O
otjm
Guest
I can think of at least two reasons that this person A) may be in the wrong class and B) may or may not be able to simply “go to confession and Communion”.
We do not know much of anything concerning the individual. So what I say is simply possibilities.
He could be an adult in an invalid marriage.
He could be a teenager or adult, with some serious baggage concerning the Church - anger, hatred, misinformation just to name a few.
People returning to the Church after a long hiatus should be directed to a program such as Catholics Returning Home. Although it is not anywhere near as long as RCIA, it is designed to allow them to come to terms with where they are and how they got to this point; and can move to resolving other issues. For instance, if this individual as an adult married (even outside the Church), divorced, then remarried, there could be questions of what, if any sacraments they could receive while living in the second relationship.
While I understand that those who have little or no substantial knowledge of their faith are not properly part of RCIA, most parishes have nothing to provide such Catholics in terms of learning what they really should know as a minimum.
As to what this individual should do, the pastor should have the final say, not the RCIA director. Assuming there are no major complications, once that is addressed, I would encourage the individual to continue in RCIA, and consider coming back next year again.
We do not know much of anything concerning the individual. So what I say is simply possibilities.
He could be an adult in an invalid marriage.
He could be a teenager or adult, with some serious baggage concerning the Church - anger, hatred, misinformation just to name a few.
People returning to the Church after a long hiatus should be directed to a program such as Catholics Returning Home. Although it is not anywhere near as long as RCIA, it is designed to allow them to come to terms with where they are and how they got to this point; and can move to resolving other issues. For instance, if this individual as an adult married (even outside the Church), divorced, then remarried, there could be questions of what, if any sacraments they could receive while living in the second relationship.
While I understand that those who have little or no substantial knowledge of their faith are not properly part of RCIA, most parishes have nothing to provide such Catholics in terms of learning what they really should know as a minimum.
As to what this individual should do, the pastor should have the final say, not the RCIA director. Assuming there are no major complications, once that is addressed, I would encourage the individual to continue in RCIA, and consider coming back next year again.