RCIA - how long is the process?

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WhiteDove5

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Hi, if one isn’t confirmed at Easter vigil, do they have to wait another year? I ask for my sister. She joined last fall and had her first confession during lent. Her leader keeps talking about when her time comes and she can receive when she’s ready. Sorry I don’t understand too much about this process.
 
I’m sorry. She’s baptized catholic but hasn’t had anything else.
 
Ideally RCIA is individualized. Baptisms usually take place at the Easter Vigil. For someone already baptized the process should take as long as needed but not longer.
 
Outside the Easter Vigil, only the bishop has the authority to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation. Many parishes have confirmation programs to prepare you, and then the bishop will come and visit your parish and administer this sacrament.

Each parish is different however in how it prepares those to be confirmed. Yours might do it through an RCIA, or have its own separate program.

If she was baptized Catholic, then she is already part of the Church by virtue of her baptism and can partake in the sacraments.
 
Thank you. I was afraid I didn’t make any sense. She feels ready but is waiting for her leaders to bring it up; she’s very timid.
 
She was told that the bishop gave the parish priests authority to administer first Eucharist and confession to those already baptized catholic. She feels ready but is waiting for them to approach her as she’s very timid.
 
She needs to speak with her pastor. If she is timid, go with her!
 
WhiteDove5 said:
She was told that the bishop gave the parish priests authority to administer first Eucharist and confession to those already baptized catholic.
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On the Easter Vigil, or anytime? (In my diocese, parish priests receive the delegation to confirm – on Easter Vigil only – those who they baptize, as well as those who are baptized in the Catholic Church but never were catechized or received First Holy Communion.)

Is there anything standing in the way of her receiving the sacraments, perhaps, other than personally requesting it of her pastor? A marital situation, perhaps, or some aspect of the faith that she’s not able at present to assent to?
 
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She said that on the first day of RCIA, the deacon teaching the class said that procedure was changed for people already baptized. He said that they can receive the other sacraments whenever they’re ready. I guess she’s waiting for them to tell her when she’s ready. I myself would just ask since Easter has passed, but she is just a very quiet person.
 
I told her she should just ask the deacon teaching the class? What’s the worst they could say?
 
Speak with your parish priest. Depending on ones knowledge of the faith, it may not be long at all. It’s up to the priest.

ZP
 
WhiteDove5 said:
I myself would just ask since Easter has passed, but she is just a very quiet person.
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Yep. And, in fact, if the deacon was mistaken, she’s gonna be disappointed, since she’d have to wait either for next Easter Vigil or whenever a bishop comes around to celebrate a confirmation in the area.

However, if she’s been participating in RCIA, there’s the possibility that she can have her first Reconciliation and “First Holy Communion”, and begin receiving the Eucharist regularly. She might want to ask the deacon about that, if it turns out that the pastor isn’t able to confirm whenever he wishes. Like the others have said: she should reach out to her pastor and ask.

(I’m saying “pastor” and not “deacon”, because one would have hoped that, as the Easter Vigil approached, the deacon in charge of RCIA would have taken the initiative to touch base with all of the RCIA participants in this situation in order to ask them “hey… are you feeling ‘ready’?” Since he didn’t, it might be best to go straight to the pastor.)
 
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RCIA is based on the person’s needs and readiness. Most of the time people are confirmed at the Easter vigil, but I’v seen it happen at other times.
 
Thank you. Do you know how they determine readiness, other than her saying, “I’m ready”?
 
Scott84 said:
Outside the Easter Vigil, only the bishop has the authority to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation
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Not quite.

The priest has the ability (and obligation?) to confirm any convert over the age of reason (7) when going through RCIA, whether formally via courses or informally through meetings and at an individualized pace of the sacraments. This isn’t limited to the Easter Vigil and can be done throughout the year.
 
I’m sorry. This confuses me. Do baptized Catholics get the other sacraments only at Easter vigil or when they’re deemed ready?
 
I think a lot of times you will be talking with the priest and RCIA director/sponsor. Your sponsor, who you will get to know quite well, will also help determine if your ready.
WhiteDove5 said:
Thank you. I was afraid I didn’t make any sense. She feels ready but is waiting for her leaders to bring it up; she’s very timid.
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Tell your sister not to be afraid to say she is ready. I know it can be nerve wracking because I have done through this myself, but it was worth it. She will be in my prayers.
 
WhiteDove5 said:
This confuses me. Do baptized Catholics get the other sacraments only at Easter vigil or when they’re deemed ready?
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Well, we’re really talking about confirmation here, in particular. Basically, the bishop is the ordinary minister of confirmation, but he can delegate to his priests. (This typically happens for the Easter Vigil, when people who have gone through RCIA receive baptism, confirmation, and their first Eucharist all in one Mass.)

There are other cases, as well, which unfortunately sometimes get lumped in as if they were all the same:
  • people who were baptized Catholic and received First Holy Communion, but had never been confirmed
  • people who were baptized Catholic but never catechized further
  • people who were validly baptized in non-Catholic Christian communities, and are seeking full communion with the Catholic Church
By the way you wrote your reply, it seems to me that you’re thinking of normal reception of Holy Communion. Yes, Catholics receive communion at Masses throughout the year. It’s baptism and confirmation, though, that make the Easter Vigil special.
 
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