RCIA question

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CountrySteve

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if your have been baptized in the protestant church and have home studyed Catholicism for 4-6 months (in my case) do you still have to attend RCIA cause someone posted on another thread that you don’t if your baptized and have knowledge of Catholicism and i am uncertain if i will be able to attend RCIA for a long time and i wish to receive the Eucharist as soon as possible
 
You need to meet with your priest. He is the best judge of how much preparation is needed in your specific situation prior to being received into the Church.
 
CountrySteve said:
if your have been baptized in the protestant church and have home studyed Catholicism for 4-6 months (in my case) do you still have to attend RCIA cause someone posted on another thread that you don’t if your baptized and have knowledge of Catholicism and i am uncertain if i will be able to attend RCIA for a long time and i wish to receive the Eucharist as soon as possible
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no way to answer, if you called me with this question I would invite you to meet with me, and also with the pastor or deacon, for in interview to discuss your personal situation, your (name removed by moderator)ut on where you are in your faith journey, your schedule, your needs, marriage and family issues etc. Yes you would participate in RCIA, I am only one person and not able to have 3 separate classes each week for adults, but you would start where you are now, and participate until you and the pastor together decide you are ready for sacraments.
 
I agree with Puzzleannie – talk with your RCIA director and/or pastor.

I think it’s important to keep in mind that RCIA is not simply a class where you gain a certain amount of knowledge and “graduate” by receiving the sacraments. You do indeed need to learn what the Church teaches and practices, but RCIA is more than that. It’s a process where you become part of a parish, part of the Church, learn to see the world through Catholic eyes, and nurture your relationship with God. You can’t gain these things through home study.
 
You’re American, and a baptized Protestant, so according to the National Statutes for the Catechumenate you are not supposed to participate in the RCIA courses, and they are not supposed to receive you at Easter with the true catechumens but instead meet with you in private for an evaluation of your understanding of Catholicism. I personally am only going to meet with the priest twice, and then be confirmed. I’ve been cramming 'cause I love the Church so much 😉
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
I agree with Puzzleannie – talk with your RCIA director and/or pastor.

I think it’s important to keep in mind that RCIA is not simply a class where you gain a certain amount of knowledge and “graduate” by receiving the sacraments. You do indeed need to learn what the Church teaches and practices, but RCIA is more than that. It’s a process where you become part of a parish, part of the Church, learn to see the world through Catholic eyes, and nurture your relationship with God. You can’t gain these things through home study.
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now that you said that it makes me wanna take the classes but yea i will talk to the priest next time im at mass 🙂
 
WoundedIcon said:
You’re American, and a baptized Protestant, so according to the National Statutes for the Catechumenate you are not supposed to participate in the RCIA courses, and they are not supposed to receive you at Easter with the true catechumens but instead meet with you in private for an evaluation of your understanding of Catholicism. I personally am only going to meet with the priest twice, and then be confirmed. I’ve been cramming 'cause I love the Church so much 😉
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yea same here i love the Church too i mean after all who couldn’t
 
I have been baptized and would like to join the Catholic Church but was given the impression that I would have to go through RCIA to join when I called. Could this be because I have two unbaptized children? (4th grader would be baptized and have first communion and 5 year old just baptized)
 
rabby(name removed by moderator) said:
I have been baptized and would like to join the Catholic Church but was given the impression that I would have to go through RCIA to join when I called. Could this be because I have two unbaptized children?
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Are your children joining the Church with you? That could be a reason so that you all go through preparation together.

But many parishes aren’t big enough or have enough resources to run both an RCIA program and a program for non-Catholic Christians who are seeking to join the Church. The tendency is to put them all through the same classes. It’s not a bad thing to get more classes, usually, and it’s a good time to discern and ask questions. But if you feel RCIA is not appropriate for your situation, talk to the pastor and ask his advice.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
It’s a process where you become part of a parish, part of the Church, learn to see the world through Catholic eyes, and nurture your relationship with God. You can’t gain these things through home study.
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I agree with this 100%. I was a baptized Christian from the Methodist faith and my wife was baptized Catholic but had fallen away. We both went through a 9 month RCIA process as a group with several other people and I am SO glad that we did. We met great people, learned a ton, developed fantastic relationships with our sponsors and other people going through (a couple of the people going through our now some of our best friends). I learned far more than I would have during home study due to the discussion and meetings we had as a group. I did plenty of reading outside of the class to learn, but the sessions themselves were invaluable.

Don’t forget about the Rites as well. There are several rites along the way to help you through the process. Going through those as a group also fosters a sense of unity and clarity of purpose that I don’t think going through them alone would have.

