Calling all converts! RCIA horror stories for your perusal

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scriabin

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I’ve been through RCIA three times: me, my wife, and my sister.

After an emotional conversion experience (Protestants would say , “born again”) and after reading Fr. Hardon’s catechism back 1991, I wanted to join the true Church.

So I knocked on the nearest Catholic Church door and went in, “I’d like to be baptized this weekend and become Catholic.”

Needless to say, I was in for a surprise…

Anyhow, to start our stories, which I hope others will share theirs(because mine are tame by comparison with the stories I’ve heard over the years):

We were discussing the meaning of the words in the Creed. A sponsor who was teaching us the meaning of the phrase “communion of Saints” explained that this meant that everyone in the room could all count on each other in times of personal crisis.
“What about the Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant? What about praying for the souls in Purgatory?” I asked.
“I don’t believe in those things,” he replied.

We were discussing baptism. “What do you think it means, Dave?” the RCIA coordinater asked.
The fellow RCIA-er described it as a washing away of the effects of original sin.
“The Catholic Church doesn’t teach that anymore, Dave.”

Inspite of these doctrinal errors in teaching I continued to persevere and I can honestly say that it was only by God’s grace that I remained in that program.

I could go on and on; but your stories are what I’m curious to hear.

What do you think of RCIA overall?
 
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scriabin:
I’ve been through RCIA three times: me, my wife, and my sister.

After an emotional conversion experience (Protestants would say , “born again”) and after reading Fr. Hardon’s catechism back 1991, I wanted to join the true Church.

So I knocked on the nearest Catholic Church door and went in, “I’d like to be baptized this weekend and become Catholic.”

Needless to say, I was in for a surprise…

Anyhow, to start our stories, which I hope others will share theirs(because mine are tame by comparison with the stories I’ve heard over the years):

We were discussing the meaning of the words in the Creed. A sponsor who was teaching us the meaning of the phrase “communion of Saints” explained that this meant that everyone in the room could all count on each other in times of personal crisis.
“What about the Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant? What about praying for the souls in Purgatory?” I asked.
“I don’t believe in those things,” he replied.

We were discussing baptism. “What do you think it means, Dave?” the RCIA coordinater asked.
The fellow RCIA-er described it as a washing away of the effects of original sin.
“The Catholic Church doesn’t teach that anymore, Dave.”

Inspite of these doctrinal errors in teaching I continued to persevere and I can honestly say that it was only by God’s grace that I remained in that program.

I could go on and on; but your stories are what I’m curious to hear.

What do you think of RCIA overall?
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Sadly most parishes don’t have pre-requisites for the laity teaching RCIA. Similarliy I found that when I went through RCIA that sometimes I would be teaching the instructors (thanks to Catholic Answers). So now help out with RCIA, I love it. Lucily when I went through RCIA there was nothing heretical said.
 
Or you could have the opposite. Every unapproved apparition, superstition and venue being exaulted as fact.

Nothing better than the “Three Days of Darkness” to chase every Protestant who wants a good explaination of why we don’t pray to statues, far, far away.
 
In the 4 parishes in 3 dioceses which I have been part of the RCIA team over 20 years, my experience is that this is the most difficult ministry for which to attract competent volunteers. The best are those who themselves entered the Church through RCIA, and your stories tell why. In most parishes if there is a paid pastoral staff member with responsibility, it is a “sideline” to their other duties, not a priority, and like CCD “warm bodies” are gratefully accepted as volunteers. The hardest part is to get sponsors because of the time commitment of at least a year of Sundays.
 
Oh, I’ve got stories.

But I’m going through RCIA still, even though I’ve already been baptized, had first penance/communion, went to Catholic school my whole life, etc. …I was never confirmed so I have to go through this nonsense when not even trying to sound braggy but I could teach the class better than the teacher. But my husband is going through it for the whole thing or I don’t think I would be continuing with it. I’m there for his sake. And this class has done nothing at all for him - we have a meeting with our priest coming up to discuss this very thing and see what we can do to help him out.

