RCIA Stories?

[nickybr38]

Well, so far my first two nights at RCIA have been pretty bleak. I need a good vent and I thought maybe hearing some other RCIA stories would help me deal with my disappointment.

The first night we had introductions and were pushed to explain what EVERY little thing made us ‘feel’. “How does this verse make you feel? What does this make you feel?” It felt mildly like a therapy session but I decided it was probably because it was the first night and I shrugged it off.

The second night was an outright disaster. First they attempted to oust my sponsor (she dug in her heels and refused to go - let me tell you I was pretty annoyed with that after I finally gave up my pride and asked this lady to BE my sponsor in the first place). Then they made us sing a song and digest how it made us feel, dissecting every line of the song to try and pull some kind of ‘response’ out of us. I don’t know what they were expecting but all I got from it is that the music was technically sound. Then we spent AN HOUR discussing HOW TO JOURNAL. Complete with constant ‘how does this make you feel?’ questions. Then we had to share our life’s ‘journey’ so far which ended in a breakdown when my companion (in the face of story after story of a wonderful blessed absolutely no hardships to speak of life - really? We’re in a class full of people who’ve had VERY blessed lives and it’s awkward when you’re not in the same position) admitted she’d suffered abuse as a child. Which consequently led to an awkward end to the evening.

Two nights and I haven’t learned a SINGLE thing about the Church.

My companion and I both had only this to say about the experience so far: I didn’t realize I was signing up for therapy sessions.

Now, I am holding out hope that there is some grand plan in place and that things will improve… but for the meantime I am absolutely disappointed. I am so eager to learn and all I’ve been given is tips on how to self examine??? I’ve already done the examining… that’s why I joined up for the classes!

ARGHHHH!



Okay, okay, I’m feeling better now. Feels good to vent!

Anyone else got some stories to share? Good OR bad?

Oh, and if I hear about the JOURNEY one more time I will SCREAM! This is not a 70s pop song, life is NOT a journey. It’s a CLASSROOM. So teach me already…

 

[wardrandolph]

Hopefully things will get better for you.As I’m sure you’re aware,the first part of RCIA is “Inquiry”.Some Parishes have more than one instructor and sometimes these well meaning people have more zeal than knowledge.Things will get better and deaper as you study the teachings of the Church.If you hav’nt bought The Catechism of the Catholic Church yet,buy one.Listen to Fr.John Caropi on EWTN Saturday night.If you do not get EWTN on your cable network,you can watch on your computer at EWTN.com.May our Lord be with you,Rocky.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Oh, and if I hear about the JOURNEY one more time I will SCREAM! This is not a 70s pop song, life is NOT a journey. It’s a CLASSROOM. So teach me already…

I’m sorry that things aren’t going the way you had hoped. My only comment is that RCIA is NOT a classroom! It’s a process that happens to include catechesis.

One of the issues that comes up is that people can be in very different places when they come to RCIA. You may have one person who has had almost no exposure to the faith, someone else who is a devout Episcopalian, and someone else who is somewhere in between. It takes a little while to get everyone moving in the same direction.

I hope things get better!

 

[bkayw]

If you haven’t bought The Catechism of the Catholic Church yet,buy one. Listen to Fr.John Caropi on EWTN Saturday night. If you do not get EWTN on your cable network, you can watch on your computer at EWTN.com.

Excellent advice.

I’d also suggest these EWTN programs and most are available online at youtube EWTN or on Dish channel EWTN 261 (in my area).

youtube.com/ewtn

Footprints of God - Stephen Ray youtube.com/watch?v=Z0HCiV5qs2Q
Journey Home w. Marcus Grodi youtube.com/ewtn#p/u/39/btYWd31QIy8
Sunday Night Live w. Fr. Groeschel
Abundant Life & Women of Grace w. Johnette Benkovik
Biblical History of the Mass - youtube.com/ewtn#p/u/2/9_6Z-dUWons
EWTN Live - Fr. Mitch -
see: youtube.com/watch?v=GcAZ7NcosWs (Fr. Coropi was on EWTN)
Daily Scripture and Homolies - EWTN youtube
Christ in the City - Fr. Rutler
The World Over Live - Raymond Aaroyo
All programs by Fr. Barron wordonfire.org/
All programs with Scott Hahn and Mike Aqualia

 

[Apollos]

How does this verse make you feel?

