Calling all converts! RCIA horror stories for your perusal

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I am currently in RCIA in a wonderful parish in Westminster, MD. I have to say that I feel very blessed considering what you all have had to endure. We have a great Religious Ed Director and he has been blessed to have recruited about a dozen good RCIA instructors, plus we have 3 priests (very orthodox 👍 ) who alternate each week in teaching doctrine.

Although I took 2 years to dig into much of my own doctrinal research before entering the program, I have found the teachings on some of the disciplines, lives of the saints, and on the rituals/traditions just as helpful as anything, since that’s where my knowlege is most lacking.

So I will approach my Easter Vigil with a thankful heart, knowing I ended up in a great place on my first shot. 🙂

From what I can tell, just by hanging around CA forums for a couple of months, I think the Church has been through quite a trauma over the last few decades, with Liberals trying to corrupt, scandals wreaking havoc…seams like the tares and the wheat are possibly being sorted already. The faithful stood their ground, and things are starting to turn with this new generation coming up. Hang in there everyone, you may be called upon to keep the turning happening! What’s that saying, “for such a time as this?”

God Bless,
Jeanette
 
“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.” I’ve wondered that same thing myself! In the eight years I’ve been Catholic, I’ve been a member of 3 different parishes, and only one has had an orthodox Catholic as DRE (and that was only the last year we were at the parish). I was beginning to think being a heretic was a requirement for being a DRE.

" 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" AMEN!

My own experience in RCIA: the RCIA program in the parish where I entered the Church was lectionary based. There was no systematic presentation of Church teaching. I had already spent several months intensely studying Catholic teaching before I even decided to enter RCIA, so I wasn’t dependent upon learning Catholic teaching from the program. If I had been, I would have learned very little (and so could have probably applied for a DRE position somewhere.) My husband attended RCIA with me, and he didn’t do any studying on his own, and he wound up learning only what he learned from me. I remember the DRE taking us into the sanctuary, pointing to the tabernacle, and saying, "Christ isn’t present there if He isn’t present in the “community.” I wasn’t an expert in Catholic theology, but that sounded fishy to me --making Christ’s presence dependent upon us, which seemed rather upside down to me. We often had members from the parish come and talk to us about different things (everything except doctrine!), and one woman told us, “Father may not like this, but I say if you’re not ‘getting it’ in the Catholic Church, then go somewhere else.” Wow, what a thing to tell people seeking the true Church and true Faith! I wonder how many seekers turn away from the Church when they hear drivel like that from Catholics? Another member of the parish gave us a “tour” of the sanctuary and commented that the reason we didn’t have alot of statues (only one small statue of the Blessed Mother in the whole sanctuary, and an image of the resurrected Christ over the altar – no crucifix) was that we didn’t “need” those things any more since we have the Bible. Hmmm.

I am indebted to two faithful Catholics who owned a Catholic bookstore where I lived at the time, who taught me many things (like how to properly and reverently receive Our Lord in the Eucharist) that weren’t addressed or barely addressed in RCIA. God bless them – I wish they had been in charge of our RCIA program.

I can honestly say that more than 90% of what I’ve learned about the Catholic faith has been through my own study --taking the time to read books and magazines, to listen to tapes, talk to other knowledgeable Catholics. I’ve learned very little from homilies at Mass, which are largely milk with little meat. I do think we need more catechesis on Sunday for adults. Every parish I’ve attended has had religious education programs for children and teens, but little for adults. And many of the Catholics I’ve met seem to think they’ve learned it all in CCD and once they “graduate” from CCD there’s nothing left to learn. I’m trying to do something about that at my current parish. I’ve been involved in a women’s Bible study at my parish, most of whom who attend are cradle Catholics. I’ve been astonished at what they don’t know, and they regularly ask me questions about what the Church teaches on various things because they don’t know themselves. I’ve even had to defend Church teaching and practices, which has been a rather odd position to be in --the convert having to defend Catholic beliefs to other Catholics. All this has taught me to focus on the divine nature of the Church – because if I focused too much on the human I would have become discouraged long ago.
 
I am fortunate to not only be in a good RCIA program for the most part, but my sponsor has a Masters in Theology and she is awesome! She is also one of the instructors and when its her turn, talk about learning! I am very fortunate in that respect. Even still, I am reading and learning on my own. It has really helped me as I progress along the path to confirmation/communion. There are a couple of instructors that are weak as far as teaching goes, but the rest are great. I am really happy.

Tamie W
 
Hi

I’m in my second year instructing/coordinating RCIA. I am so thankful to have been trained by the priest I worked with last year. He insisted on orthodoxy.

This year, when I was working without him, I insisted on orthodoxy.