The whole RCIA thing makes me so mad I can’t even talk about all of it here. Suffice it to say my parish is very, very disappointing in this area. It’s disorganized and worthless as far as teaching new converts anything about the basics of the faith. It’s really, really sad that it’s not just my parish too but obviously a problem everywhere.

Those of you that have had good RCIA experiences, thank the good Lord that you didn’t have to go through this stuff.

And it’s not even over yet. 😦 Easter can’t get here fast enough.
 
The first RCIA class I went to was taught by a lady who wanted to be a priestess and thought everyone can get to heaven by being good. I immediately left that parish and found an RCIA class taught by a Domincan priest (a priest who is unapologetically Catholic and orthodox), I actually look forward to RCIA now.

As for the other RCIA instructor I think her days are numbered, at least I hope they are. I wrote a letter to the parish president explaining my disgust and I included a copy of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.
 
Nothing really bad as happened in RCIA since the last time I was in it (which was, a week before my Confirmation). Though I go to a good parish.

The best part was when we had a retreat at the parish and we learned the 7 Sacraments (and they fed us lunch!)!

I hope all goes well for you!😦 I’m sorry to hear about your RCIA experiences. Sometimes these people who don’t teach the Truth need a good slap across the face! unity.enya.com/images/smiles/smiles_crazy.gif

I HOPE you get “fed” the Truth from RCIA! Good thing you know more than the RCIA people!👍 Hey, you could teach RCIA someday![unity.enya.com/images/smiles/smiles_grin.gif](javascript:insertsmilie(’😁’))
 
The day of the Easter Vigil our RCIA group had a short retreat.

The Benedictine monk in charge of RCIA at that time asked if anyone had any questions. A rather bright candidate raised his hand and asked “Does the Church still teach that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ or has that changed?”

3/4 of the group looked at the monk as if to say “good question! what’s the answer?” the rest looked on in disbelief and horror.

3/4 of that group (those that not do any outside studying) should have remained in the catecuminate for another 6 months, while the monk was replaced (which did happen.)
 
So sorry to hear of all these difficulties on the way to be coming Catholic. I thank God for wonderful parents and rich Catholic environment in which I was raised. What obstacles all of you have overcome with the grace of God. Unfortunately I am witnessing similar situations in our parish programmes. Lay people with little knowledge of the Faith taking on positions of responsibility and then misinforming others or trying out new ideas etc.Even the material that is being used as part of some programmes is awful. We have a series of video tapes used in our parish which leave alot to be desired. I do think the tide is turning though. Enough of us are getting fed up with certain agenda and are making moves to return to way things should be. There are still some of us out here who won’t steer you the wrong direction Take heart.
 
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Celia:
Oh, I’ve got stories.

But I’m going through RCIA still, even though I’ve already been baptized, had first penance/communion, went to Catholic school my whole life, etc. …I was never confirmed so I have to go through this nonsense when not even trying to sound braggy but I could teach the class better than the teacher…The whole RCIA thing makes me so mad I can’t even talk about all of it here.
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When I went through it, the instructors were all volunteers over the age of 45. They were good at teaching devotions and how to live as a faithful Christian, but when it came to church dogmas and the history behind them, that was not so good. Our priest would teach about the sacraments, but it was hard for him to get everyone’s attention. So now I’m involved with RCIA, I love it. Thanks to Catholic Answers I am able to explain church dogmas in English, not in scientific terms. Also Catholic Answers and Patrick Madrid have taught me where these things are found in the Bible. So I place an emphasis on the scripture, since many of the people coming into the Church are from a Sola Scriptura background.
 
I’m going through RCIA for the first time. I have a few complaints. One, it’s too fast. No way anyone can get all this down in the 8 months(?) it lasts. I have NO time for extra studying. The class doesn’t get into much detail. Two, the other folks in my class are still strangers to me. I don’t feel comfortable talking in front of them. Three, I just don’t like it. But, if it gets me into Church, I’ll do anything to get into the Church.
 
