1 year RCIA, 2 year RCIA, or private instruction

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I can only speak from my own experieince, but when I converted in 1972 no RCIA was available. I was grateful for the tailored program I received: it was more or less a brief 2-week review by my priest of what I had learned between 8th and 11th grade in Catholic School religion classes.

I think it would be nice to divine RCIA into two streams: (1) those who are ready to come in, and (2) those who want to inquire for now. The first group would receive the sacraments of initiation, and then study while they get built up spiritually.

Thanks.
 
solperfrcc said:
I can only speak from my own experieince, but when I converted in 1972 no RCIA was available. I was grateful for the tailored program I received: it was more or less a brief 2-week review by my priest of what I had learned between 8th and 11th grade in Catholic School religion classes.

I think it would be nice to divine RCIA into two streams: (1) those who are ready to come in, and (2) those who want to inquire for now. The first group would receive the sacraments of initiation, and then study while they get built up spiritually.

Thanks.
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Actually properly done RCIA begins as one pool and then divides into three streams. The first pool is called Inquiry and all should be part of it for anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks.

Then those who are NOT Baptized go through the Rite of Acceptance and become Catechumens. Their preparation is the longest.

Those who are validly Baptized (this is investigated during Inquiry) go through the Rite of Welcome and become Candidates. Their preparation will vary depending on their Christian background.

The third are those Baptized as Catholics and possibly received their First Holy Communion but never catechized beyond that. They do not participate in either Rite, they are already Catholic and only require preparation for adult Confirmation.

The first group are Baptized at the Easter Vigil.
The second and third group can be received into the Church at any time of the year, when they are ready.
 
harrisunt said:
I don’t think the problem is that “no one” will come after acceptance into the church. Many people may not be willing to commit to another year or two of courses directly after RCIA. Also, why would you not allow your new members to begin interacting as if they are actually part of the parish. Why can’t they live and learn their lives like others in their Catholic family?

If you want to continue your spiritual journey beyond RCIA, which I will do and would recommend to others, that is your own prerogative and should not be dictated by the church.
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I’m not saying that additional Catechism should be required or that RICA people received into the church should not interact fully with the rest of the parish.

It has been my experience that 6-8 months of RCIA is not enough for those who desire more and there is very little, if any, organized Cathechism for adults after Confirmation. In my situation, any further studying has had to be totally independent. I am will and able to do that, but I don’t have a Catholic nuclear family to lean on. It’s a little lonely out here at times.

When I was in RCIA, we had classes until June when Easter Vigil was on April 15th. Less than a quarter of the class attended the classes after Easter Vigil.
 
harrisunt said:
Again, well said. I think if someone is truly 100% investing in their conversion that learning beyond RCIA won’t even have to be stressed. It will be longed for.
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Being initiated with the name of my Patron Saint was very important to me, yet this is a detail that is considered “unimportant” by so many RCIA leaders.

Make sure you get a Patron Saint for your Confirmation - it really does make a difference. 🙂
 
This is very important to me. In fact it is a subject of much internal debate right now as I try to look into the saints and find one that will fit me best.
 
jmcrae said:
Being initiated with the name of my Patron Saint was very important to me, yet this is a detail that is considered “unimportant” by so many RCIA leaders.

Make sure you get a Patron Saint for your Confirmation - it really does make a difference. 🙂
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This was a topic that was almost overlooked until someone asked about it. I chose Mary Elizabeth mostly for my grandmother, great grandmother and great aunt who were named Mary, Elizabeth and Mary Elizabeth. If you wan to attach saints to the names it would be the Virgin Mary and St Elizabeth of Hungary, as I am Hungarian. Apparently, I don’t really grasp the significance of a confirmation name except that I really wanted to remember three very important Catholic women in my life. They are the reason I converted.
 
LeahInancsi said:
This was a topic that was almost overlooked until someone asked about it. I chose Mary Elizabeth mostly for my grandmother, great grandmother and great aunt who were named Mary, Elizabeth and Mary Elizabeth. If you wan to attach saints to the names it would be the Virgin Mary and St Elizabeth of Hungary, as I am Hungarian. Apparently, I don’t really grasp the significance of a confirmation name except that I really wanted to remember three very important Catholic women in my life. They are the reason I converted.
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'Patron" is actually a word that comes from the business world - a patron is a behind-the-scenes billionaire who feeds money into a newly-started business, to keep it afloat during that crucial three years of getting established.

In the same way, when you have a Patron Saint, they feed you graces behind the scenes, to keep you going during the crucial period of time while you are still just learning how to be a Catholic.
 
The sad part of many of our RCIA candidates, who are welcomed into the church at Easter or those who receive their Confirmation…a good percentage are not seen again. I don’t understand it. I pray that the Holy Spirit will again awaken in them a hunger to be reconciled to the church. Some seeds fall on fertile ground and other’s do not. My prayer is that more will fall.
 
I can not vote in this poll as the option I want is not there.

Depends on the individual.
 
stbruno said:
The sad part of many of our RCIA candidates, who are welcomed into the church at Easter or those who receive their Confirmation…a good percentage are not seen again. I don’t understand it. I pray that the Holy Spirit will again awaken in them a hunger to be reconciled to the church. Some seeds fall on fertile ground and other’s do not. My prayer is that more will fall.
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A lot of them move to other parishes, but a lot of them discover after the fact that they don’t have the basic skills to survive as a Catholic - they don’t know how to go to Confession; they don’t know the responses of the Mass; they don’t know how to pray at home, etc. And they don’t know how to ask for help - they feel “stupid” because they have just completed what seems to them like a lengthy course on the subject, and they are embarrassed to admit to anyone that they have no idea what the heck they are doing - so they just quit, and hope that nobody notices.
 
Since this thread started I have noticed more and more the reasons that I myself would not continue in the RCIA program at my parish after confirmation. It is often disorganized, with little one on one attention. Our parish’s adult formation job is a part time position. There is simply too much for this person to do to have a part time person handle it. There are times that I have questions that may go unanswered for weeks on end because there is not enough time before/after class to ask and the organizer forgets during their limited time at the parish.
 
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