We give our candidates catechisms. This year, we used the Knights of Columbus pamphlets as our ‘text’.

Responsibility for talks is shared by myself, the other co-ordinator (who is doing this for the first time), the Pastoral Associates from the parish (we’re a military parish. They function as chaplains, but are lay-people), and a few chosen parishioners. All but the PAs are volunteers.

Most of the talks have been good, but we have one PA who consistently trots out his favourite dissents. Had I known this would be such a problem when he volunteered (and he was the only PA who volunteered to do TWO talks!), I would not have allowed him more than one spot. As it was, the co-coordinator was doing a fair bit of damage control. I was away at the time.

The woman I am sponsoring said of the first talk “I don’t think he did any real damage. he was all over the place so we couldn’t follow him anyway” The talk was on Faith. Fortunately, two of our helpers stormed him with correct teaching, so the candidates knew he was giving opinion rather than teaching.

This PA was supplied with an outline for his second talk and asked to stick to it. He did, with frequent references to “X wants me to talk about this”. Then his last line before leaving the group was that Jesus said ‘no’ to God when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

When I heard of this, I decided this PA would not be invited back.

We have been without any real (name removed by moderator)ut from priests so far this year. And the PAs can’t always be relied on for help, although they’re supposed to. I am hoping this changes very soon. None of the candidates have been interviewed, with one exception who started her classes elsewhere. Our (fortunately) only canonical issue was dealt with by ME…if I had been totally clueless, it wouldn’t have been dealt with at all.

I’m glad we have a motivated bunch and great sponsors this year!
 
5-Decades-a-Day said:
Where do they find these RCIA teachers?!?
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we hear you, no need to shout, have you volunteered as an RCIA catechist or sponsor in your parish? if not, why not? if you have not yet been confirmed or been received in the church, please consider volunteering as soon as you are able, newbies make the best catechists and volunteers. If there is a vacuum because reliable faith-filled practicing Catholics do not evangelize and hand on the faith they have received, the vacuum will be filled by those who are not qualified, who are shaky in their beliefs and practice, and they will continue to infect our Church. Every believing practicing Catholic who is not evangelizing is failing in their baptismal duty and commitment.
 
Yes Veritas,there are alot more of us with the same thinking. Thank God the tide is turning. Press on. I believe that EWTN network is one of the finest envangelical tools we have in the church today. So many people have been awakened in their faith and are hungry for real catechesis for themselves and their children. We are not willing to be bossed around by the so called expert DRE’s and Liturgical Directors any more. Oh for a thousand more like yourself!!! Praise God.
 
My friend told me that during his RCIA time, they taught him about St. Martin Luther and St. Ghandi.

Needless to say, he didn’t keep quiet. It’s amazing he even became Catholic.
 
RCIA needs to learn from others. How about a basic set of lessons that everyone uses. It would eliminate allot of the problems. I had to call and call and call to get someone to return my phone calls just to tell me when and where RCIA would be. Then I was told oops sorry we aren’t doing RCIA in this parish this year but a neighboring parish was so we were switched.
 
My RCIA class if often a crack up. My favorite time was when my friend and I (who are both Protestant converts, along with our husbands) started talking about the Church’s teaching on birth control during a round-table discussion. These Catholic women actually had the nerve to tell us that the Church doesn’t really teach that anymore! The nerve! I have found over and over again that we Protestant converts know an insane amount more than our cradle Catholic friends.
 
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katiedidbug:
My RCIA class if often a crack up. My favorite time was when my friend and I (who are both Protestant converts, along with our husbands) started talking about the Church’s teaching on birth control during a round-table discussion. These Catholic women actually had the nerve to tell us that the Church doesn’t really teach that anymore! The nerve! I have found over and over again that we Protestant converts know an insane amount more than our cradle Catholic friends.
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What a coincidence! The same thing happened in my RCIA class.
 
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Everyman:
My friend told me that during his RCIA time, they taught him about St. Martin Luther and St. Ghandi.

Needless to say, he didn’t keep quiet. It’s amazing he even became Catholic.
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Didn’t you know? This is why God is sending all of us converts into the Church. :getholy:
 
In my Parrish RCIA is taken so seriously that our Priests personally run it. For a couple of presentations they allow orthodox lay presenters and have a team to cover handling out of materials and snacks. This approach has worked well and we average about 35 to 40 new converts per year. Also, in our classes any parishioner can attend the sessions as a refresher; which my wife and I took advantage of.
 
