Does an Orthodox have to go through RCIA?

[mgy100]

Hello and welcome! If you don’t mind me asking (and not to derail this thread too much), what has prompted you to make the switch?

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius

Before you dance in joy too much here, why not start a new thread?

 

[Hesychios]

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Hello Aramis,

Whoever set that requirement is likely unaware that you may be received by profession into the Russian Catholic Church (even by a latin Bishop) or another Byzantine rite Catholic Church (Ukrainian, Ruthenian, etc), and immediately become catholic with a couple of signatures and public profession. (I’ve seen one of those!)

I understand this…but why? Can you tell me the rationale? Shouldn’t there be a program to teach them Latin theology, under whatever name (it does not have to actually BE an RCIA program but cover some of the same material I imagine)?

I think that we can assume he already knows Orthodox theology. But if not, should he be taught both then, are some Eastern Catholics are expected to affirm both? Do Russian Catholics affirm both?

Most Latins are woefully ignorant of the Eastern churches, both catholic and orthodox, and also of the CCEO. Even priests are often ignorant of it.

Does this person have to believe in the Immaculate Conception, Purgatory a Latin understanding of Original Sin? Papal Universal Jurisdiction and Papal Infallibility?

Does he have to accept these as true? I can tell you that the Russian Orthodox church does not teach these things.

If he is Russian Orthodox and he needs to believe these things to join the Russian Catholic church, how does the church know that he does?

If (on the other hand) he does not need to know or believe these things to become a Russian Catholic, why not?

Michael

 

[ASimpleSinner]

can anyone read my posts? just curious, please let me know.

What posts? Whose talking?

 

[ASimpleSinner]

I am Russian Orthodox and I am converting to Roman Catholicism. I was told I have to go through RCIA. I attended Catholic schools as a child (my parents were not Catholic) and I am still having to go through RCIA. By the time I finish it will have been over a year of RCIA.

All you need to do is make a simple profession of faith and you are Catholic.

RCIA is set up for the unbaptized. The truth of the matter is, non-Catholics who are baptized Christians are not supposed to be compelled to go through RCIA.

It bears repeating until folks in the parishes get this right:

According to the National Statutes for the Catechumenate confirmed by the Holy See in 1988:

1. Baptized persons living as Christians should not go through RCIA or any parallel program. (#30, 31)
2. Christians need only instruction to be determined according to each individual case and a period of probation within the Catholic community. (#30)
3. Christians should not be recieved at the Easter Vigil. (#33)
4. Christians should be recieved at any Sunday parish Eucharist. (#32)
5. Christians whose baptism is uncertain, doubtful or unresolved should be baptized privately (not at a public liturgy) and recieved into full communion later at any Sunday parish Eucharist. (#37)

Any priest can recieve you with a simple profession of faith and get the paperwork typed up.

If the priest you are dealing with can’t understand this, find another priest. Print this out to take with you if you like!

If you care to, email me: ASimpleSinner@gmail.com

I would love to hear more about your story.

Welcome home.

 

[ruslan]

Well, after my posting on this thread, I decided that the Catholic church where I was told to take RCIA was not the church at which to be. I started calling various churches and finally got a parish close to me where the priest (a convert from Orthodoxy to Catholicism) agreed that all was needed was a profession of faith. I am so glad I found this forum and this thread. The priest and I will be meeting this week and it will be finalized.

I spent years in Catholic schools, so it’s not like I was a stranger to Catholicism.

And, by the way, I did encounter this “you have to take RCIA” at several Catholic churches.

I thank you all for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

 

[catherineajt]

If an Orthodox were to come into full communion with the Catholic Church would they have to go through RCIA?

Hi, Ignatius. I am a former Orthodox Christian who is now attending a Byzantine Catholic church. Before attending Liturgy, I contacted the priest and asked him what would be required for us to be allowed to receive communion at the Byzantine Church. He said, simply, that we should attend, pray, confess, profess the Faith (which is done during the Liturgy, the entire congregation professes the Faith), and then we could receive communion.

I don’t know if it was different for us because my husband, myself, and our two oldest had been baptized in the Roman Catholic church–we converted to Orthodoxy a year ago, and are now returning–but I was surprised and heartened at the warm welcome we received.

