Martin was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church several years ago, and in
July 2003 was received into the membership of the local United Reformed Church
in the north of England, which had also nurtured his Christian faith. Here he
tells his story.
My background is an upbringing in the Catholic Church and the United Reformed
Church (URC). As far as confirmation goes, my story is unremarkable. I went
to a Catholic primary school, and was confirmed at thirteen. Thankfully, the
URC acknowledges Catholic confirmation, so I was and am able to see my confirmation
as into the ‘one holy, catholic and apostolic Church’.
Around three years later, the issue of confirmation in the URC would have been raised if I had not been confirmed already, and with it comes church membership. Normally, along with confirmation understood as being into the whole Christian Church, you are also received into the local congregation by the giving of the right hand of fellowship. As well as taking place for the first time at confirmation, this takes place ‘by transfer’ if you move from one URC congregation to another, or from another denomination to the URC.
None of these situations applied to me, as I was already confirmed, and I was certainly not leaving the Catholic Church. At this point the great URC word ‘normally’ comes into play (it or an equivalent is found all over URC documents and guidelines). My URC minister and I created a order of service based on the one used for reception into membership of a local church by transfer from another congregation, but with some of the wording omitted because I was not leaving any other congregation. I feel that what I have done shows that I am committed to both churches – confirmed in a Catholic church and ceremony, showing a commitment to that Church, but also a member of my URC congregation. While not perfect, it is very good and I am fortunate to have been able to do it this way.
Of course this raises issues about how to deal with being in both churches. One of these is communion, which is linked to the initiation issue and to the Catholic problem about eucharistic sharing. This I do not feel I need to face. Another is whether it is possible to belong equally in both, especially when the commitments made to the two churches are of different kinds. I do not know what my answer to that is, other than that I am seeking to belong permanently to both churches.
12.2.6