Harry's RCIA Progress

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Andruschak

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Hello, I posted a couple of times awhile ago, had a computer glitch, and am back. The old e-mail address of harryandruschak@aol.com is being phased out, and I currently am using praystherosary@aol.com

ANYHOW, Althogh all I have read on the internet about conversion makes the point that candidates should not be lumped in with the catechumans, and should make the profession of faith quite apart from the Easter Vigil, both my local churches insist on lumping me in the Catechuman RCIA classes for easter 2007.

OK, but am I actually learning anything really new? I was baptised Church Of England. In England. Came as a baby to the USA in 1946 and my earliest memories are of Babptist Churches. We moved out to the suburbs and joined the local Lutheran Church. I was confirmed, although I kept wondering of all their anti-Catholic teachins were not overdoing it a bit.

After joining the US NAVY, I drifted away from all religion, was an alcoholic for 20 years, sobered up, and have drifted back via CUUPS…The Covenant Of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. Hence my having no problems whatsoever with the prominent place of Mary in the Catholic Church.

I cannot say that any of the RCIA have been helpful. “I know that already!”. Far far more useful has been

catachismclass.com

This features an adult class, 5 lessons a week, 50 weeks a year. A solid program that I look forward to every night.

👍 👍 👍

Now, I am visiting my Mother in Seattle, 16-30 September. She is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and I plan to visit her once or twice a year, as Post Office vacation Times allow. (I live in Los Angeles County, California)

I am not sure if I will have computer access in Seattle. But I should be back in the Forum by 1 October. I plan to post mostly in the Spirituality forum.

And, yes, whilst not a Catholic yet, I pray the Rosary daily, the Divine Mercy chaplet daily, with prayers for the Church Suffering to round it all off. Problem, the cats think those dangly rosary beads are yet another cat toy for their amusement. Sigh…:rolleyes:
 
Welcome back to the forum! 👋

I can relate to some of your story. I too was baptized in the Episcopal Church and confirmed there, too. When I came into RCIA I had read several books and felt like I was more Catholic than some of the RCIA leaders, although I did learn things I hadn’t known before and it was a good opportunity to immerse myself in Catholic culture and worldview.

I’d say stick with RCIA just to go through the process while also attending the confirmation classes. Besides teaching you the value of obedience, you might be able to help others going through RCIA who don’t know what you do and could use another voice to affirm some of the things they are learning. After all, a large part of being a Catholic is obeying the Magisterium and sharing the gifts God has granted us, yes?
 
I went to my first RCIA meeting last night, I am also a candidate baptized Baptist, and felt like I already knew everything. I already pray the rosary and such and when I mentioned the 15 prayers of St. Bernedette last night all the leaders looked at me like I was speaking in tongues or something! They had no clue what I was talking about. I’m way ahead of anyone else in there, even one who has been raised Catholic pretty much!

I’m afriad of becoming bored. I guess thats what I get for reading everything I could get my hands on this summer!
As long as it gets me into the Catholic Church I can deal and hopefully make some good friends in the process.

Good luck with your classes and take care. God leads us places for a reason and since he’s definitely leading us into the Church all we can do is follow in whatever way we feel is best.
 
homewardbound said:
I went to my first RCIA meeting last night, I am also a candidate baptized Baptist, and felt like I already knew everything. I already pray the rosary and such and when I mentioned the 15 prayers of St. Bernedette last night all the leaders looked at me like I was speaking in tongues or something! They had no clue what I was talking about. I’m way ahead of anyone else in there, even one who has been raised Catholic pretty much!

I’m afriad of becoming bored. I guess thats what I get for reading everything I could get my hands on this summer!
As long as it gets me into the Catholic Church I can deal and hopefully make some good friends in the process.

Good luck with your classes and take care. God leads us places for a reason and since he’s definitely leading us into the Church all we can do is follow in whatever way we feel is best.
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The most important lessons you will learn in RCIA are patience and humility. Oh Boy! Will you EVER! C’mon back here and whine about it if you want. WE understand!
 
mercygate said:
The most important lessons you will learn in RCIA are patience and humility. Oh Boy! Will you EVER! C’mon back here and whine about it if you want. WE understand!
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Hey thats a good thing! I need to learn those things! Even more reason to keep going:D
 
homewardbound said:
Hey thats a good thing! I need to learn those things! Even more reason to keep going:D
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👋 Welcome! Be careful, they’re not always thrilled to see a well-instructed know-it-all (who, me? personification of meekness & humility?) a-comin’!
 
