RCIA Questions- Converting

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You truly are a great source of encouragement! All of you are! I’m so thankful to have stumbled across this forum. It’s just a lot to take in, but it’s really helped just reading through all the threads and hearing other people’s experiences, and questions. It’s really a relief for me to talk to so many educated people who are either Catholic or longing to become Catholic! Either way, I feel as if you know how/what I’m feeling.

I will definitely be looking into that YouTube series! I am currently reading “Catholicism for Dummies,” and I am getting so much out of it! I’ve always been one to go all in when I want something, and I can’t help but dive into learning about the Catholic Church with both feet!

My boyfriend is actually the one who introduced me to Catholicism. He’s a cradle Catholic.
 
I have that book too! That was the very first book I bought.

I also found myself in the religion book section of a thrift store a while ago and picked up a current copy of the US Catholic Catechism for Adults AND a Catholic Bible. Both looked practically new.

Amazing where stuff turns up. I built quite the bookshelf from just a thrift store or two.
 
Have any converts on here been accepted into the church during a regular Sunday Mass, and not the Easter Vigil? That’s definitely an option for me.
 
Lauren0615 said:
Have any converts on here been accepted into the church during a regular Sunday Mass, and not the Easter Vigil? That’s definitely an option for me.
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For candidates (not catechumens being baptized) that’s how my parish does it. A Sunday Mass when the person is ready to be received.
 
In some special cases…if you are well learned and well versed and are ready…the pastor can make an exemption…but always…faith and obedience should be foremost…in what the pastor decides…
 
I’ll see where the good Lord guides me, and what the opinion of the priest is and follow their lead. 🙂 The pastoral associate teaching my one on one class (since the next round of RCIA classes don’t start until August) told me that I’ve been very well catechized and will only need to be educated in the Catholic faith. We’ll see how long that takes! If it has to be at Easter Vigil 2019, that’s fine. However, I don’t believe it will be necessary. 🙂
 
Yes, I was received into the Church at a regular Sunday mass, I was very glad to not have to wait until Easter. I think it makes sense for people who are already baptized.

I loved the way RCIA was done at my parish! There was an informal class where you could ask any questions you have about the faith, and you could stay in that class as long as you needed. Once you decide that you definitely want to be Catholic, you start going to the more structured class. You stay in that class until you are ready to be received into the Church, and it can be any time of year. They just don’t allow people to come into full communion during lent, or if there is some other conflict that day.
 
Although actually, when I started RCIA in Summer 2017 I was happy that I wouldn’t have to wait all the way until Easter. What ended up happening, though, was that I stopped going to RCIA around November because I was having serious doubts about Catholicism. I didn’t come back to RCIA until after Easter, and then was received that July.

So initially I didn’t want to have to wait too long, but I ended up waiting even longer. But either way, the flexibility was a good thing. God’s timing is always right!
 
I (and three others) was recieved into the Church at Pentecost last year (June 4th). Our RCIA classes started September 2016 and continued until May 2017, with classes once every two weeks.
 
Always amazing to me in how people are guided by the Holy Spirit.

The RCIA process begins with Inquiry, which it sounds like that is where you’re at. Candidates (not Catechumens) like yourself can be received at any time throughout the year.

For what it’s worth, the USCCB has directed that the catechumenate should take a full year. This wouldn’t apply to you as you are a candidate not a catechumen. Just saying the process takes as long as it takes.

Anecdotally, I’d say it’s about half the parishes that adhere to this direction, for different reasons. But usually it’s that RCIA doesn’t have enough people volunteering for the ministry.

One on one inquiry is something special! God bless you on your journey.
 
Welcome home I am a convert from pentecostal church of god background please do not let people from the assemblies of god try to get yuou to change your mind because some of the people from the church of god tried to stop me from converting told me that I would miss the rapture if I joined the Catholic Church I jad private instruction with a very dear knowledgeble priest who was around seventy at the time. He is passed away now. I was received into the Church at a private ceremony in the Eucharistic Chapel I had to be conditionally baptised because the church of god did not have a record of my baptism. That was 25 years ago and I have never looked back
 
I really appreciate the kind words! I really do feel so grateful to have this one on one inquiry. I’m relieved to know that I’ll be able to be recieved into the church on any given Sunday during mass. I understand that it takes as long as it takes, and that’s okay with me! I know for a fact that I truly do want to be Catholic and I want to be the best Catholic I can be. I still have a lot to learn about the faith. However, I have been very well taught in my Christian background. I can’t wait for this journey ahead!
 
Thank you so much! I won’t allow anyone to discourage me on this journey. I feel as if this is something that I need to do for myself. This is a personal decision, and nobody could sway it! I feel like the Catholic religion is just terribly misunderstood at times. People are fearful of what they don’t understand.
 
How was your experience with coming into the church in July, instead of at the Easter Vigil? Was there any backlash from it? Were you the only one being received during that mass?
 
This one on one inquiry that I have been so blessed to receive really has been something very special to me! I am so grateful for it. RCIA at the parish I’m attending normally brings new members into the church at the Easter Vigil. However, they said that it would be up to me and that whenever I’m ready, I can be received into the church during any Sunday mass. I am both excited and nervous for this journey!
 
Mine was a couple of months and I was received during a daily Mass, but I had health issues. One piece of advice: learn as much as you can about the practice of being Catholic: devotions, sacramentals, blessings. I was in the awkward position of being able to defend the Immaculate Conception but not knowing the Memorae or that my rosary should be blessed.
 
For Christians who have already been catechized in the faith and baptized, RCIA is not the preferred method for reception into the Church, although it’s probably the most common. As others have said, once you’ve decided you’re ready to be received into the Church and your pastor or his representative agree, you can simply present yourself for holy communion and then start preparing for confirmation. Also, even though the bishop is the ordinary minister of confirmation, a pastor does not need delegated faculties to provide confirmation to a non-Catholic Christian into the Church. The pastor should simply be able to offer you confirmation himself at a time appropriate to your own development in the faith.
 
Remember when Scripture tells us that if we have a disagreement with a fellow Christian we should go first to them and try to settle it, if that does not work take two or three other Christians and if that still does not work, tell it to “the Church”. That was one Scripture passage that nudged me more to Catholicism, because if I had a disagreement with some Baptist or Methodist or Assembly of God member or non-Denominationalist, what Church should we take it to?
 
I loved it! There was no backlash. That’s how my parish does it, so everyone is used to having people being received into the church at different times. Usually, if there are a few people in the RCIA program who are ready around the same time they try to have them come in together. In July I was with one other person.

I can see how this may not work for every parish, it could be a lot to have people received into the church so frequently. Another parish in town has two days per year that people can be received, the feast of Christ the king and the Easter vigil. I think that makes more sense than just the Easter vigil.
 
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