The way I understand it, the Catholic Church will give communion to Orthodox Christians. However, changing formally is a different issue. We have not changed over formally yet because we haven’t been able to get our youngest’s baptismal certificate from our old (Orthodox) parish. I do not know what is required in that case.

 

[Aramis]

Hi, Ignatius. I am a former Orthodox Christian who is now attending a Byzantine Catholic church. Before attending Liturgy, I contacted the priest and asked him what would be required for us to be allowed to receive communion at the Byzantine Church. He said, simply, that we should attend, pray, confess, profess the Faith (which is done during the Liturgy, the entire congregation professes the Faith), and then we could receive communion.

I don’t know if it was different for us because my husband, myself, and our two oldest had been baptized in the Roman Catholic church–we converted to Orthodoxy a year ago, and are now returning–but I was surprised and heartened at the warm welcome we received.

The way I understand it, the Catholic Church will give communion to Orthodox Christians. However, changing formally is a different issue. We have not changed over formally yet because we haven’t been able to get our youngest’s baptismal certificate from our old (Orthodox) parish. I do not know what is required in that case.

Catherine:

You make your confession, and you are once again Catholic. (You will need to have your and your children’s chrismation and first holy communion noted on the correct parish register: the one where baptized.)

You then write to the relevant bishops, the Latin ordinary of the place you are at, and the appropriate eastern bishop/eparch/metropolitan. You ask them for transfer of canonical enrollment.

 

[catherineajt]

Catherine:

You make your confession, and you are once again Catholic. (You will need to have your and your children’s chrismation and first holy communion noted on the correct parish register: the one where baptized.)

You then write to the relevant bishops, the Latin ordinary of the place you are at, and the appropriate eastern bishop/eparch/metropolitan. You ask them for transfer of canonical enrollment.

Thank you. We will do this as soon as we are over this flu and feel we have been attending long enough to approach Father about it. Since my youngest was baptized in the Eastern Orthodox faith, it is my understanding that he simply becomes an Eastern Catholic, is that correct? And does not need to have a transfer of canonical enrollment?

 

[jmcrae]

I am Russian Orthodox and I am converting to Roman Catholicism. I was told I have to go through RCIA. I attended Catholic schools as a child (my parents were not Catholic) and I am still having to go through RCIA. By the time I finish it will have been over a year of RCIA.

I know of some who choose to, and I know a Ukranian Orthodox man who lost his Baptismal record who was required to go through RCIA and receive the Sacraments of Initiation conditionally, but unless you have lost your record of baptism, I don’t know of any reason you would have to go through RCIA.

 

[Aramis]

Thank you. We will do this as soon as we are over this flu and feel we have been attending long enough to approach Father about it. Since my youngest was baptized in the Eastern Orthodox faith, it is my understanding that he simply becomes an Eastern Catholic, is that correct? And does not need to have a transfer of canonical enrollment?

Children under 8 are presumed to be part of their father’s church. So, dad is latin, and so is your youngest. When dad changed enrollment, so do all the kids.

 

[catherineajt]

Children under 8 are presumed to be part of their father’s church. So, dad is latin, and so is your youngest. When dad changed enrollment, so do all the kids.

So even though my husband converted to Orthodoxy, and on the same day our baby was baptized in the Orthodox Church, when we come back to the Catholic Church we are considered Latins? I seem to remember something about how anybody baptized in an Eastern Church–non Catholic Church–who enters the Catholic faith is part of that Rite (Eastern) regardless. Do you have a link for this?

 

[a_pilgrim]

I seem to remember something about how anybody baptized in an Eastern Church–non Catholic Church–who enters the Catholic faith is part of that Rite (Eastern) regardless. Do you have a link for this?

Hi, catherineajt!

Perhaps what you are remembering is Canon 35 of the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, the Code that applies to the Eastern Catholic Churches. You can access the Code of Canons and, specifically, Canon 35 through this link…

intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_INDEX.HTM

 

[Aramis]

Hi, catherineajt!

