RCIA from Home

[jenniferashlee]

I am interested in RCIA and my local parish does offer a program of course. So far I have not received a response from them. I thought I’d check here in the meantime.

I have a young toddler and unless I can bring him with me, I don’t know how I’ll be able to attend. I cannot afford a babysitter for the time I’d be gone each week. Are there any acceptable options for me? I would like to get my son Baptized but I’d like to be confirmed before him.

 

[pianistclare]

I am interested in RCIA and my local parish does offer a program of course. So far I have not received a response from them. I thought I’d check here in the meantime.

I have a young toddler and unless I can bring him with me, I don’t know how I’ll be able to attend. I cannot afford a babysitter for the time I’d be gone each week. Are there any acceptable options for me? I would like to get my son Baptized but I’d like to be confirmed before him.

Try to get a ride to the parish offices, but make an appointment with the Pastor FIRST.
Getting the child Baptized is a priority, IMHO, but none of us can guess what accommodations can be made at your particular parish.
God bless you and welcome.

 

[Usige]

Talk to the pastor about your situation. Ultimately it is he who will set the requirements.

Strictly speaking you are not required to jump through unreasonable hoops. If they do not offer child care or allow you to bring him then they need to find other accommodations and cannot expect you to just figure it out. The Church is to accommodate you as much as possible, not you accommodating their requirements outside of those spelled out in the law.

As for your toddler, even if he is baptized before you it would be atleast 4 or 5 years before he was confirmed and more likely 10-14 years depending on the diocese. Personally I would have him baptized as soon as possible, with the understanding that he would still be Catholic even if you did not ultimately make a profession of faith. I know my pastor has baptized infants of people that were converting even if it was several months before they were received. Again this is something I’d discuss with the pastor.

 

[jenniferashlee]

Talk to the pastor about your situation. Ultimately it is he who will set the requirements.

Strictly speaking you are not required to jump through unreasonable hoops. If they do not offer child care or allow you to bring him then they need to find other accommodations and cannot expect you to just figure it out. The Church is to accommodate you as much as possible, not you accommodating their requirements outside of those spelled out in the law.

As for your toddler, even if he is baptized before you it would be atleast 4 or 5 years before he was confirmed and more likely 10-14 years depending on the diocese. Personally I would have him baptized as soon as possible, with the understanding that he would still be Catholic even if you did not ultimately make a profession of faith. I know my pastor has baptized infants of people that were converting even if it was several months before they were received. Again this is something I’d discuss with the pastor.

Thanks so much for the advice. I will definitely check into the Baptism first then. The only reason we didn’t do it sooner is because our son was born prematurely and was in the hospital. Now everything is fine and dandy so I’d like to proceed. My husband is Catholic and his two sons (my stepsons) are enrolled in Catholic school. I’m the odd man out so to speak. I’ve never been baptized or anything but I have grown to be very spiritual and God is in my heart for sure; helping me navigate my life and make decisions based on faith and goodness. Anyway… through my stepson’s parish and school, I discovered RCIA. It’s just that I can’t seem to get there unless I bring aforementioned toddler

 

[jenniferashlee]

Try to get a ride to the parish offices, but make an appointment with the Pastor FIRST.
Getting the child Baptized is a priority, IMHO, but none of us can guess what accommodations can be made at your particular parish.
God bless you and welcome.

Thank you for the response! I will see about talking to the Pastor directly. So far I have just emailed the person in charge of the RCIA program and she has not gotten back to me yet. I wasn’t sure if RCIA was a universal type of program where every parish had the same system, etc. I’m truly clueless

 

[Usige]

I wasn’t sure if RCIA was a universal type of program where every parish had the same system, etc. I’m truly clueless

The short answer is, no RCIA programs aren’t universal. The liturgical rites are, but the actual classes and format can widely vary. Even parishes 5 miles apart may do things differently so don’t worry about feeling clueless. Believe it or not, many of us here have gaps in our knowledge too.

One thing you did mention that I did want to comment on was around waiting to baptize your son until he got through the troubles of being premature. In case you have another child who has health problems I would encourage you to have them baptized as soon as possible. A priest or deacon can baptize them in the hospital if necessary. The reason I mention it is that there are many graces associated with baptism and for me atleast, I want my kids to receive those graces as soon as possible. We’ve had some of our kids baptized as young as 3 days old (most between 1 and 4 weeks old). Now obviously you need to take medical condition into account, but in general I would council anyone with a sick infant to have them baptized sooner rather than later.

You seem to understand some need to getting them baptized so I just want to encourage you to not see it as something you have to wait to do until they are perfectly health and ready for a party. Not saying you are doing so, but just wanted to mention it given how important Catholic beleive the sacrament of Baptism to be.

 

[pensmama87]

I am interested in RCIA and my local parish does offer a program of course. So far I have not received a response from them. I thought I’d check here in the meantime.

