Any Updates from those in RCIA?

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Dlee

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I’d love to hear how your RCIA process is going - we are starting with our group Sunday and we’re expecting nine people! Praise God.
 
I meant to respond to this yesterday, but I forgot. RCIA is going pretty well I think. I’ve been getting to know a few people in the parish, so that is nice. The lessons have been going ok I think. The group is still trying to get to know each other. People aren’t asking many questions. We aren’t having fruitful discussions. I hope it changes soon.
 
We have a really nice bunch of folks in our RCIA class and the deacon and other instructors are great. My husband is having a little trouble with the liturgy at Mass however - coming from a Baptist background, the parts of the service are utterly foreign except the Lord’s prayer. And unfortunately he’s hard of hearing which makes it hard to follow the service (the acoustics make it difficult with the echoing). His hearing aids don’t work so well with understanding the prayers and responses. I am thinking about getting him a daily missal so he could memorize the parts of the service, and also because he really likes the daily readings. Any suggestions on which missal might work best for him? I know they are pretty expensive so I don’t want to get something that won’t work for his needs. Our sons, like me, are finding the Mass very familiar as the parts of the service are so close to the Lutheran Divine Service, but we don’t want him to feel left behind on this journey. Thanks for your thoughts!
 
It is going great! I’m probably going to start learning more this week. The first weeks were not great though good because we were just building relationships
 
We have the largest group I have ever taught. They are very engaged and are asking excellent questions.
 
I was Baptist, too. Our church uses missalettes, which help me immensely. The Magnificat (subscription) is a good resource; it has all the daily Mass readings and responses. They have a discount price for RCIA participants. It’s encouraging to hear that you are in RCIA as a family!
 
The first few week, Inquiry, are about getting to know each other and like you say, build relationships. It’s exciting to see how the process grows week by week. Blessings.
 
Stilldreamn said:
I am thinking about getting him a daily missal so he could memorize the parts of the service, and also because he really likes the daily readings.
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The actual missal is expensive and not easy to use. There are subscription little magazine type books that are much easier to use. I like the Magnificat. It has all the readings, the order of the Mass, and reflections on the readings.
 
Mine is going well. The RCIA director wrote a book that’s been very informative that she uses during classes. The lectures are about 2 hours long and cover pretty much everything I’ve already read, but I’m still getting a lot of good meat.

Unfortunately, there has been zero interaction between all of us in RCIA. It’s a little awkward. I keep hoping she’ll have us introduce ourselves, but so far it’s just been lecture with no time for discussion at the end.

Is this normal for RCIA? I was hoping to hear more about why others have come to RCIA, but don’t want to seem as though I’m prying into their business.
 
I can only say from my experience - our Sunday RCIA is dismissal after the homily and lasts about 1.5 hours. We talk about the readings, what stood out to us individually, have community prayer time, etc. Every other Wednesday night is with the priest for about 2 hours, covering the Catholic teachings, sacraments. I would say Sundays more about relationship building and interaction with the local church. It all varies parish to parish depending on time constraints and structure. Hopefully you will get to know each other over time. We stressed today that RCIA is a safe environment, everything said and shared personally stays in the room. It’s a trust that probably has to develop. Blessings!
 
SarahKate said:
Unfortunately, there has been zero interaction between all of us in RCIA. It’s a little awkward. I keep hoping she’ll have us introduce ourselves, but so far it’s just been lecture with no time for discussion at the end.

Is this normal for RCIA
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No way that’s not normal.

I don’t even know how to respond to this…
 
As far as I know this is another year where there is no one enrolled in RCIA here. I don’t think an adult had been brought into the Catholic church here in a while…
 
Yikes. 😬 There’s about 14-15 of us. Should I say something to the director? Or maybe try to initiate conversation myself?
 
Horton said:
The actual missal is expensive and not easy to use. There are subscription little magazine type books that are much easier to use. I like the Magnificat. It has all the readings, the order of the Mass, and reflections on the readings.
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I absolutely agree, while I don’t use it personally; I have used it in the past. It’s excellent and very USER friendly too:smiley:
 
SarahKate said:
Yikes. 😬 There’s about 14-15 of us. Should I say something to the director? Or maybe try to initiate conversation myself?
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Yes, please do. If that fails, stay after class and have a personal chat with your concerns being mentioned. IF {GOD forbid} that doesn’t work, then YOU have a private conversation with either DRE {Parish Director of Religious Education} or your Pastor.

This is FAR too important to let it keep going this way. {I Co-taught RCIA for 3 years}

God Bless you, and keep US in the LOOP.
Patrick
 
Could it be that the priest recommends a neighbouring parish for RCIA so that there will be a group taught together and also a chance for the ones received to get to know other “Catholics to be”? I know my old parish priest did and in return he baptised some of the babies from the neighbouring parish when their church was so to say “fully booked”. We had several weddings as well and their priest or another one came at those times.

In some cities there is a cooperation between the parishes with things like teaching RCIA, feeding the hungry etc.
 
Say something. I did. I simply thanked him for the wonderful classes so far and asked if we were going to incorporate discussion into the class format.
 
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The woman teaching it is the parish’s director of adult and children’s education.
 
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