Della said:
Welcome back to the forum! 👋

I’d say stick with RCIA just to go through the process while also attending the confirmation classes. Besides teaching you the value of obedience, you might be able to help others going through RCIA who don’t know what you do and could use another voice to affirm some of the things they are learning. After all, a large part of being a Catholic is obeying the Magisterium and sharing the gifts God has granted us, yes?
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Yah, sure, bring logic and sensable thinking into this thread:yup:

But you are correct, of course. I’ll be attending my first RCIA class at the local Saint Philomena’s Church in Carson, California. 10:30 AM on Sunday 1 October , I guess I just want to speed up the process.

“God grant me patience, and I want it RIGHT NOW”
 
mercygate said:
👋 Welcome! Be careful, they’re not always thrilled to see a well-instructed know-it-all (who, me? personification of meekness & humility?) a-comin’!
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hehe true, I may tone it down a bit. Give others the chance to answer:P

I’m hoping to learn some things I don’t know, I’m sure there’s something.

“God grant me patience, and I want it RIGHT NOW”

AMEN.
 
The chief value of RCIA for those of us who had already converted in our hearts to the Catholic faith prior to joining, is that it is a preview of Purgatory.

(I was one of those who was required to stay completely silent during the RCIA sessions that I attended. I was told that if I had any questions, I should make a private appointment with Father to discuss them, rather than raising them in class - and that I was to allow the other members of the class to work through the questions that were raised by the instructor-facilitators.)

As you go through your journey of life, you will say to yourself, “Purgatory will be worse than RCIA,” and this will inspire you to obtain as many Indulgences as you can, and also to attend Confession more frequently than otherwise you might have. 😉

On the plus side, after you are Confirmed, they will probably put you in charge of the RCIA, and you can then revamp it how ever you see fit - at which point you will then discover that most people who come to RCIA don’t know very much, and need a solid grounding in the basics (God created the world; this Bible thing is actually the Word of God, etc.) before getting into things like the Rosary, the Saints, etc. 😛
 
jmcrae said:
The chief value of RCIA for those of us who had already converted in our hearts to the Catholic faith prior to joining, is that it is a preview of Purgatory.

(I was one of those who was required to stay completely silent during the RCIA sessions that I attended. I was told that if I had any questions, I should make a private appointment with Father to discuss them, rather than raising them in class - and that I was to allow the other members of the class to work through the questions that were raised by the instructor-facilitators.)

As you go through your journey of life, you will say to yourself, “Purgatory will be worse than RCIA,” and this will inspire you to obtain as many Indulgences as you can, and also to attend Confession more frequently than otherwise you might have. 😉

On the plus side, after you are Confirmed, they will probably put you in charge of the RCIA, and you can then revamp it how ever you see fit - at which point you will then discover that most people who come to RCIA don’t know very much, and need a solid grounding in the basics (God created the world; this Bible thing is actually the Word of God, etc.) before getting into things like the Rosary, the Saints, etc. 😛
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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
homewardbound said:
I went to my first RCIA meeting last night, I am also a candidate baptized Baptist, and felt like I already knew everything. I.
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I am a cradle Catholic older than most people on this forum and every year in evey RCIA class I learn something new. Nobody knows everything. I get dumber every year (just ask my kids).

In most parishes, mine included, it is just not practical to have a separate class for each “variety” of people seeking to prepare for the sacraments. WE have several lengthy posts on exactly the issues raised here, please to a search on RCIA (most of them were during Lent, so hopefully survived the crash).

I have adults who have never been baptized but raised in Catholic homes and culture, adults who were baptized but never taught the faith, unbaptized adults with no exposure to Christian beliefs, adult Catholics who need Confirmation who have had no religious formation since 2nd grade, and adults who have been faithful prayerful Christians of other denominations for years and could teach rings around many of my own catechists about doctrine and scripture.

I need classes in both English and Spanish, for adults, youth and children. There are not enough teachers, classrooms or hours in the week to have that many separate classes, in some cases, tat would be 2-3 in a class.