I do not understand the question.

What does this make you feel?

The question is irrelevant. youtube.com/watch?v=ds7dBoWLlrc

 

[bkayw]

Spock.

At Lent, I joined a Scripture Study and every four questions was, “How does that make you feel?”

“What feelings does that inspire in you?” gag

Ugh, nothing. My feelings weren’t important when these happenings occured 2,000 years ago, why should my feelings be impacting my understaning of Sacred Scripture now?

“The Psychological Touchie Feelies of the Gospel of Matthew.”

 

[MarianD]

Wow…my RCIA is nothing like that. I just went to my second class (is that the official term for it?) today, and we dived right into the Mystery of the Trinity and the logical need for the existence of God. It really is like a theology class.

 

[Apollos]

“The Psychological Touchie Feelies of the Gospel of Matthew.”

In all of the epistles, and in all of Jesus’ discourses - in fact, in all the discourses by anyone, in either testament - the question “How do you feel” never appears once.

 

[jmcrae]

Oh, and if I hear about the JOURNEY one more time I will SCREAM! This is not a 70s pop song, life is NOT a journey. It’s a CLASSROOM. So teach me already…

You’ll (most likely) start your Catechism classes after the first Sunday of Advent. Right now, you are in the Period of Inquiry. On the First Sunday of Advent, you’ll undergo the Rite of Acceptance or else the Rite of Welcoming (depending on whether you have been previously baptized) - right now, they are just trying to get to know you, and trying to help you get to know each other. The goal of this period is relationship building. It’s important because the things that will get you through your struggles in life are not all the things you know to be factual, but rather, the love of your friends.

There are two reasons for the Period of Inquiry to be so long - the first is, to make sure you’re serious about becoming a Catholic, and the second is, to give you time to find and turn in your Baptismal certificate, if you were baptized before, and also to give you time to find a suitable sponsor (a Catholic who is not married to you, who has received the Sacrament of Confirmation, is not in an irregular marriage or otherwise out of communion with the Church, and is over the age of sixteen, and preferable of the same sex as yourself, although that last one is optional.)

Welcome to the journey!

It’s actually supposed to be a pilgrimmage; not a fact-learning experience - you are entering a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ; not a University.

 

[nickybr38]

You’ll (most likely) start your Catechism classes after the first Sunday of Advent. Right now, you are in the Period of Inquiry. On the First Sunday of Advent, you’ll undergo the Rite of Acceptance or else the Rite of Welcoming (depending on whether you have been previously baptized) - right now, they are just trying to get to know you, and trying to help you get to know each other. The goal of this period is relationship building. It’s important because the things that will get you through your struggles in life are not all the things you know to be factual, but rather, the love of your friends.

There are two reasons for the Period of Inquiry to be so long - the first is, to make sure you’re serious about becoming a Catholic, and the second is, to give you time to find and turn in your Baptismal certificate, if you were baptized before, and also to give you time to find a suitable sponsor (a Catholic who is not married to you, who has received the Sacrament of Confirmation, is not in an irregular marriage or otherwise out of communion with the Church, and is over the age of sixteen, and preferable of the same sex as yourself, although that last one is optional.)

Welcome to the journey!

It’s actually supposed to be a pilgrimmage; not a fact-learning experience - you are entering a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ; not a University.

You made me think of one of my favorite quotes:

“Who does not see that knowledge precedes faith? Nobody believes unless he knows what to believe.” – Augustine of Hippo, convert, bishop, theologian, Father and Doctor of the Church, Saint; noting that the assent of faith is a rational act; before it can be made, it must be known for certain that there is a God, that He has spoken, and that what He has spoken is known. (see “Science and the Church”)

Furthermore, if I could join the Church via University I would in a heartbeat. I’m not really interested in all this touchy feely nonsense but I suppose if it’s a necessary burden then I will bear it. sigh

• It’s important because the things that will get you through your struggles in life are not all the things you know to be factual, but rather, the love of your friends. *

I would argue the love of family. Our Christian brothers and sisters are not merely friends, they are adopted family.

 

[nickybr38]

In all of the epistles, and in all of Jesus’ discourses - in fact, in all the discourses by anyone, in either testament - the question “How do you feel” never appears once.

I feel like **** thanks. Now can you tell me how I join the Church because the Holy Spirit handled the recruiting and softening of heart already?

