For RCIA instructors - how do you know when a convert is ready?

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anodos

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I recently found out that, as a Candidate, I would be allowed to enter into full communion with the Church at any time (I had been told earlier that I would have to wait until the Easter vigil). When I expressed my desire to enter earlier, I was given the very next available weekend (end of the Christmas season next year) as a suggestion. My experience in RCIA has been good and I feel that the leaders are very knowledgeable, but the class does not delve into a lot of details and usually the conversations are limited. I don’t see how the instructors can know for certain that an individual is ready, and I am not aware that there will be any private discussion to come. It looks like I am going to go from here to Confirmation with no tests, counseling, or anything. It seems too easy. I guess I expected that it would be an arduous process, with lots of dates and names to remember and a hundred-question quiz. I feel that I am ready, but is this normal? 🤷
 
I’m most obviously not an RCIA/Catechism instructor.

However, in the 1962 Missal from www.angeluspress.org, pg 1841, “The Sacraments: Confirmation” we read in the 3rd section, titled, “The Subject Of Confirmation”:
“This must be a baptized person. In the Latin Church he should be seven years old, unless danger of death, or some other grave reason makes an earlier Confirmation desirable. The confirmand should be in a state of grace, and if he has reached the age of reason, should be sufficiently instructed (Canon 786). According to the Pontifical he must possess the “rudiments of the Faith.” Further, synods have ordered that the Confirmation candidates should be examined in the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments.”
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You’re simply not going to walk of out RCIA with a PhD in Church doctrine, history, and knowledge of facts and how their applications, beauty, and meaning is interpolated by the world and from insidious forces within.

If you have a concern regarding your progression through RCIA, why not bring it up with your RCIA instructors? Perhaps your concern is well founded. Perhaps you are concerned because you don’t see yourself as “worthy” yet? I dunno.

I feel your concern. I experience it myself sometimes. I don’t particularly agree with the process as it is. I can’t stand being held back by others who either through their fault, or no fault of their own, are not going to have the same progress. But I also recognize that it builds camaraderie within the group, and in a manner of speaking- makes sure people don’t just drop out.

Having said that, I can understand how the concern of being held back by others would turn into “am I ready?” when you are no longer held back by the chronology of a process.

Pray about it. 🙂
 
Thanks, jonbhorton. I suppose I could probably match wits with a 7-year-old (I ate my Wheaties this morning)! 😃
 
If I may offer my two cents even though I’m not an RCIA instructor.

Yes, I think it is normal. I just finished RCIA also and my experience was very much like yours. I don’t think there is anyway an RCIA instructor can truly know that someone is ready. I could imagine someone going through RCIA and just feeding the instructors what they think the instructors would want to here, even in a private meeting.

I think it’s up to the individual to pray, reflect and figure out if they are ready to receive the sacrament or not. My instructor told our class that the sacraments aren’t magic. They won’t “work” just because you show up there on the right day and time. They can only work if someone receives them with an open heart.
 
anodos said:
I recently found out that, as a Candidate, I would be allowed to enter into full communion with the Church at any time (I had been told earlier that I would have to wait until the Easter vigil). When I expressed my desire to enter earlier, I was given the very next available weekend (end of the Christmas season next year) as a suggestion. My experience in RCIA has been good and I feel that the leaders are very knowledgeable, but the class does not delve into a lot of details and usually the conversations are limited. I don’t see how the instructors can know for certain that an individual is ready, and I am not aware that there will be any private discussion to come. It looks like I am going to go from here to Confirmation with no tests, counseling, or anything. It seems too easy. I guess I expected that it would be an arduous process, with lots of dates and names to remember and a hundred-question quiz. I feel that I am ready, but is this normal? 🤷
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I am a revert back to Catholicism and I would suggest that after RCIA all Catholics should study their faith. RCIA is just the beginning of knowing your faith.

I went to the RCIA classes of two different instructors just because I wanted to learn more. I found that the instructors had totally different styles or teaching.
I suggest studying the “Early Church Fathers”, Church history, and read lots of Catholic books written by faithful orthodox Catholics. Tan and Scepter publishers as well as Ignatius press are good.
 
