RCIA classes: What takes place?

[gaelach_croi]

Hi, my name is Kellie. Through my life I was never raised under any specific religion, my parents were Catholic/Christian, but they let me and my three brothers and sisters choose for ourselves as we got older. I’m 19 now, and I’m seriously thinking of becoming a Catholic, but I just have a few question regarding RCIA classes. I just wanted to know what takes place. I’ve read the summary, I know the goal of it, but I haven’t found anything that actually says what takes place during the actual class.

Any answers/suggestions/help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Kellie

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I think that you’ll find it varies from parish to parish.

RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. There are books that actually say what happens during the different rites.

Where the possible confusion comes in is that parishes generally refer to everything connected with someone coming into the Church as RCIA…which means that it may include dismissals from Mass, it may include classes dealing with the faith, and possibly other things.

In my parish, we do dismissals at Sunday Mass. This means that our catechumens (people who aren’t yet baptized) leave after the homily with one of the members of the RCIA team to further discuss the readings and what they mean. People who are already baptized but not yet Catholic stay for the entire Mass.

We hold class once a week where we do two things. One is that we talk about the gospel for the upcoming Sunday to prepare everyone for Mass. Then we have a presentation on our topic of the week. These evening sessions last about an hour and a half.

Does this help at all?

 

[gaelach_croi]

Yes, I can’t begin to thank you enough!

 

[Wings]

Suscipe is accurate with the above post.

My personal experience:
First few months consisted of the whole group just getting together at the house of a parishoner and the sister that was in charge of our group. We just sat around and asked questions and discussed the faith. This was termed “inquiry.”

When the “inquiry” period was over, we were asked to make a decision as to whether we would like to leave the group, continue to the next level, or whether we would just like to continue with more time of “inquiry.” If we elected to continue, we went through a small ceremony at a mass which was very meaningful, and were assigned a sponsor from the parish to assist us in the next step.

The next step consisted of meetings during/after one of the masses to talk about the day’s readings with the group and our sponsors. Occasionally, we had guest speakers that were there to help us out. Also, there were a select few “extracurricular” events, such as church tours, etc…Finally, if you decide that you are truly ready after this step, you are ready to come into the Church.

If you are already baptized in the name of the trinity, you will not have to be baptized before coming into the Church. In such a case, you would need to go to confession before being welcomed into the Church via the sacraments of confirmation and Holy Eucharist.

RCIA, for me, was very well-run, and was low-pressure (it helps that I pretty much knew how I felt before joining the group). What a great experience! You, as well as all the others considering conversion to the faith are in my prayers. May God bless you, and feel free to message me or post here with any questions!!!

 

[KarenElissa]

Hi, my name is Kellie. Through my life I was never raised under any specific religion, my parents were Catholic/Christian, but they let me and my three brothers and sisters choose for ourselves as we got older. I’m 19 now, and I’m seriously thinking of becoming a Catholic, but I just have a few question regarding RCIA classes. I just wanted to know what takes place. I’ve read the summary, I know the goal of it, but I haven’t found anything that actually says what takes place during the actual class.

Any answers/suggestions/help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Kellie

Like others have said, they are all a little bit different. At my parish we all got a book and were told to read it at our own pace. We also had to write a little paragraph on one of the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. The leader read them, just to kind of help her know where we were on this journey.

Each class we would have an opening prayer time. Usually something uniquely Catholic to help us learn about those things. Then we would discuss our homework with the people at our table, usually our sponsor and maybe another set of people. Then we would talk about the topic for the night. Sometimes one of our priests would talk for a while and then answer any questions, sometimes it was our leader. Then we would close in prayer, again usually in some “Catholic” way. Sometimes there were other things we did, a tour of the church, going to Adoration and Benediction, a litany of the Saints, but that was kind of the overall basic idea.

In all, just remember it is a journey and we all are at different points. And it is an exciting journey! With an even better “ending!” Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

 

[trooper]

Hi Kellie,

I went through RCIA last year as an adult convert. It can be really hard for RCIA directors to decide how to define their classes. We had previous non-believers who knew next to nothing about the faith, but who were drawn to the Church (praise GOD!) and we had folks like you who had an inkling, but not much formation, and we had former Protestant Sunday School teachers (like myself) who had been reading and studying for years. So, I would encourage you to let your teacher know what questions you might have and what maybe you need to spend extra time on, and let the conversation kind of go where it needs to. Regardless, you have made a great decision, and RCIA is only the beginning. The truth of our faith is truly overwhelming, in a good sort of way, so take it as slowly or as quickly as you need, as seems right. And just keep walking down this path. Many prayers for you.