But the problem isn’t needing more time, I feel like I’m ready to particitpate in this years Easter Vigil instead of having to wait until 2009.Conversion is an ongoing process for all Christians. The RCIA process should be year round but many parishes mistakingly assume candidates will/should come into the church as a full member at the Easter Vigil no matter when they entered the process. If you need more time than that should be no issue and let no one push you.
The one full year norm is for an adult seeking Baptism, who has no real prior understanding of the Christian/Catholic faith. I would suggest you speak with your pastor, RCIA director, and Sponsor. Also have your Sponsor speak with them.I was wondering if I could be to stay in my RCIA class for a whole liturgical year. I’ve already been through a whole year, just no while in an RCIA class. (I started going to mass in February of 2007 and started RCIA in October.) I don’t feel that I am going to learn anything more from the RCIA class, that I haven’t already learned from my girlfriend (who is a cradle Catholic) and would like to participate in the Easter Vigil in 2008 instead of 2009.
If you have never heard of the “One Full year norm for the Catechumenate” then you have never read or understood the Rite properly. You are correct however that a Baptized Christian seeking full communion with the Catholic Church will vary from a few months after the Inquiry phase to almost a full year, all being dependent on each individual.I have never heard of waiting a whole liturgical year, 12 months, to wait to come into the Church, unless the person wanted it that way or there was an impediment. RCIA in these parts starts in September, with the highlight of the Easter Vigil, then the mystagogia completing the year.
If you are already a baptized Christian, it is my opinion that you not be in RCIA, anyway. I know many parishes have a problem getting volunteers, so the candidates are lumped into the RCIA with the catechumen.
Were you given a reason as to why you had to complete a whole liturgical year, until Easter 2009? Are you a catechumen or a candidate? Are you waiting on a tribunal to declare a prior marriage null or valid?
There will be a couple more people who pop in with better advice than mine. My advice would be to ask why the long wait of a full liturgical year, and then if you find it’s a reason of a person instead of the diocese (and you will have to ask), I would then ask at the diocese level why I had to wait that long. But again, you haven’t shared much of the reasons behind why you are being told to wait.
That’s what I meant, candicacy, not catechumen. Sorry.If you have never heard of the “One Full year norm for the Catechumenate” then you have never read or understood the Rite properly. You are correct however that a Baptized Christian seeking full communion with the Catholic Church will vary from a few months after the Inquiry phase to almost a full year, all being dependent on each individual.