A couple of questions?

[alwayswondering]

Hi! So first of all, I’m a 17 year old female who has already done quite a bit of religious study in my short lifetime. I come from an extremely religious family…my grandfather was a pastor and most of my family to this day are pastors. I grew up this way, but once I was about 15 I become very interested in the LDS (Mormon) faith, where I studied that for about 6 months before attending there for about 8 months. After I realized that wasn’t right for me, I stopped going, and have basically completely fallen away from God since then. But recently, I’ve been very interested in the Catholic faith and find that I have similar personal beliefs with this faith.

First of all, I was wondering if I HAD to go to the parish closest to me? I personally would rather go to a parish a little further away, just because I’d feel strange going to a church and seeing SO many people I know from school there on a weekly basis. This is something I’d like to go through hidden, and not have attention drawn to myself and have questions asked or anything like that. I feel like I’d be able to focus on church better not having to see other Catholics I’m hardly acquainted with at a nearby parish.

Second, is RCIA classes. I’m not going to be 18 until March, so could I take them without parental permission? I would, fortunately in this case, have parental permission to take these classes, but was just curious about that. Since I’ll be 18 by the spring, would that affect my baptism? I’m just confused on the age situation.

In addition to my previous question about RCIA classes, how do I find out when they start or how I can start attending them? How will that process work?

Thank you so much!!

 

[Allegra]

You don’t usually have to register in the parish you live in, however some dioceses prefer it and will require you to get a letter from your “home parish” in order to register. That’s not usually a very big deal. In some places, they don’t seem to care at all.

 

[Heuchler]

Hi! So first of all, I’m a 17 year old female who has already done quite a bit of religious study in my short lifetime. I come from an extremely religious family…my grandfather was a pastor and most of my family to this day are pastors. I grew up this way, but once I was about 15 I become very interested in the LDS (Mormon) faith, where I studied that for about 6 months before attending there for about 8 months. After I realized that wasn’t right for me, I stopped going, and have basically completely fallen away from God since then. But recently, I’ve been very interested in the Catholic faith and find that I have similar personal beliefs with this faith.

First of all, I was wondering if I HAD to go to the parish closest to me? I personally would rather go to a parish a little further away, just because I’d feel strange going to a church and seeing SO many people I know from school there on a weekly basis. This is something I’d like to go through hidden, and not have attention drawn to myself and have questions asked or anything like that. I feel like I’d be able to focus on church better not having to see other Catholics I’m hardly acquainted with at a nearby parish.

Second, is RCIA classes. I’m not going to be 18 until March, so could I take them without parental permission? I would, fortunately in this case, have parental permission to take these classes, but was just curious about that. Since I’ll be 18 by the spring, would that affect my baptism? I’m just confused on the age situation.

In addition to my previous question about RCIA classes, how do I find out when they start or how I can start attending them? How will that process work?

Thank you so much!!

You don’t have to go to the nearest parish, and don’t worry about RCIA. They probably would want parental permission but might not even ask about it. Your age really should have no affect on anything else. You might have to get started now if you want to join the Church this Easter but otherwise I wouldn’t know of any way age would get in the way. And you would probably want to meet the priest to discuss RCIA and anything else about your situation. He should be able to explain how the parish does RCIA and what would be best for you.
And please remember that this is a very serious decision that you shouldn’t rush. Delve deep into our faith and work hard to discern if this is the truth no matter how long it takes. If you do this it will definitely pay off in the end. So, good luck and we hope to formally welcome you into the Church this Easter

 

[alwayswondering]

Thank you! I was LDS for some time in my life and I know how their “wards”, similar to parishes, are almost like school districts. You attend the ward closest to your home which is assigned to you, so I didn’t know if the Catholic church was like that too. Thank you!