Christian Initiation Past Age 7

[NewEnglandPriest]

What my parish has done – and while it works for us maybe it wouldn’t work for others – is to have the children in RCIA attend classes in two separate ways. We have them enroll in the parish religious education program so that they are with other children their own age. We also have one person who works with the one or two or three children that we have in RCIA at any given time. She meets with the children and their parent(s) once or twice a month to cover additional material and just talk with them about what it means to be a Catholic. She prays with them, she talks about things like going to Mass, she makes sure they understand any rite that is coming up, she encourages them and supports them. So far it’s working well for us. Her role also ends up being outreach to the parents. They have generally not been practicing Catholics (which is why the children weren’t baptized earlier). So she encourages them and answers their questions, deals with issues they raise, etc.

That sounds great, and if you have someone capable and willing to do that it makes it possible to do.

 

[marimagi]

Thank you to the last 2 posters. You have addressed the most practical issues involved.

My granddaughter NEEDS a child-friendly education even more than most. I don’t want her to miss the opportunity to receive an age-appropriate education, should she request baptism between the ages of 7 and 12. Besides, she needs to make a case to her parents regarding why she wants baptism (they have both become atheists.) If I provide all the education she currently requests, they’ll say that I am brainwashing her (which also poses legal issues for me as her guardian.) They (the parents) allow her to attend Sunday School when she is with her protestant grandmother on some Sundays, but there is no equivelent available to her from the Catholic Church. How can my granddaughter get answers about Baptism and Communion in the Catholic Church, when the parish won’t allow her to attend CCD because she is not baptized?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Marimagi,

Have you spoken with the pastor?

Sometimes, I think the parish has guidelines…like all children in religious education must be baptized. But there are times when exceptions are appropriate and this sounds like one of them.

 

[SMHW]

My parish has a special class for children who are receiving their sacraments at a time that is other than is usual for that age. We are lucky that we have enough catechists to handle this.

Most already baptized kids make their First Reconciliation and First Eucharist in second or third grade. They have to complete two years of Faith Formation and attend additional sacramental prep workshops, Kids that go to Catholic school can skip the Faith Formation classes but they still have to do the sacramental prep workshops.

Kids who have not made their First Communion by the time they are in the forth grade and kids who need baptism/full initiation attend a special that can deal with their individual needs. The baptized kids will either make their First Communion at the same time as the younger First Communion students or they might be fully initiated at the same time as adults who seek full initiation. Kids who need to be baptized will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. (For the last few years we have been trying to keep Adult baptisms separate from adult full initiations.)