Have you gone through or taught in RCIA? Tell us about it!

[BlessedRosary3]

I’m in the beginning of our RCIA classes at St. Brigid in Alpharetta. I just have one major concern - since my husband and I were not originally married in a Catholic church, we’ll obviously have to renew our vows @ St. Brigid. OK, cool, that’s great. They already have our baptismal records and they’ll soon be getting our marriage certificate. I have the two affidavits from my family (stating that I’ve never been married before, etc.), but my husband cannot get the same from his.

So, does this mean that I’m doomed from receiving Communion and Confirmation at Easter? I mean, what do others do in this situation?

 

[historybrat]

Have you gone through or taught in RCIA? Tell us about it.
I went through RCIA last year and was baptized at Easter Vigil 2007
What did you like about it? What didn’t you like?
Mine was a very small class, only three of us showed up consistently. We also had a wide variety of commitment levels and knowledge. Honestly I felt very constrained because it seemed like I was the only who had really looked into what it means to be catholic before I signed up. The best thing was my sponsor and the support I got from my parish. I had just moved into the area and didn’t know too many people. They were very welcoming
Was it too intense or too fluffy?
Is super fluffy an option? There was very little hardcore stuff, most of what we did was read a chapter out of a very basic intro. book that honestly had quite a few mistakes and discussed what we read on a really basic level

How were theological disagreements resolved?I love the priest at my church, but he generally doesn’t agree with our archbishop and would simply say he was wrong and we should believe him. For instance we talked about ordaining women, and I mentioned that it goes again church teaching, and he told me that really its not and I shouldn’t listen to everything the archbishop says.

What things were dwelled upon too much, and what topics were not discussed enough?Again see previous replies but I would hard like more meat and potatoes stuff, and less dessert type stuff

What happened when the teacher couldn’t answer a question?Can’t prove but I think sometimes Father just made up answers on the fly

Was homework assigned? What was the attitude towards homework?We had to read a chapter a week, generally I was the only one that actually read, although their was another guy who read about half the time. I didn’t mind it has I wanted to learn everything possible,but I can’t speak for anyone else.

If you had to do it over again, what would you change? Joined sooner? Really though I probably would have driven an extra hour to the next parish. Father is a good man who genuinely cares about his parishioners but he’s fairly liberal and I’m not. I also would have practiced more patience. I tend to learn things very quickly and the others in my group didn’t, so I got pretty frustrated.

 

[Texas_Roofer]

I’m in the beginning of our RCIA classes at St. Brigid in Alpharetta. I just have one major concern - since my husband and I were not originally married in a Catholic church, we’ll obviously have to renew our vows @ St. Brigid. OK, cool, that’s great. They already have our baptismal records and they’ll soon be getting our marriage certificate. I have the two affidavits from my family (stating that I’ve never been married before, etc.), but my husband cannot get the same from his.

So, does this mean that I’m doomed from receiving Communion and Confirmation at Easter? I mean, what do others do in this situation?

If you and he are in your first and only marriage AND neither was baptized catholic before the marriage, there should be no reason to need any change to your married status. If that condition is not correct you need to contact the marriage counselors in your parish, very soon. If the parish is small use a larger parish or the diocese. As there are so many possibilities it is difficult to evaluate online. That is why they make you document everything.

 

[nannyv]

Yes, I was the first director of the RCIA for two parishes, for 3 years. My problem with the process is the materials used for teaching our catholic faith. It is all fluff!!! As a conservative catholic and one who was taught using the Baltimore Catechism the RCIA process is very confusing and very protestanized. We were never “allowed” to teach the true faith. It was all about community, feeling good, and getting along. When we tried to teach what our Catholic Faith really means, we were told to stick to the books!!! A lot of the authors of these materials are very radical and anti-catholic. Very much into New Age Theology, ect. I would recommend that anyone wanting to become catholic or to teach needs to look into all materials being used in your parishes. Look up who authors them, what their beliefs are and are they truly following Rome and our Holy Father!!! My husband and I continue to fight the good fight. We stay steadfast to Our Lord , the pope , the magesterium and our Holy Mother, the church. PLEASE, be VERY careful as to what materials and beliefs you listen to. Unfortunately, the church, here in the USA, has become VERY modern. I feel that Pope Benedict is trying to turn it around to what Our Lord wants it to be. Remember, Our Lord said that the foundation would NEVER fail, but the house is
crumbling right now. May God bless and guide us all.

Nannyv

 

[JohnnyReb]

So far my RCIA meetings have been a combination of spiritual developement through devotionals followed by a discussion of Catholic beliefs. The devotionals have been very deep, and this week it was the same gospel reading from Mass the previous Sunday. I think if all Catholics attended this level of spiritual formation on a regular basis, we would see a drop in badly catechized catholics, and catholics in name only.