The Reception of Converts, EF style

Two Sundays ago at Assumption Church in Windsor, Canada, we had the opportunity to witness the reception of a convert into the Catholic Church according to the traditional, older form of the Roman Rite. I did not know what to expect, but I was forcibly struck by the power of the language in places. Compare the language of this rite, if you will, with the contemporary rite of reception as you may have previously witnessed it, and see if are not struck by its remarkable explicitness, to the point that many contemporary Catholics would probably find it so offensive as to deny that it represents the same Catholic Faith to which they now adhere.

Much of the rite, even the part spoken in English by the convert, were all-but inaudible from where I was seated, although it was easy enough to follow what was going on from the printed forms that were handed out before Mass. (The inaudibility might have frustrated someone expecting microphones and amplification for the congregation, but I have long ago learned not to expect this in rites of the traditional form, where the assumption seems to be that whatever is spoken is not principally directed to the congregation but to God.)

The rite of reception came after the Homily and immediately before Offertory. It took a considerable time to complete. I did not time the event, but the printed form ran to seven pages (see the link to the full text of the ceremony at foot of this post).

Here I will focus only on the opening portion of the rite, which begins (if the Sacrament of Baptism is not conferred absolutely) with The Profession of Faith, as follows. The priest, vested in surplice and violet stole, put on his biretta and sat before the Epistle side of the altar. The convert knelt before him at a prie-dieu and placed her right hand on either a Missal or Book of the Gospels, and read in English the following formula, entitled "The Abjuration" (which may also be repeated after the priest). All added emphasis in bold is my own:

I, N.N., ______ years of age, born outside the Catholic Church, have held and believed errors contrary to her teaching. Now, enlightened by divine grace, I kneel before you, Reverend Father ______________, having before my eyes and touching with my hand the Holy Gospels; and with a firm faith I believe and profess each and all the articles contained in the Apostles' Creed ...

I admit and embrace most firmly the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all the other constitutions and prescriptions of the Church.

I admit the Sacred Scriptures according to the sense which has been held and which is still held by Holy Mother Church, whose duty it is to judge the true sense and interpretation of Sacred Scriptures, and I shall never accept or interpret them except according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

I profess that the Sacraments of the New Law are, truly and precisely, seven in number ...

I also accept and admit the ritual of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the above mentioned Sacraments.

I accept and hold, in each and every part, all that has been defined and declared by the Sacred Council of Trent concerning original sin and justification. I profess that in the Mass is offered to God a true, real, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist there is really, truly, and substantially the Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there takes place what the Church calls transubstantiation, that is, the change of all the substance of the bread into the Body, and of all the substance of the wine into the Blood. I confess also that in receiving under either of these species, one receives Jesus Christ, whole and entire.

I firmly hold that Purgatory exists and that the souls detained there can be helped by the prayers of the faithful. Likewise I hold that the saints, who reign with Jesus Christ, should be venerated and invoked, that they offer prayers to God for us and that their relics are to be venerated.

I profess firmly that the images of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, ever Virgin, as well as of all the saints, should be given due honor and veneration. I also affirm that Jesus Christ left to the Church the faculty to grant Indulgences, and that their use is most salutary to the Christian people. I recognize the Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as the mother and teacher of all the churches, and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ.

Besides, I accept, without hesitation, and profess all that has been handed down, defined, and declared by the Sacred Canons and by the general Councils, especially by the Sacred council of Trent and by the Vatican General Council, and in a special manner concerning the primacy and infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. At the same time I condemn and reprove all that the Church has condemned and reproved. This same Catholic Faith, outside of which nobody can be saved, which I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, the same I promise and swear to maintain and profess, with the help of God, entire, inviolate, and with firm constancy until the last breath of my life; and I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same Faith shall be held, taught, and publicly professed by all those who depend on me, and by those of whom I shall have charge.

So help me god and these holy Gospels.

The priest, remaining seated, says or chants Psalm 150 in Latin (with the congregation following the English printed translations, if necessary). Then, removing his biretta, he says the Kyrie, the Pater Noster, and a prayer invoking God's providence and forgiveness for His handmaid (the convert) "bound by the fetters of excommunication." Then, sitting, and putting on his biretta, he absolves the convert from the bond of excommunication (or substitutes the term "forsan" if there is a doubt whether or not the convert has actually incurred excommunication by the error which he or she has abjured).

Then follows the Sacrament of Confirmation, concluding with the priest signing the convert on the forehead with his thumb dipped in Holy Chrism, then gently striking the cheek of the convert, according to longstanding tradition, declaring "Peace be with you," and blessing the confirmand.

Addendum: Link to full text of the ceremony.