Depending on your distance from your Diocesan Cathedral, you might even inquire there. The chances of finding a bunch of craziness going on in RCIA is probably quite a bit lower when the Bishop works upstairs. You can also inquire about which resources specific parishes use for their formation to see if they are faithful to the magesterium or not. Getting in touch with the person who runs the RCIA program at each parish would be a great start. Personally, I think you’re likely to find something you feel good about in short order.
I just came into the Church through RCIA this past Easter as did my wife. Both of us found it to be a wonderful process and while we both still have a long way to go, we have grown in our faith and our understanding of God’s teachings dramatically through our participation and the efforts of the RCIA team and our sponsors.
Some things that were very helpful is that both her and I spent additional time outside of the classes and assigned readings attempting to learn the faith. For example, we both read the
US Catechism for Adults early in the process which helped us to be able to ask better questions during our weekly discussions. I also started in on the
Ignatius Study Bible which helped in the breaking open the word sessions that begin a bit later in the process, and also
The Fathers Know Best which helped to have an understanding of how the church has been teaching this information since the beginning of Christianity. The other thing we did was start volunteering in some of the ministries in our parish and the local campus ministry. Those both served to help us on the spiritual aspect of our journey in addition to all of the learning we were doing both in and out of class.
The book that I am reading now in addition to my study Bible is
Catholicism for Dummies which is actually extremely good. Looking back, I wish I had read that one during our formation and left the Fathers Know Best for Mystagogy because it does a great job teaching the ins and outs of the faith and the Church in general. Don’t let the title throw you, it is a great book!
Several other members who went through the process with us spent a good deal of time outside of the classes studying and learning as well. The ones that did, seem to be the ones that are sticking around through the Mystagogy sessions and who have now become active in the ministries of the parish. The rest? I haven’t seen them since Easter unfortunately. I hope I am not coming across too judgmental with that observation, but it is a fact nonetheless.
Bottom line? RCIA will be mostly what you make of it as long as nothing tremendously crazy is going on with your particular group. Barring that, you should be just fine and have a great time in your journey.
Since I just went through it, if there are any questions that I can try to help with or thoughts you want to share, feel free to drop me a PM and I will be delighted to help however I can.
Good luck and God Bless!
Jason
