Can i become catholic without RCIA

[Finding_Faith]

i am from a protestant back ground,have been baptized,and i have been reading/studying the catholic faith for close to two years.i bought the catechism of the catholic church,a catholic bible and study bible,and i pray the rosary.i been doing all this for two years,if i went to my local parish and told them this and talked for a while would i have to go through RCIA.

 

[Corki]

RCIA refers to the rites. That is how you join the Church.

I think you mean to ask if there is another way besides taking formal classes. The answer is “sometimes”. It is up to your pastor. Even though you may be already quite knowledgeable about the Catholic Church, there is great benefit in joining with a group of others making the same journey with you into the Church. Also, some pastors want everyone to take the classes just to make sure that nothing gets missed or misinterpreted.

Welcome home!

 

[Trevor_Stamm]

Welcome home!

I’m in the same boat, I know more about the Deposit of Faith then most cradle Catholics and yet have to wait for Easter to come around. My parish does RCIA with personal mentors for each Catechumen, and my mentor is happy to know it’ll be an easy process for me but gives us chances to talk about more in depth theology. Consider ourselves lucky for if were the old ways, we’d be waiting two or three years before Baptism. For people like us, think of this wait and need for RCIA as submission to the will of the Church, first act of humility. You might even have better theological and philosophical understanding then some Priests but that doesn’t mean you can skip Seminary if you wanted to become a Priest. The processes are there for a reason.

Hope that helps.

PS. Hope you accept my apology from your last thread

 

[runningdude]

The Catholic Church is first and foremost the Bride of Christ, yet it is also a community. Us cradle Catholics had a communal experience with our sacraments, and RCIA will provide you with a chance to get some of that experience too.

Yes its frustrating and seems pointless, but you’ll hopefully meet some people that will make the process bearable, and can support you even after reception. Its a community - no one should be just tossed in and left to fend for himself!

 

[Marie5890]

Hi there FindingFaith!

Most likely you will have to go thru RCIA and considering your thread from just a few months ago (“feel like I am slipping away, need help”…or something like that) I expect it’s very wise that you do go thru RCIA.

I think you need to have people walk with you during this journey and RCIA is the place to be for that journey
God Bless!

 

[BigFellaMick]

you never know, you’re bound to learn something new every day. Why should the RCIA classes be any different? Besides, would you not feel inspired to share your journey with others? And hear their testimony about how God called them to His Church? It gets me fired up every time. I’ve been to four RCIA classes and I also have to wait for the Easter Vigil but I’m hoping to set up a meeting with my Priest sometimes this or next week (whenever it would not inconvenience him as he is very busy, as are all Priests nowadays) and am seeking to take more classes. Or try to find some way I can be more involved with the Church besides one RCIA class a week. Of course there is daily mass but I was thinking more along the lines of theology, learning about the faith. And possibly helping my formation in discerning my vocation. God Bless!

 

[Daizies]

Before I started RCIA, our RCIA director told me I know more about the Bible and theology than she did. Did I still have to go through RCIA (the classes)? Yes.
Becoming a Catholic is something (I discovered) that cannot be learned through books. You have to learn to live like a Catholic - which is not as easy as it sounds. Especially coming from a Protestant background, there are many things we have to re-learn (and un-learn).
In the end, I found RCIA to be such a rewarding experience, I stuck around as an assistant

 

[pinctor]

When I underwent instruction, RCIA did not exist. You went off and found a priest and studied the faith with him for about three months and then were received.
Mind you this initiation was 58 years ago this very month!
Pray for the repose of my Jesuit instructor , Fr William Peers-Smith!

 

[thistle]

i am from a protestant back ground,have been baptized,and i have been reading/studying the catholic faith for close to two years.i bought the catechism of the catholic church,a catholic bible and study bible,and i pray the rosary.i been doing all this for two years,if i went to my local parish and told them this and talked for a while would i have to go through RCIA.

Basically no. I was a Methodist in a similar situation to you and I had to go through the program and I’m really glad I did. I learned a lot more during RCIA than I did with home study.

 

[JD27076]

Finding Faith, you seem JUST like me. My Pastor said, since I am young, I will not have to go through RCIA. He said RCIA is just so you know other adults so you do not go into the Church a longer. My Priest will say I am worthy to join the Church and allow me to join without RCIA. He will administer the same rites of initiation for everyone else just as the same for me.

 

[JD27076]

Finding Faith, you seem JUST like me. My Pastor said, since I am young, I will not have to go through RCIA. He said RCIA is just so you know other adults so you do not go into the Church a longer. My Priest will say I am worthy to join the Church and allow me to join without RCIA. He will administer the same rites of initiation for everyone else just as the same for me.

Excuse me, it is ALSO to learn the faith. Haha.

