Before RCIA

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Confiteor_Deo

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I was recently talking with someone who had just decided to join RCIA and it got me thinking about how people converted to the Faith before RCIA was established. RCIA seems relatively new and it isn’t really used in traditional parishes from what I can tell (I’m not sure why this is), so before RCIA came around, how did people convert to the Catholic Faith? Was there a process similar to that of RCIA and were there rites in the Traditional Latin Mass for converts?
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
I was recently talking with someone who had just decided to join RCIA and it got me thinking about how people converted to the Faith before RCIA was established. RCIA seems relatively new and it isn’t really used in traditional parishes from what I can tell (I’m not sure why this is), so before RCIA came around, how did people convert to the Catholic Faith? Was there a process similar to that of RCIA and were there rites in the Traditional Latin Mass for converts?
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Good question.

I co-taught RCIA for 3 years and don’t know the answer. Tried to GOOGLE it but no luck on its history.

It seems reasonable though that some sort of organized program has “always” existed as there has long been converts in need of faith formation.

I do know that in the Ancient Church New Faith formation lasted a period of years; and that was before there was 2,000 YEARS of history, Tradition, Doctrine and Dogma to share.

God Bless
Patrick
 
I had private instruction with a priest. I was received into the Church 19 December 1993 after a year and three months of private instruction.
 
I remember people going to an Inquiry Class where they could ask questions.

If they wanted to continue, then the priest would give them instructions.
 
Private instruction for a year, became Catholic in 1976. For a few years I helped in RCIA - I think it’s excellent. One gets a better idea of the Church being a group rather than just individuals.

There was no “traditional Latin mass” in the '70s.
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
I was recently talking with someone who had just decided to join RCIA and it got me thinking about how people converted to the Faith before RCIA was established. RCIA seems relatively new and it isn’t really used in traditional parishes from what I can tell (I’m not sure why this is), so before RCIA came around, how did people convert to the Catholic Faith? Was there a process similar to that of RCIA and were there rites in the Traditional Latin Mass for converts?
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I have seen a course called “The Priest’s Guide to Inquiry Classes” that was written in 1957 for priests to guide them in instructing Inquirers. It provides a 24-lesson syllabus and then direct preparation for the Sacraments, followed by reception into the Church with First Confession, Conditional Baptism and First Holy Communion. The expectation was stated that they would receive the Sacrament of Confirmation the next time the Bishop visited the parish (preferably within a year).

It also mentions the preference for gathering a group together and doing everyone all at once instead of trying to deal with people one at a time or privately, and has suggestions for dealing with group dynamics, and what to do with the slow students. It was assumed that most of the students had a college education and were bright and curious.
 
As other said it was genearly through individual instruction.

WhIle some won’t admit it, it is still an option today. My wife and I are friends with another couple where the wife was Catholic and the husband was a baptized non-Catholic (I think methodist but don’t remember). About 7 or 8 years after they got married, he approached the pastor and half jokingly asked him since he had been coming to Mass every week with his wife and children for 7+ years if he was a common law Catholic. Father met with him over a 6 to 8 week period and he was received without any of the rites that preceeded reception in modern RCIA programs. That was a few years ago in a large parish so it wasn’t a function of parish size or shortly after RCIA was introduced. I understand that many small parishes still use individual instruction also.
 
Private instruction is still common place, as is shortened RCIA attendance for those wishing to join the Church in full communion from other faith traditions (“Conversion” and “converts” are misused terms).

I have, as a certified catechist and RCIA team member, been called on by our Pastor to provide private instruction to many, and I myself attended RCIA before coming into the Church from the last week in November until the Saturday before Ash Wednesday after the Director of Religious Education and the Pastor evaluated my several years of self-catechesis.

So, I imagine things have changed, but not all that much, over the centuries.
 
Usige said:
As other said it was genearly through individual instruction.

WhIle some won’t admit it, it is still an option today. My wife and I are friends with another couple where the wife was Catholic and the husband was a baptized non-Catholic (I think methodist but don’t remember). About 7 or 8 years after they got married, he approached the pastor and half jokingly asked him since he had been coming to Mass every week with his wife and children for 7+ years if he was a common law Catholic. Father met with him over a 6 to 8 week period and he was received without any of the rites that preceeded reception in modern RCIA programs. That was a few years ago in a large parish so it wasn’t a function of parish size or shortly after RCIA was introduced. I understand that many small parishes still use individual instruction also.
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Same for my husband, except he had been attending Mass regularly with the kids and me for 26 years. He just email our pastor and asked to join. They met 2 times and was invited by Fr. to join at Easter. When the RCIA team found out they were hoppen mad and to avoid any hard feelings with the team, Fr. had to receive him privately before the Vigil.
 
When I first approached a Priest about conversion, he had a little talk with me, gave me a tour of the parish, gave me a little folder of basic Catechesis that he wrote, and said he would Baptize me whenever I felt ready. I had heard about RCIA, and so I very stupidly assumed this particular Priest was a bit on the “liberal” side. This Priest is actually rather traditionalist in orientation, and he’s absolutely wonderful.

Well, I had too much sin in my life, and it took me another 10 years or so to attend RCIA and to finally receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. I’ve often regretted not only waiting so long, but maybe even the whole idea of RCIA altogether.

Our RCIA is actually led by a Dominican Friar, and I absolutely loved the talks and all of that, but I do think it would have been so much nicer simply to be received into the Church, and to get more detailed formation later. I would have been willing to have been Baptized almost immediately, and I’m sincerely not convinced that RCIA really did much for me other than give me a very enjoyable thing to do on Wednesday nights. I was as intellectually convinced of the Church’s claims as I was ever going to be that side of being in a state of sanctifying grace.

ANYWAY, my point is just that I appreciate “going back to what the early Church apparently did,” but I’m not so sure non-private instruction is a bad idea, and I wish I had taken advantage of it when I could have. My life certainly would have been different, and thank God that He still gave me graces to convert.
 
My husband joined the Church after meeting a remarkable Priest, named Father John, who also put him through the RCIA class … I think it’s a great tool and makes it so much easier for people.
 
Katherine438 said:
My husband joined the Church after meeting a remarkable Priest, named Father John, who also put him through the RCIA class … I think it’s a great tool and makes it so much easier for people.
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Thank you, MIGHT this be Father John Hardon S.J.?

God Bless you

Patrick
 
I heard from a lady who converted in the 1960’s she just met up with the priest a few times and got blessings. That was it.
 
Blue_Rose said:
I heard from a lady who converted in the 1960’s she just met up with the priest a few times and got blessings. That was it.
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Yes BUT you don’t KNOW her prior Faith formation history which plays a critical role:)
 
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