Haha.

I promise I won’t answer that but boy am I tempted.

 

[nickiswank]

I know exactly how you feel! I’ve only been to one meeting/class, and they’re all such nice people, but I guess I was expecting something different. But I know that this is where I’m supposed to be, and I’d love to make some new friends and get to know people in the church, so I’m willing to be patient.

And by patient I mean read extensively on my own!

 

[nickybr38]

I know exactly how you feel! I’ve only been to one meeting/class, and they’re all such nice people, but I guess I was expecting something different. But I know that this is where I’m supposed to be, and I’d love to make some new friends and get to know people in the church, so I’m willing to be patient.

And by patient I mean read extensively on my own!

That’s what I’ve been doing all summer! haha. I cannot WAIT to get to the bone so we can start discussing all this stuff I’ve been learning. I suppose we have to endure this all until we get to the good stuff.

 

[KFRaymond]

I feel like **** thanks. Now can you tell me how I join the Church because the Holy Spirit handled the recruiting and softening of heart already?

Haha.

I promise I won’t answer that but boy am I tempted.

Nickybr38,

I am a part of our RCIA team at our church and specifically a part of the Inquiry process. The issue with Inquiry is that we’re receiving people on all different levels of questioning … to those who have already had a strong “nudge” like yourself from the Holy Spirit to people who just don’t get the Catholic faith to someone who might be engaged to a Catholic and just needs to understand his/her religion better.

This evening at our Thursday session, we had 4 folks that were already baptized Christians that understand the Gospel message and have a “head’s up” on faith. there was one gentlemen who is basically unchurched. He did a great job keeping up but this is the level of things that one in charge must contend with.

I’m in a fortunate position that our Director of Adult Formation (my “boss”) is very good at delegating authority and allows us to use our discernment to accommodate those who come to the Inquiry sessions. As a whole, because most of these people know scripture, understand the gospel message but are in need of learning more “Catholic Culture”, with this particular group we can use OUR discernment and veer away from the “how does this make you feel” stuff and get a little closer to the heart of the matter and answer lots of questions that people have about the Catholic Church on their faith journey. It doesn’t work for every group and sometimes we have to begin in a more elemental way.

Also remember, many of the people who are in charge of the RCIA process are volunteers and are giving of their time and energies and love. They may have no formal training or haven’t pursued higher catechesis to help “teach” you better. Many of them follow the guidelines of books and manuals that might be too elemental for you simply because that’s the only instruction they have. As we have a Director of Adult Formation at the cathedral where I attend, she is in tune with many different aspects of adult learning and constantly strives to send us to conferences to better our teaching skills and approaches to how we present information during our sessions. A lot of parishes simply don’t have the funds to be able to do this to help the facilitators in helping the Inquirers.

Pray … be patient … know that the Holy Spirit has given you a gift and planted a beautiful seed in you. The Inquiry process doesn’t last forever and soon you’ll be moving to the Catechumenate where you’ll be discussing and learning about specific topics and the Sacraments and teachings of the church. In fact, hanging out on these forums can give you a very healthy Catholic education!

In the meantime, you’re in my prayers and if you need more information or would like to discuss, you can always message me!

Sincerely,
Kevin

 

[Apollos]

I feel like **** thanks.

Maybe tone it down a bit. “I feel … hungry, but with a stomach full of gravel, you know?”

 

[basenji]

My RCIA process was, at times, a nightmarish combination of Kumbaya and The 12-Step Process. Yet, community was born. And then Communion received. The -]bonding/-] relationships that developed are still strong and still live on to this day, years later.

Needless to say, I did have to self-medicate with some Scott Hahn on the side after some of those silly sessions…

Stick with it. I can’t explain. But please do. Somehow the community grows forth from the smaller RCIA context to eventually include the parish community and then, upon receipt of the sacraments, the entire church.

 

[JaredR]

Haha, yes, unfortunately RCIA can be not-so-great. I was fortunate to be in a decent program that actually taught me a few things and was minimal on the woowoo stuff.

However bad it is, it’ll be worth it!

 

[nickybr38]

Nickybr38,

I am a part of our RCIA team at our church and specifically a part of the Inquiry process. The issue with Inquiry is that we’re receiving people on all different levels of questioning … to those who have already had a strong “nudge” like yourself from the Holy Spirit to people who just don’t get the Catholic faith to someone who might be engaged to a Catholic and just needs to understand his/her religion better.