Yes the Parish over from us has the Priest in charge also.
Very fortunate for those Converts.
Having always been Catholic, I am so sorry to hear of the awful teaching some of you have been subjected to. However I can assure you that some of us who have always been Catholic do know our Faith and are faithful to the Magisterium. Welcome.God Bless
 
Had a maddening experience just yesterday:

I was explaining to the class that my Convalidation is upcoming and since one of the instructors, whom I respect a great deal, asked if the class could observe. I said “Sure.” Another of the instructors asked about what Convalidation was and I explained and she shrugged and said, “Sounds complicated.” Supressing my urge to say, “Then you shouldn’t be teaching this class!!!”, the instructor I like responded to her, “It’s not complicated. It’s simple. His marriage is being witnessed by the Church.” I’m glad she said that, because I was ready to explode! I’m glad I didn’t and moved on. Then, later when the bad instructor was talking, she said “When you become Catholic…since none of you are Catholic yet…” even though two of us are Baptized Catholics, I then corrected her. Consequently, the rest of the class didn’t even volunteer to read that day’s readings! I think my classmates knew the instructor was out of line. Overrall, a very tense and unfulfilling experience. I am glad I didn’t lash out, though.
 
My RCIA experience hasn’t been good at all.

The fire that I had seems to be gone. I just don’t care one way or another…and since I feel that way I’ve decided to wait to join the church.

An example is when the instructor told everyone that most people don’t need confession because they haven’t killed anyone. :mad:
I said confession is more than just “Thou shalt not kill” :eek:
The one time our priest came to talk it was about the Sacrament of Reconciliation I thought he’d set things straight. I had tears in my eyes because I was so happy to FINALLY hear it from the priest. The whole class would finally know there is more to this Sacrament.
Father started by saying, “Confession is often misunderstood.”
I’m about to cry…thinking THANK YOU!! Finally some truth. 👍

Father explained we can confess our sins straight to God.
We pay for our sins here on earth…most people don’t kill, but if they do they go to jail. I asked about fixing our relationship with God. Confession isn’t about that, he told the class. Plus, the fact that most people could handle coming to confession maybe every four months because they don’t commit big sins. Focusing it’s about fixing our relationship with our community, not God. I left that class feeling like there is no need to go to confession…that’s not what I had been feeling.

😦 :confused:

I’m not sure how indepth the instruction in RCIA is supposed to be. For Baptism, we watch a video of a baby being baptised. That’s it. No discussion of scripture. A video…and we left earlier than usual because the video didn’t take up the entire class time.
 
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Maria3m:
My RCIA experience hasn’t been good at all.

The fire that I had seems to be gone. I just don’t care one way or another…and since I feel that way I’ve decided to wait to join the church.
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Don’t give up, but do find yourself another parish! Your heart is in the right place, and you obviously know enough about the faith to know when it’s being presented wrong.

Don’t put off joining because of this experience, just move on after joining - keep looking until you find a really good parish. The object is communion with Christ in the Eucharist - don’t give that up, it’s way too important! 😦
 
Yes I agree with J. Saints and Martyrs sufferred unbelievably for the Faith. We can put up with few ignoramuses now and again can’t we?
Press on friend. The devil is busy. God Bless you abundantly.
 
Well, my experience has been good and bad. Mostly good and orthodox but… Sometimes I feel it’s a little lacking in depth. We have 3 wonderful priests who alternate w/ a deacon (who runs the show) and the head of CCD. They all mean well and provide great perspective. One of the associates is the former pastor and provides years of insight, the pastor is a younger priest who has great insight on Christian Catholic living and theology of the body, and the other associate is a wonderful Syro-Malabar (?) priest who is deeply versed in church history and theology.

However, it’s just hard for me to gauge their attitude sometimes. I had an interview w/ the head of the RCIA program and he was discussing my sponsor with me (someone I was assigned). He told me he thought he would be great b/c he’s very fanatical. I didn’t know how to take that! Then, he asked if we would be engaging in any post RCIA classes at the church. When we replied "absolutely, " the director said something to the effect that he was very happy b/c converts are who mostly did things like that in the parish! Uh, is there something wrong with that?

I know he means well but sometimes it just doesn’t come out right! But thankfully I seem to have had a wonderful experience, especially compared to anyone exposed to Saint Ghandi!
 
My parents taught RCIA and had to deal with some crazy stuff from the facilitator. Mostly bringing up bad things that have happened in the Church’s past that had no place in an RCIA program.

This, however, was an improvement over the previous heretic who led RCIA and apart from the usual dissident positions, sprung a litany of “saints” on the parish that included various social cause persons that weren’t even Catholic.

I have also been told by a participant that the entire discussion on the Church’s teaching on contraception involved her asking if they were going to talk about it and being told by the instructors that they didn’t follow it. End of discussion.
 
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