EVerybody in the class is there for everybody else, not just for themselves. an essential part of the RCIA process (and of Confirmation prep for Catholics) is forming and strengthening the bonds with the community which is the local church (diocese) and parish. Every person in the class is learning from everyone else, and teaching something to everyone else. The whole thing is not an exercise put on just for one person and no class is going to perfectly fit everyone’s needs and preferences.

Please, please be patient and willing to learn and grow. There is a lot more going on here than just learning and filing facts and knowledge. This is a very experiential process.

For those of you, especially mature Christians from other denominations with a well developed spiritual life and well-formed knowledge of Christian doctrine and scripture, please make a special effor to be open to what is new and what the Holy Spirit is doing within you, and focus on the others in the class and how you can be there for them.

thanks and be aware that the entire universal Church is praying for you during this process, which is the whole point of the various Rites you will celebrate along the way.
 
Harry Andruschak here. I flew from Torrance, California to Kirkland, Washington. Mother is in good shape for being 82 years old, and her Alzheimers is not bad enough to prevent her from living on own. And she can still cook up a good supper.

The computer in her condo, which I am useing, is actually my old computer from 1996, running Windows 95, AOL 6.0, and an old dial-up modem. Slooooooow.

Slow, yes, but here I am.

And no, I have not told her about my being a RCIA Candidate yet. She does not go to Church anymore, but probably considers herself to be a Good Protestant Christian Woman. Any suggestions?

My brother is taking care of the cats whilst I’m gone. He gets paid $10/day. Yes, he is family, but litter boxes are still $10/day. I have not mentioned my interest in the Catholic Church to him either. (Although that Franciscan Rosary on my bedroom wall might raise suspicions.)

So ends my first day in Seattle. I’ll be flying back on 30 September. But nice to know I can access these forums and my RCIA classes:thumbsup:
 
Welcome to greater Seattle. If you are looking for a parish I recommend St Monica’s on Mercer Island. 👍
 
I second the “St Monica’s” on Mercer Island suggestion and add St Marks in Shoreline !
 
prior to the crash there were some seminarians from that area that visited CAF. They had information about parishes in Seattle that proudly flew the papal flag.
 
St. James Cathedral, Seatte.
St. Alphonsus, Seattle
Blessed Sacrament, Seattle
Welcome to the rainy season!
 
Sorry for not being active in this forum, but I have been running all over Washington state with my Mother, my Sister, and my Brother-in-Law. We have had a fine time, although I am distressed at the signs of my Mother’s early stages of Alzheimer’s.

I have kept up with my prayers, including those for the benifit of The Church Suffering, even if I have no idea if any of the prayers are effective. Just doing it on faith, I suppose, or at least to get into the regular, solid habit of daily prayer.

The morning prayer will be something for the Souls Of Purgatory ( the Church Suffering), afternoon for the Divine Mercy Chaplet (because I am going to need all the mercy I can get 😃 ) and The Rosary, Dominican or otherwise, in the evening

@@@

And my daily (nightly?) on-line classes at catichismclass.com.

This week has been very tough for me, perhaps too tough. The books we are reading are excerpts from are OUR FATHER’S PLAN by Fr. William Most, and DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL by St. John of the Cross. I think I am going to have to buy both books for more study.

I go back home on 30 September.
 
I have informed my family concerning my path to becoming confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church. All went well. They understand my requirements for attending mass, fish-only on Fridays, and fasting on Sundays. And Mother understands why I spend an hour or two in my bedroom on prayers. And why I am on the computer at odd hours:rolleyes:

Of course, none of this will change the ways my cats regard me. Despite what some of my critics in AA and elsewhere have said, I do not regard the cats as my Higher Power for staying sober. This not change the fact that the cats regard themselves as my Higher Power and expect to be treated that way. Fortunately, I see no problems or conflicts in attending to their whims.

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
 
Congrats on what seems to be progressing as a peaceful journey for you! It is a true blessing to have peace at home while you are in the process of this conversion experience. It is not always the case for us converts and should be a reason for thanksgiving!

And having been there, trust me, your cats will not regard your conversion as an interferance in their Mastery over you. Your servile position is forever secure.😉

God Bless!
 
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