OP, did your instructor explain the holy sacrifice of the mass and all the sacraments?
 
anodos said:
I don’t see how the instructors can know for certain that an individual is ready, and I am not aware that there will be any private discussion to come. It looks like I am going to go from here to Confirmation with no tests, counseling, or anything.
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It’s impossible for us to know for certain. But there are signs of readiness – and they don’t come as a result of taking tests.

In the Call to Continuing Conversion, the sponsors are asked about the candidates and they answer on behalf of the Church:
  • Have they faithfully listened to the apostles’ instruction proclaimed by the Church?
  • Have they come to a deeper appreciation of their baptism, in which they were joined to Christ and his Church?
  • Have they reflected sufficiently on the tradition of the Church, which is their heritage, and joined their brothers and sisters in prayer?
  • Have they advanced in a life of love and service of others?
These are the same qualities I’m evaluating about the candidate. Has the person learned the basics about what the Church teaches and practices? Is there evidence that the person prays? Have they found ways to connect to the parish community? Do they recognize that they need to be concerned about and help the “least ones”? Is there some evidence that they are thinking like and viewing the world like Catholics?

It’s not an exact science, but somehow there comes a time when everyone involved thinks a candidate is ready and that’s when we schedule their rites.
 
anodos said:
I recently found out that, as a Candidate, I would be allowed to enter into full communion with the Church at any time (I had been told earlier that I would have to wait until the Easter vigil). When I expressed my desire to enter earlier, I was given the very next available weekend (end of the Christmas season next year) as a suggestion. My experience in RCIA has been good and I feel that the leaders are very knowledgeable, but the class does not delve into a lot of details and usually the conversations are limited. I don’t see how the instructors can know for certain that an individual is ready, and I am not aware that there will be any private discussion to come. It looks like I am going to go from here to Confirmation with no tests, counseling, or anything. It seems too easy. I guess I expected that it would be an arduous process, with lots of dates and names to remember and a hundred-question quiz. I feel that I am ready, but is this normal? 🤷
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They are aware of more than you might realize. I am a Coordinator of RCIA this year, and it’s actually pretty amazing how much you hear from different people about how the RCIA participants are doing.

We don’t look for a lot of theological knowledge; rather, we are looking for how connected you are with the parish - do you seem to feel “at home” for example, and whether you are attending Mass regularly, and whether you’ve taken an interest in the various ministries of the parish. We also look at whether you know how to do the various things that you will need to do regularly - for example, do you know how to say your prayers; are you comfortable going to Mass; have you been instructed on how to go to Confession, and that sort of thing. The theology comes with time, and no one really expects the average lay person to know much beyond the basics on that.
 
As a coordinator of the process, I do look at those things that others have mentioned, but before we even set a date, the candidate and I have done a lot of discernment together and separately. I spend time listening in the small group discussions that we have, I listen to the other team members and what they have to say. I schedule a meeting with the candidate (s) and we talk about how they have changed during the process. I listen to hear the change in them, what the mass means to them, how they have come to embrace the sacraments or the understanding of them.I have given them discernment questions, that they must answer (not a test) but answer how the Holy spirit is leading them and me to the same realization that they are ready I have made mistakes, but that is because I was not listening clearly enough. But for the most part, it is allowing the Holy Spirit in. After we have spent some time in prayer over this , I begin the prepping part, especially if we have not covered the sacrament of Reconciliation, and then we schedule a Mass on the Sunday (or Saturday evening vigil mass). What usually happens, is that they make their first Reconciliation right before they make their profession of faith and are received into the Church with Confirmation and Eucharist. They are truly in the state of grace and it shows. This is one of the best times in the life of a coordinator. Hope this helps
 
I don’t.
That is a decision made in a conversation, more than one if necessary, with the candidate or catechumen, catechists, sponsors, and pastor (or someone he delegates). If there is a strong feeling that the candidate is not ready, the pastor is consulted and meets with the person to help them decide when and how to proceed.
 
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