I would not change 1 thing about the way I went through the RCIA process.
 
WoundedIcon said:
You’re American, and a baptized Protestant, so according to the National Statutes for the Catechumenate you are not supposed to participate in the RCIA courses, and they are not supposed to receive you at Easter with the true catechumens but instead meet with you in private for an evaluation of your understanding of Catholicism. I personally am only going to meet with the priest twice, and then be confirmed. I’ve been cramming 'cause I love the Church so much 😉
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Is this correct? No one told me this. As far as I know I still have to do RCIA except I will be a candidate, not a catechumen.
 
TrueLight said:
Is this correct? No one told me this. As far as I know I still have to do RCIA except I will be a candidate, not a catechumen.
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You will probably still do RCIA and you are correct that you will be determined a Candidate rather than catechumen. I was in the same situation. My wife, who was baptized catholic, was required to go through as well since she had been away from the church for several years. Some parishes and diocese run things differently than others but most go on a yearly cycle.

Both her and I were happy that we did go through the whole thing with other inquirers.

Peace of Christ,

Jason
 
jwinch2 said:
You will probably still do RCIA and you are correct that you will be determined a Candidate rather than catechumen. I was in the same situation. My wife, who was baptized catholic, was required to go through as well since she had been away from the church for several years. Some parishes and diocese run things differently than others but most go on a yearly cycle.

Both her and I were happy that we did go through the whole thing with other inquirers.

Peace of Christ,

Jason
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Okay, I thought I was crazy.

I inquired at two parishes. One has a formal RCIA program and one has an informal meeting with the priest. Unfortunately, even in the second one, he starts in September, even if it means there will be 2 people in the class. I was hoping to just have a private meeting with him so he can judge where I am.
 
TrueLight said:
Okay, I thought I was crazy.

I inquired at two parishes. One has a formal RCIA program and one has an informal meeting with the priest. Unfortunately, even in the second one, he starts in September, even if it means there will be 2 people in the class. I was hoping to just have a private meeting with him so he can judge where I am.
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As I said, parishes do things differently. Our program started in September as well and all things went in a specific order. There were various rites (Rite of Welcoming, Rite of Sending, Rite of Election, Scrutinies, etc.) that took place at specific times of the year. Candidates do some things that are different in terms of the Rites than catechumens do, but most things followed a similar schedule for us.

This website has some good stuff on the Rites that take place during the liturgical year. It is designed for those running RCIA but I found it helpful going through.

Peace,
 
WoundedIcon said:
You’re American, and a baptized Protestant, so according to the National Statutes for the Catechumenate you are not supposed to participate in the RCIA courses, and they are not supposed to receive you at Easter with the true catechumens but instead meet with you in private for an evaluation of your understanding of Catholicism. I personally am only going to meet with the priest twice, and then be confirmed. I’ve been cramming 'cause I love the Church so much 😉
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That may be true in theory, but in my experience, the candidates (those who have already been baptized using the valid formula) take the R.C.I.A. class with the catechumens. This might be done for practical reasons, not the least being a sense of community. I was also told that one could be confirmed at the Cathedral on Pentecost, but that it would be much more meaningful to receive that sacrament on Easter.
 
The RCIA introductions for England and Wales, are at liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Rites/RiteRitual.html . (The USA edition has different paragraph numbers.) Section 5 is the most relevant to you, “RECEPTION OF BAPTISED CHRISTIANS INTO THE FULL COMMUNION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH”. It has:

“391 The baptised Christian is to receive both doctrinal and spiritual preparation, adapted to individual pastoral requirements, for reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church.The candidate should learn to deepen an inner adherence to the Church, where he or she will find the fulness of his or her baptism. During the period of preparation the candidate may share in worship in conformity witli the provisions of the Ecumenical Directory.
Anything that would equate candidates for reception with those who are catechumens is
to be absolutely avoided.”

Despite this, note that the RCIA book also includes:
“Appendix 1
CELEBRATION AT THE EASTER VIGIL OF THE SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION AND OF THE RITE OF RECEPTION INTO THE FULL COMMUNION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
418 Pastoral considerations may suggest that along with the celebration of the sacrament; of Christian initiation the Easter Vigil should include the rite of reception of already baptised Christians into the full communion of the Catholic Church. But such a decision must be guided by the theological and pastoral directives proper to each rite.The model provided here simply arranges the ritual elements belonging to such a combined celebration. But the model can only be used properly in the light of nos. 198-210, regarding celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation, and of nos. 387-399, regarding the rite of reception into the full commuion of the Catholic Church.”

Paragraphs 419-421 give more information on this.
 
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