Confession for RCIA Candidates And More on the Prayer of the Faithful

She may get a conditional baptism since she's not sure of the words used (does she know the denomination?) But that's at the discretion of her priest and after investigation, to-wit:

Can. 869 §1. If there is a doubt whether a person has been baptized or whether baptism was conferred validly and the doubt remains after a serious investigation, baptism is to be conferred conditionally.
§2. Those baptized in a non-Catholic ecclesial community must not be baptized conditionally unless, after an examination of the matter and the form of the words used in the conferral of baptism and a consideration of the intention of the baptized adult and the minister of the baptism, a serious reason exists to doubt the validity of the baptism.
§3. If in the cases mentioned in §§1 and 2 the conferral or validity of the baptism remains doubtful, baptism is not to be conferred until after the doctrine of the sacrament of baptism is explained to the person to be baptized, if an adult, and the reasons of the doubtful validity of the baptism are explained to the person or, in the case of an infant, to the parents.

She's going to have to clear this with her priest first, because if she's re-baptized that IIRC remits all sins committed prior to baptism. But if she's BEEN baptized already, she can confess beforehand.

I've found that priests are HAPPY to answer questions about stuff like this . . . I've never had one be grouchy or put me off, no matter how picky the question!

I suppose if she is having a "conditional" baptism, she could make a "conditional" confession, just to be on the safe side. I don't know what is kosher, but I wouldn't think it would hurt to make a confession. Ask a priest that you trust what should be done.

That being said could she go to confession now? Or does she have to wait for easter vigil?

That's an excellent 'follow up' question to submit to Fr. McNamara.

Readers may send questions to news@zenit.org. Please put the word "Liturgy" in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and your state, province or country.

Thank you, please do add me to your ping list. I am coming from a Baptist background, so much of the ceremonies and actions are new to me, but I feel much more comfortable and relaxed in mass than I ever did in other services.

Thank you, please do add me to your ping list.

You have been added to the ping list.

I am coming from a Baptist background, so much of the ceremonies and actions are new to me

A suggestion. If you have cable or satellite dish, check the listings for EWTN. Monday evenings at 8pm, Marcus Grodi (a convert) hosts a live program, The Journey Home. Each week, he invites a guest to discuss his journey into the Cathoic Church. A word of caution: it's addictive ;-).

but I feel much more comfortable and relaxed in mass than I ever did in other services.

From Scott Hahn’s The Lamb's Supper - The Mass as Heaven on Earth.
Foreword by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.
Part One - The Gift of the Mass

Hahn begins by describing the first mass he ever attended.

"There I stood, a man incognito, a Protestant minister in plainclothes, slipping into the back of a Catholic chapel in Milwaukee to witness my first Mass. Curiosity had driven me there, and I still didn't feel sure that it was healthy curiosity. Studying the writings of the earliest Christians, I'd found countless references to "the liturgy," "the Eucharist," "the sacrifice." For those first Christians, the Bible - the book I loved above all - was incomprehensible apart from the event that today's Catholics called "the Mass."

"I wanted to understand the early Christians; yet I'd had no experience of liturgy. So I persuaded myself to go and see, as a sort of academic exercise, but vowing all along that I would neither kneel nor take part in idolatry."

I took my seat in the shadows, in a pew at the very back of that basement chapel. Before me were a goodly number of worshipers, men and women of all ages. Their genuflections impressed me, as did their apparent concentration in prayer. Then a bell rang, and they all stood as the priest emerged from a door beside the altar.

Unsure of myself, I remained seated. For years, as an evangelical Calvinist, I'd been trained to believe that the Mass was the ultimate sacrilege a human could commit. The Mass, I had been taught, was a ritual that purported to "resacrifice Jesus Christ." So I would remain an observer. I would stay seated, with my Bible open beside me.

As the Mass moved on, however, something hit me. My Bible wasn't just beside me. It was before me - in the words of the Mass! One line was from Isaiah, another from Psalms, another from Paul. The experience was overwhelming. I wanted to stop everything and shout, "Hey, can I explain what's happening from Scripture? This is great!" Still, I maintained my observer status. I remained on the sidelines until I heard the priest pronounce the words of consecration: "This is My body . . . This is the cup of My blood."

Then I felt all my doubt drain away. As I saw the priest raise that white host, I felt a prayer surge from my heart in a whisper: "My Lord and my God. That's really you!"

I was what you might call a basket case from that point. I couldn't imagine a greater excitement than what those words had worked upon me. Yet the experience was intensified just a moment later, when I heard the congregation recite: "Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God," and the priest respond, "This is the Lamb of God . . ." as he raised the host. In less than a minute, the phrase "Lamb of God" had rung out four times. From long years of studying the Bible, I immediately knew where I was. I was in the Book of Revelation, where Jesus is called the Lamb no less than twenty-eight times in twenty-two chapters. I was at the marriage feast that John describes at the end of that very last book of the Bible. I was before the throne of heaven, where Jesus is hailed forever as the Lamb. I wasn't ready for this, though - I was at Mass!

“We have several members who have already swum the Tiber and still others who, like you, are midstream. . .”

Some of us have one foot in the water and another on the beach, mustering the courage to dive in and swim.