Perhaps what you are remembering is Canon 35 of the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, the Code that applies to the Eastern Catholic Churches. You can access the Code of Canons and, specifically, Canon 35 through this link…

intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_INDEX.HTM

And my comment was based upon the preceeding canon, Canon 34:

Canon 34
If the parents, or the Catholic spouse in the case of a mixed
marriage, transfer to another Church sui iuris, children under
fourteen years old by the law itself are enrolled in the same
Church; if in a marriage of Catholics only one parent transfers
to another Church sui iuris, the children transfer only if both
parents consent. Upon completion of the fourteenth year of age,
the children can return to the original Church sui iuris.

 

[Armenian_cpa]

Please go to the links in my original post.

Here is an excerpt from that link

All you need to do is make a profession of faith, but you are accepted into the Eastern Catholic Church whose rite is corresponds to the Orthodox church.

Canon 35, however, is important because it specifies that baptized non-Catholics entering into full communion “should retain their own rite and should observe it everywhere in the world as far as humanly possible. Thus they are to be ascribed to the Church ‘sui iuris’ of the same rite.”

When the person wishes not only to become Catholic but to change to the Latin rite, the same canon recognizes the right to approach the Holy See (the Congregation for Eastern Churches) in special cases.

Therefore, in the case at hand, the simplest thing to do is to approach the Eastern eparchy most closely resembling his original rite in order to be admitted into the Catholic Church in accordance with the dispositions of the pastor.

Once admitted, he should continue to practice the faith in the corresponding Eastern rite. But he may also freely practice in the Latin rite for a just cause, for example, if there were no churches of his own rite within a reasonable distance.

In order to formally switch rites, he would need to recur to the Holy See as mentioned above.

 

[Dan-Man916]

And, by the way, I did encounter this “you have to take RCIA” at several Catholic churches.

I am not surprised you heard this.
Most Churches handle converts from Protestantism, so there is a period of formation that is certainly needed to learn the teachings of the Church.

RICA is geared more toward the catechumens who will be baptized. For someone who is Eastern or Oriental Orthodox, they would be hearing things that they would have already learned.

RCIA is a significant time committment for people, and it doesn’t make sense to ask someone to commit to something that really isn’t needed.

But the problem is that, as a poster said earlier, many parishes are very ignorant of our Eastern and Oriental brothers and sisters, and tend to think they need the same catechesis as Protestants.

 

[ASimpleSinner]

I am not surprised you heard this.
Most Churches handle converts from Protestantism, so there is a period of formation that is certainly needed to learn the teachings of the Church.

RICA is geared more toward the catechumens who will be baptized. …

Actually, RCIA is supposed to be*** exclusively ***for the unbaptized.

 

[jmcrae]

Actually, RCIA is supposed to be*** exclusively ***for the unbaptized.

There is also a set of rites in the RCIA for those who have been previously baptized, but have not received Confirmation or First Holy Communion. But it is not intended that baptized and unbaptized persons be put together in the same group for Catechesis or Enlightenment. They do come together for Inquiry at the beginning, and for Mystagogia at the end, though.

 

[Labre]

Hello there. I have a bit of a different situation. I was baptized Catholic and received my first communion in the Church as well. I left the Church in my teens and in 1996 I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church (big mistake ). I was always under the impression that I would have to go through RCIA in order to “revert”. From what I’ve been reading on this thread, that doesn’t seem to be the case. I would appreciate any (name removed by moderator)ut, because I do want to come home. Thanks!

 

[jmcrae]

Hello there. I have a bit of a different situation. I was baptized Catholic and received my first communion in the Church as well. I left the Church in my teens and in 1996 I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church (big mistake ). I was always under the impression that I would have to go through RCIA in order to “revert”. From what I’ve been reading on this thread, that doesn’t seem to be the case. I would appreciate any (name removed by moderator)ut, because I do want to come home. Thanks!

If you haven’t been Confirmed yet in the Catholic Church, then you would need to go through the Catechesis period of RCIA (or an equivalent) in order to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Members of Orthodox churches have already validly received the Sacrament of Confirmation; that’s why it’s easier for them.

The Episcopalian version of Confirmation isn’t a valid Sacrament in the Catholic Church, for a variety of historical reasons.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Labre - Some parishes have an adult confirmation class which might answer your needs. If the nearest parish does not they may be able to refer you to one that does.

Also many parishes have a Welcome Back program to help you find your way in this.