I first started taking RCIA at St. Michaels in Miami in 1991, and it was being taught by a FANTASTIC priest named Father Dan Crahin. Then he got called away by his order. When he left, I stopped taking RCIA for several years.
Then I moved. In 1998 I decided to get into the Church seriously, so I started taking RCIA at my new parish church. It was taught by our Priest who was definitely “AMCHURCH” material to say the least. He ridiculed the pope, ridiculed the hierarchical structure of the Church, ridiculed the fact that women aren’t ordained priests, hinted that homosexuality wasn’t so bad, taught that all the other Christian churches are just as good as the Catholic church, yada yada yada. In the course of this RCIA, two students were so appalled by what they were being taught that they left and joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses. A young Jewish man who was converting decided not to convert and dropped out.
I was often so upset after class that it took me a good while to “unwind” after I got home. After being confirmed, I gave my fellow RCIA students copies of the catechism called LIFE IN CHRIST to sort of make up for the trashy teaching they had received in RCIA.
Jaypeeto3
 
You know those Jesus fish that people have on their cars, and how that was the symbol that early Christians used to secretly signal they were Christians?

Yeah, that’s the reason Catholics ate fish on Fridays for so many years.

Oh yeah, and also, if you dont want to eat fish, just take a bite of meat and then say to your family, “oh! I forgot! Oh well…”
 
I finally made it through RCIA after a few attempts.

Mid-year the first year, I moved. I didn’t mind, though. The classes were too long and too boring. I was tired and stressed from starting a new job and living on my own and going to the class just seemed like a waste of my time. To say the least I didn’t learn much during the time I was there. I also didn’t like the fact that the RCIA instructor called me up and asked me about my ‘personal relations’ with my fiance (now husband) who lived on a totally different continent. Thought that should have been a question the priest and I should have to discuss (I didn’t discuss it with her by the way because I didn’t think it was any of her business).

I moved and tried to join the group at my next military installation to be told that there was no RCIA group because they all deployed. Still didn’t join the year after that.

We moved again to and started RCIA again. I finally made it through, but didn’t learn anything that I already didn’t know (only to find out later through a Bible Study on the Creed on how much I didn’t know!).

If I ran RCIA, I would start by something that looks so easy, but is very complicated - the creed. Reviewing the creed, line by line with Biblical refrences and CCC would have been the best instruction because it deals with just about everything.
 
Yeah, I’m going through RCIA now and no one knows much of anything (in terms of doctrine, theology, etc.). It is frustrating to be in a setting where you want so badly to learn yet you feel like you should be teaching them.

In my Protestant background, every member was a kind of “little theologian.”

But I’ve come to see the experience as a lesson in taming my pride. To be sure, there are plent of humbling things that have occurred, such as practical issues I previously knew nothing about, i.e. genuflecting, holy water use, etc.
 
Not to excuse the questionable quality of some RCIA programs, but they have at least inspired me to do a lot of research on my own and bring what I’ve discovered back to the class. A lot of times it’s a case of what you, the catechumen or candidate, brings to the class. I don’t think anyone’s paying any hard cash for “tuition” for these meetings, so why not make the most by inspiring discussion with your questions, doubts and insight? It’s your inquiry, so take over the class if you must! Then during next year’s RCIA, perhaps you will be teaching the class!
 
Yes I have often wondered what exactly are the qualifications needed to work in RCIA or DRE. Sometimes it seems like you have to be ignorant of the real faith, cow toe to people above you, be easily led, but still have a stubborn streak about your own wrong agenda. So many people have their own ideas about how they think things should be. Thank God for the magisterium, and wonderful priests, such as Fr Hardon, and Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Though both deceased their books, and tapes are available and nourishing.
 
Recently, I joined the RCIA program in my parish as one of the ‘leaders’. There were no qualification questions nor any requirements that I would have to take some classes, etc. We relay on ‘Catholic Updates’ a lot. Basically the entire program is based on them. Each of the RCIA students received the NAB, but I am not sure if they were given Catechisms. It seems that I am the only one who brings it to meetings. I do not have any religious training per say, but try to prepare myself to each meeting reading Catholic Updates and especially the Cathechism.
 
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