I have a young toddler and unless I can bring him with me, I don’t know how I’ll be able to attend. I cannot afford a babysitter for the time I’d be gone each week. Are there any acceptable options for me? I would like to get my son Baptized but I’d like to be confirmed before him.

Perhaps this is just a really dumb question, but I take it your husband must work during the scheduled session times? At most parishes I’m familiar with the sessions are during the evenings to accommodate the schedules for most working people, but of course for some that doesn’t work.

(Sometimes solutions are obvious but we don’t think of them, so I just wanted to point that out. )

I know in our parish we pretty much bend over backward to accommodate people. We’ve had people who worked shifts, who had young children they had to bring occasionally, or who were emergency responders. We make it work! I’ve volunteered to watch children before (I do have all my clearances) and some people sometimes just have to bring their kids to a session because it can’t be helped. It’s just how it is. Just ask and see the best way to work it out!

 

[z_0101]

I know in our parish we pretty much bend over backward to accommodate people. We’ve had people who worked shifts, who had young children they had to bring occasionally, or who were emergency responders. We make it work! I’ve volunteered to watch children before (I do have all my clearances) and some people sometimes just have to bring their kids to a session because it can’t be helped. It’s just how it is. Just ask and see the best way to work it out!

• Ditto for my parish… thru three different Pastors now and they’ve all found a way to make accommodations for the people that needed them. At one point we had one individual that due to work and an illness missed several sessions and both one of our Deacons and the Pastor made arrangements to see them in the office and to visit them at home; however, that was an extreme case!
• If your local Parish can’t accommodate, then contact the next closest one and talk with the Pastor there, they may be able to help get you in their program if not your local program. The Priests tend to talk to each other

 

[jenniferashlee]

Perhaps this is just a really dumb question, but I take it your husband must work during the scheduled session times? At most parishes I’m familiar with the sessions are during the evenings to accommodate the schedules for most working people, but of course for some that doesn’t work.

(Sometimes solutions are obvious but we don’t think of them, so I just wanted to point that out. )

I know in our parish we pretty much bend over backward to accommodate people. We’ve had people who worked shifts, who had young children they had to bring occasionally, or who were emergency responders. We make it work! I’ve volunteered to watch children before (I do have all my clearances) and some people sometimes just have to bring their kids to a session because it can’t be helped. It’s just how it is. Just ask and see the best way to work it out!

The scheduled class times don’t allow for my husband to watch our son. So yes, I must bring my toddler. The parish did get back to me and let me know it’s not a problem to bring him. However, I’m second guessing it now. I may put this off until next year when I do have someone to watch him because I can’t exactly give my full attention to something with an almost 2 year old getting antsy and distracting. It’s not fair to the other class members either.

 

[casslean]

The scheduled class times don’t allow for my husband to watch our son. So yes, I must bring my toddler. The parish did get back to me and let me know it’s not a problem to bring him. However, I’m second guessing it now. I may put this off until next year when I do have someone to watch him because I can’t exactly give my full attention to something with an almost 2 year old getting antsy and distracting. It’s not fair to the other class members either.

Before you make a decision, talk to the RCIA director about your concerns. I’m sure they have seen this situation before, and can reassure you that it won’t be a problem.

As an aside, when I was a law student, classmates frequently had to bring their small children to class. We are all adults - as your classmates are - and not only can we appreciate and understand the conflicting demands on a mother’s time, we can also pay attention even where there are distractions.

 

[PJM]

I am interested in RCIA and my local parish does offer a program of course. So far I have not received a response from them. I thought I’d check here in the meantime.

I have a young toddler and unless I can bring him with me, I don’t know how I’ll be able to attend. I cannot afford a babysitter for the time I’d be gone each week. Are there any acceptable options for me? I would like to get my son Baptized but I’d like to be confirmed before him.

First please CALL your parish office ASAP

Typically, RCIA runs from Back to School to Easter Sunday, so their is a bit of urgency here

Secondly: it may be possible for you to receive some sort of PRIVATE RCIA instruction??? This is dependent upon your pastor; ask about it

Third: As a FYI, I’m a trained and retired Catholic Catechist {teacher} with 20+ years pf faith sharing experience from youths to adults, including 3 years in RCIA before my retirement.

I OFFER A TOTALLY FREE OF ALL COST HOME STUDY COURSE WITH 1 LESSON E-MAILED EACH WEEK…
…
My course is intended to be a supplement to RCIA,.as time constraints simply do not allow more than an introduction to our Catholic beliefs and practices.

If #'s 1 & 2 don’t work out. you may wish to ask Father if he would accept my course in its place? I can supply what ever information he desires.

I am a Trained ans certified Marian Catechist {Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is our International Director}

Pray much and contact your nearest parish office ASAP:thumbsup:

God Bless you

Patrick {PJM}