This evening at our Thursday session, we had 4 folks that were already baptized Christians that understand the Gospel message and have a “head’s up” on faith. there was one gentlemen who is basically unchurched. He did a great job keeping up but this is the level of things that one in charge must contend with.

I’m in a fortunate position that our Director of Adult Formation (my “boss”) is very good at delegating authority and allows us to use our discernment to accommodate those who come to the Inquiry sessions. As a whole, because most of these people know scripture, understand the gospel message but are in need of learning more “Catholic Culture”, with this particular group we can use OUR discernment and veer away from the “how does this make you feel” stuff and get a little closer to the heart of the matter and answer lots of questions that people have about the Catholic Church on their faith journey. It doesn’t work for every group and sometimes we have to begin in a more elemental way.

Also remember, many of the people who are in charge of the RCIA process are volunteers and are giving of their time and energies and love. They may have no formal training or haven’t pursued higher catechesis to help “teach” you better. Many of them follow the guidelines of books and manuals that might be too elemental for you simply because that’s the only instruction they have. As we have a Director of Adult Formation at the cathedral where I attend, she is in tune with many different aspects of adult learning and constantly strives to send us to conferences to better our teaching skills and approaches to how we present information during our sessions. A lot of parishes simply don’t have the funds to be able to do this to help the facilitators in helping the Inquirers.

Pray … be patient … know that the Holy Spirit has given you a gift and planted a beautiful seed in you. The Inquiry process doesn’t last forever and soon you’ll be moving to the Catechumenate where you’ll be discussing and learning about specific topics and the Sacraments and teachings of the church. In fact, hanging out on these forums can give you a very healthy Catholic education!

In the meantime, you’re in my prayers and if you need more information or would like to discuss, you can always message me!

Sincerely,
Kevin

Good points Kevin. I needed that reminder. As bored as I am I imagine the people who’ve been on the RCIA team every year are just as bored if not more.

 

[Busymom1]

Wow, hearing some of these stories makes me realize how blessed I was to be in the RCIA program at my church. There was none of that touchy-feely stuff; just good, solid, theology. I’m sorry that you RCIA experience is not the same. But, as some people have brought up, this may be a good chance for you to form some bonds with people and get to know others in your parish.

Personally, I would recommend that you supplement your RCIA program with some solid teaching. Even if you don’t get EWTN or some of the Catholic radio programs, you can listen to a lot of them over the internet. I would strongly suggest that you look up Fr. John Riccardo on the internet. He has a series of talks that he gave to the RCIA classes at his parish. You can listen to them on the computer or download them. At least I think you can download them, I’m so challenged on the computer that I can’t figure out how to do that. (So, if anyone can give me directions… I’d appreciate it). Perhaps you could even have your RCIA instructor use Fr. Riccardo’s lecture series in your class. And then you all could “discuss” things after listening to a lesson.

Hang in there, the rewards are eternal!

 

[nickybr38]

Wow, hearing some of these stories makes me realize how blessed I was to be in the RCIA program at my church. There was none of that touchy-feely stuff; just good, solid, theology. I’m sorry that you RCIA experience is not the same. But, as some people have brought up, this may be a good chance for you to form some bonds with people and get to know others in your parish.

Personally, I would recommend that you supplement your RCIA program with some solid teaching. Even if you don’t get EWTN or some of the Catholic radio programs, you can listen to a lot of them over the internet. I would strongly suggest that you look up Fr. John Riccardo on the internet. He has a series of talks that he gave to the RCIA classes at his parish. You can listen to them on the computer or download them. At least I think you can download them, I’m so challenged on the computer that I can’t figure out how to do that. (So, if anyone can give me directions… I’d appreciate it). Perhaps you could even have your RCIA instructor use Fr. Riccardo’s lecture series in your class. And then you all could “discuss” things after listening to a lesson.

Hang in there, the rewards are eternal!

I would gladly be Confirmed today (and without hesitation)… but I know they have to get to know me before they’ll be comfortable doing such a thing.

I will look up Fr. Riccardo. Right now I’m doing Carson Weber’s Bible Study on Understanding the Scripture so I won’t be able to listen to anything else anytime soon but I’ll be done that in a couple of months so it’s all good.