 

[thistle]

Finding Faith, you seem JUST like me. My Pastor said, since I am young, I will not have to go through RCIA.** He said RCIA is just so you know other adults **so you do not go into the Church a longer. My Priest will say I am worthy to join the Church and allow me to join without RCIA. He will administer the same rites of initiation for everyone else just as the same for me.

That’s rubbish. Having faith does not mean you know about the Catholic Faith and the Church. That is what RCIA is for.

 

[Mintaka]

Pastors have a right to make pastoral decisions about who is ready and who is not, and how individual people should be prepared and formed to become Catholic. Sometimes this means not putting people through a formal program, or through a very short program.

And of course, there’s always the path of becoming a martyr. Can’t become Catholic any faster than through the “baptism of blood.” That’s God’s pastoral decision, to call us to that.

 

[Speedypizza]

Believe you me, if there was a was to skip RCIA, I would love to do it. I find it all so pointless. I am not learning anything from it. Even worse is this whole silly thing of a sponsor. Some twit I am assigned by my deacon who thinks in his silly mind that me and him are going to become lifelong friends, please…

Even worse to me is how I am told that this needs to be done because we don’t want somebody receiving the host who does not understand the whole faith?!?!?! What a load of it, there are 2nd graders who get first communion, and if you think they know the faith better then me, I have some fertile desert land I want to sell you.

In my heart of hearts I think this whole thing is some kind of joke, and when this is all done they are going to slap each other on the back and make jokes about how they were able to make us all suffer for nothing. The REAL reason for RCIA is to let a bunch of twits in my church feel important by getting to have classes on things. (And bunch is right, there are MORE teachers in my class then people in RCIA)

There is ONE good thing about RCIA though, it gives me something to offer up for the poor souls in purgatory. Of course without being in the church and having unconfessed moral sins on my soul, that I am not allowed to confess because I again do not know as much as a 2nd grader, I cannot be sure that my sufferings really do any good at all…

Pax

 

[thistle]

Believe you me, if there was a was to skip RCIA, I would love to do it. I find it all so pointless. I am not learning anything from it. Even worse is this whole silly thing of a sponsor. Some twit I am assigned by my deacon who thinks in his silly mind that me and him are going to become lifelong friends, please…

Even worse to me is how I am told that this needs to be done because we don’t want somebody receiving the host who does not understand the whole faith?!?!?! What a load of it, there are 2nd graders who get first communion, and if you think they know the faith better then me, I have some fertile desert land I want to sell you.

In my heart of hearts I think this whole thing is some kind of joke, and when this is all done they are going to slap each other on the back and make jokes about how they were able to make us all suffer for nothing. The REAL reason for RCIA is to let a bunch of twits in my church feel important by getting to have classes on things. (And bunch is right, there are MORE teachers in my class then people in RCIA)

There is ONE good thing about RCIA though, it gives me something to offer up for the poor souls in purgatory. Of course without being in the church and having unconfessed moral sins on my soul, that I am not allowed to confess because I again do not know as much as a 2nd grader, I cannot be sure that my sufferings really do any good at all…

Pax

Thinking you know it all better than everyone else is not a good attitude. What happened to humility?

 

[Ahimsa]

Believe you me, if there was a was to skip RCIA, I would love to do it. I find it all so pointless. I am not learning anything from it. Even worse is this whole silly thing of a sponsor. Some twit I am assigned by my deacon who thinks in his silly mind that me and him are going to become lifelong friends, please…

Even worse to me is how I am told that this needs to be done because we don’t want somebody receiving the host who does not understand the whole faith?!?!?! What a load of it, there are 2nd graders who get first communion, and if you think they know the faith better then me, I have some fertile desert land I want to sell you.

In my heart of hearts I think this whole thing is some kind of joke, and when this is all done they are going to slap each other on the back and make jokes about how they were able to make us all suffer for nothing. The REAL reason for RCIA is to let a bunch of twits in my church feel important by getting to have classes on things. (And bunch is right, there are MORE teachers in my class then people in RCIA)

There is ONE good thing about RCIA though, it gives me something to offer up for the poor souls in purgatory. Of course without being in the church and having unconfessed moral sins on my soul, that I am not allowed to confess because I again do not know as much as a 2nd grader, I cannot be sure that my sufferings really do any good at all…

Pax

Why RCIA is needed: Exhibit A

 

[Speedypizza]

Thinking you know it all better than everyone else is not a good attitude. What happened to humility?

Hmm, good point. I should be more humble, maybe I should go to my priest to get forgiveness and guidance on how to do this better… Oh, that is right, I CANNOT do that.

Maybe I should go and receive Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity and that will give me the grace to be more humble. Rats, that is also closed off to me…

Oh, I know, I can ask the holy spirit who is with me through conformation to help me with this shortcoming of mine… Woops yet again, I do not have conformation.

