definition of serious sin--a sin which is *per
se* serious and is committed with SUFFICIENT REFLECTION and FULL
CONSENT.  Sins committed before one's Christian instruction very
often lacked SUFFICIENT REFLECTION, so were not serious, so need not
be confessed.
 
                                      Sincerely in Christ,
                                      Father Mateo