Question about RCIA and my children

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prae

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Hello everyone. My family and I have been attending mass for a few months now and enjoying it. My wife and I are seriously contemplating joining the Catholic church. I grew up in South LA and attended Catholic elementary school. My wife and I are both Baptist and have been baptised.

We currently live in TN, and have been searching for a church for a long while now. Have attended several, but nothing “felt” right. I finally talked my wife into attending the local Catholic church and she enjoys it along w/ my kids & myself. It just feels like coming “home”, if that makes sense.

My question is this: What do we do w/ our children while we are enrolled in RCIA? Do they have a kids program that is similar? I want our kids (8yrs & 11yrs) to share this with us and enjoy the fullness of the Catholic faith.

Any ideas or guidance would be appreciated.

JwH
 
the children should be participating in RCIA with other children of their age so the entire family is brought into the Church together. Please speak to your director about this. It should have been covered in your initial interview when you began the RCIA process.
 
puzzleannie said:
the children should be participating in RCIA with other children of their age so the entire family is brought into the Church together. Please speak to your director about this. It should have been covered in your initial interview when you began the RCIA process.
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We have not started the process yet, but will be asking lots of questions when we speak with the director.

Thanks.

Also, since my wife and I have both been baptized… would this be considered valid within the the Catholic Church?

As you can probably tell, I still have lots of learning to do…but eagerly await it.
 
prae said:
We Also, since my wife and I have both been baptized… would this be considered valid within the the Catholic Church?

As you can probably tell, I still have lots of learning to do…but eagerly await it.
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I don’t know what you mean by “valid”. The Catholic Church accepts baptism as valid even if the minister was non-ordained if valid matter and form were used–water baptism with the formula “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. Assuming two persons are otherwise free to marry and exchange full free will consent their marriage is assumed to be valid as well. If both are baptized, the marriage is also sacramental.
 
Most parishes have PSR for children. The classes are divided by age group and aim at initiating the children into union with the church.
The stages include;
Baptism
Confession
Eucharist
Confirmation
Through it all you are encouraged to share in the journey with your children and the parish!
 
puzzleannie said:
I don’t know what you mean by “valid”. The Catholic Church accepts baptism as valid even if the minister was non-ordained if valid matter and form were used–water baptism with the formula “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. Assuming two persons are otherwise free to marry and exchange full free will consent their marriage is assumed to be valid as well. If both are baptized, the marriage is also sacramental.
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Just asking if the RCC would recognize that baptism. You answered it.
mfj said:
Most parishes have PSR for children. The classes are divided by age group and aim at initiating the children into union with the church.
The stages include;
Baptism
Confession
Eucharist
Confirmation
Through it all you are encouraged to share in the journey with your children and the parish!
Click to expand...
Thanks.
 
Let me officially welcome you to our Faith! It is such an ancient, but new Love you will be experiencing.

Yes, you are baptized in the eyes of the Church. Conctact your RCIA leader, they will surely give you the info you need.

God Bless you on your journey home!

-Matt
 
Please be aware from the beginning that joining the Catholic Church is not like joining a Baptist Church, in that you can’t join “a” Catholic church, the parish where you attend, you join THE Catholic Church, united through time and space and eternity. This should be covered in your RCIA class. Truly, the parish is very important- it is where we join with our fellow Catholics to pray and receive the sacraments. But at the same time the individual parish is less important to us because of our essential unity with the whole church. I am as much in unity with St. Joan of Arc, with (soon to be I am sure) St. Pope John Paul II, with Lazarus the beggar (I know that the Lazarus in the Gospel may have been a fictional character, but I am certain that there was some good holy beggar named Lazarus sometime) as with my fellow parishioners. One result of that is that if you move again and don’t like the parish you are in, you are still in the Catholic Church. Or if your pastor changes (we do that- move pastors around) and you don’t like the new one as well, he is still your pastor.
 
prae said:
Hello everyone. My family and I have been attending mass for a few months now and enjoying it. My wife and I are seriously contemplating joining the Catholic church. I grew up in South LA and attended Catholic elementary school. My wife and I are both Baptist and have been baptised.

We currently live in TN, and have been searching for a church for a long while now. Have attended several, but nothing “felt” right. I finally talked my wife into attending the local Catholic church and she enjoys it along w/ my kids & myself. It just feels like coming “home”, if that makes sense.

My question is this: What do we do w/ our children while we are enrolled in RCIA? Do they have a kids program that is similar? I want our kids (8yrs & 11yrs) to share this with us and enjoy the fullness of the Catholic faith.

Any ideas or guidance would be appreciated.

JwH
Click to expand...
Usually already Baptized children would join in the appropriate childrens faith program and receive their First Reconciliation, first Holy Communion and Confirmation with other children their age. Those children in the 8+ age group who are not Baptized would enter into an RCIA process geared for their age and be initiated with all three Sacraments together at the Easter Vigil.
 
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