Now to directly answer your question. To even say that I should be more or less anything right now is about like saying to a guy to move a house without any equipment. I know I have problems with humility and 1000 other things. However from the teaching of the church, I get grace to work on these things through the sacraments. Without them I am lost and cannot do much.

Or you could just tell me that the Church is lying, that grace does not help us at all, and that the sacraments do not matter at all. If that is the case, great, I can go and join some very easy, laid back protestant church and it will be the same.

 

[Trevor_Stamm]

Hmm, good point. I should be more humble, maybe I should go to my priest to get forgiveness and guidance on how to do this better… Oh, that is right, I CANNOT do that.

Maybe I should go and receive Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity and that will give me the grace to be more humble. Rats, that is also closed off to me…

Oh, I know, I can ask the holy spirit who is with me through conformation to help me with this shortcoming of mine… Woops yet again, I do not have conformation.

Now to directly answer your question. To even say that I should be more or less anything right now is about like saying to a guy to move a house without any equipment. I know I have problems with humility and 1000 other things. However from the teaching of the church, I get grace to work on these things through the sacraments. Without them I am lost and cannot do much.

Or you could just tell me that the Church is lying, that grace does not help us at all, and that the sacraments do not matter at all. If that is the case, great, I can go and join some very easy, laid back protestant church and it will be the same.

Patience brother, show those in your parish that even though you know as much as theologians, your willing to take the smallest steps that is expected of you. Christ expects us to live like Him not just know things intellectually, even though that too is highly expected of us as well. There is more greatness shown in silence and patience, as Christ showed us living thirty years as one of us in silence and patience before proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven. Who knows, maybe you’ll teach your sponsor or your RCIA class something about the Faith they didn’t know and that leads to something for them in the future.

 

[thistle]

Hmm, good point. I should be more humble, maybe I should go to my priest to get forgiveness and guidance on how to do this better… Oh, that is right, I CANNOT do that.

Maybe I should go and receive Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity and that will give me the grace to be more humble. Rats, that is also closed off to me…

Oh, I know, I can ask the holy spirit who is with me through conformation to help me with this shortcoming of mine… Woops yet again, I do not have conformation.

Now to directly answer your question. To even say that I should be more or less anything right now is about like saying to a guy to move a house without any equipment. I know I have problems with humility and 1000 other things. However from the teaching of the church, I get grace to work on these things through the sacraments. Without them I am lost and cannot do much.

Or you could just tell me that the Church is lying, that grace does not help us at all, and that the sacraments do not matter at all. If that is the case, great, I can go and join some very easy, laid back protestant church and it will be the same.

Get with the program. You really really really need it!!

 

[TobyLue]

SpeedyPizza, Will a fast pizza that takes two minutes and run through a microwave taste the same as a pizza that is put together with love and care and run through a real oven at just the right time and temperature?

Hmm, good point. I should be more humble, maybe I should go to my priest to get forgiveness and guidance on how to do this better… Oh, that is right, I CANNOT do that.

Yes you can to and talk to a priest and get guidance. You cannot receive the sacrament yet but guidance is what you currently need.

Maybe I should go and receive Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity and that will give me the grace to be more humble. Rats, that is also closed off to me…

You are correct in that you cannot receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, but you can make a spiritual communion.* "My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. *Amen.

Oh, I know, I can ask the holy spirit who is with me through conformation to help me with this shortcoming of mine… Woops yet again, I do not have conformation.

You CAN ask the Holy Spirit to give you patience AND to learn obedience.

If that is the case, great,** I can go and join some very easy, laid back protestant church and it will be the same.**

I see this happening all the time. You can go to the nearest church with a catchy name, say some words and bingo, you are now a Christian and saved, no matter how much you sin. But is that what God wants from you?

I know some people from other forums who converted to the CC, knew more about the Church than most Catholics, found RCIA to be boring, but remained patient and as the date drew near for them to be admitted into the CC, and receive the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord, the anticipation became almost unbearable and then claimed it was the greatest moment of their lives when it happened and never regretted having to wait.

Now to directly answer your question. To even say that I should be more or less anything right now is about like saying to a guy to move a house without any equipment. I know I have problems with humility and 1000 other things. However from the teaching of the church, I get grace to work on these things through the sacraments. Without them I am lost and cannot do much.

You do receive actual grace by being patient, however, you have to abide by the Church teachings to receive Sacramental Graces. Jesus could have made the walk to Calvary fast and easy, but He showed us the way to endure. Accept having to wait as a cross Jesus has given you and embrace it just as Jesus embraced His cross.

If you really believe that the CC is the Church that Jesus founded and you want to be a full member, then accept what the priest (and the Church) decides for you and accept it in love and patience and persevere. Remember, by the same token with anticipation we also wait to enter into Heaven but it has to be in God’s time, not ours.

But if you go and talk to a priest, it would be best to leave all the condescending remarks behind, or maybe express your current feelings to him. He will help you.

God Bless you and you are in my prayers.