RCIA

[jwinch2]

Just a quick update on me. I am having a amazing experience at my parish and love everything about the RCIA program. I have a longing to be a catholic now and can’t wait till Easter! I have had my fears dispelled and my hopes strengthened. Any questions I had are disappearing with every session. I have only the highest regards for my teachers and sponsor. I am falling in love with the Catholic Faith and getting closer to God while doing so. Which is the whole point of this life anyway right? I hope people are also enjoying their RCIA classes. This forum has also helped a great deal as well with on the fly questions that I have. The Catholic Faith is the real deal and I’m glad to be welcomed into it with such open arms.

Great stuff!

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Neyland - Glad to hear your success and enthusiasm. With continued prayers for you and for all in RCIA this year - Joe K.

 

[Hmgbrd]

Well our numbers are fluctuating with the beginning of Advent…and…the Reverts have arrived!! We were down to doritos and donut holes last night! Anyway, seriously, we have finally arrived at the nitty gritty, the Sacraments.

My personal journey has been not just one of the intellect, but also of the spiritual not to mention emotional at times. A rollercoaster. I am finding this period of time a purifying experience. I feel like I am slowly being changed from the inside out. I feel that we have begun on a road to eternity and that this is just the beginning and Easter Vigil is not the end. Last week before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception my parish had a 40 hour Eucharistic Adoration starting last Tuesday. I had never been to anything like this before and felt that I absolutely needed to go the first time on Tuesday night. I ended up going twice. Once from about 10:45 pm-12:45 (the time flew) and then another hour and 1/2 before noon Mass on the Feast day. When I left the church I felt full. Both times I returned to my car and just sat there stunned, the only word coming to mind was “sweet”. Two weeks ago an old friend took me to a charismatic renewal meeting and I that was also very revealing in a different way. There was so much to take in that I can’t go into detail here about it.

So, I have cannonballed into everything Catholic since beginning RCIA. I pray that by doing so, it will open my mind, eyes, ears and heart to God’s grace and that I will recognize His signs along the way that will bring new revelations. It is really about how you get there not that you get there. But I must confess that sometimes I still feel alone on my journey and fear creeps in. That’s when I start praying for protection. I would appreciate any prayers you could send my way. Thanks! I wonder what they’re putting in the cookies???

 

[jwinch2]

Great stuff! I hope things continue progressing for you! Once you get past Christmas, things really start to pick up speed. It will be Lent before you know it! Right now, concentrate on enjoying Advent and the hope that it brings for salvation in the birth of Christ. Everything in the readings is flowing around this right now. You will see many from Isaiah about preparing the road for the Lord and readings regarding John the Baptist doing essentially the same.

I think people sometimes confuse Advent for Lent-light. It isn’t. There is a whole different approach and attitude. Enjoy it now, because things are going to start moving at ludicrous speed soon enough…

 

[annoellyn]

Yay for RCIA.

We have 12 people, plus our sponsors. So far, no one has decided to leave RCIA. However, you guys are all lucky to be getting baptized this Easter vigil. Our RCIA lasts two years, so I have quite a ways to go but am excited all the same.

 

[texasmavs1985]

Tonight’s class really touched home for me personally and spiritually. We discussed reconciliation and anointing. It really touched home for me because I know as a person trying to become a better christian that I know that I have done things that is against the love of our Lord but because of what happened when my grandfather passed away a couple of years ago. However, when we got to the discussion of confession, the priest mentioned how some people would come into confession with literally a list of very specific stuff they had done in sin. I know I have sinned more lately in the past couple of weeks since I lost my job. Would I need to go into confession and mention everything that I have done or simply mention things that I have done (i.e. - looking at images online that I shouldn’t be or using foul language).

 

[jwinch2]

Tonight’s class really touched home for me personally and spiritually. We discussed reconciliation and anointing. It really touched home for me because I know as a person trying to become a better christian that I know that I have done things that is against the love of our Lord but because of what happened when my grandfather passed away a couple of years ago. However, when we got to the discussion of confession, the priest mentioned how some people would come into confession with literally a list of very specific stuff they had done in sin. I know I have sinned more lately in the past couple of weeks since I lost my job. Would I need to go into confession and mention everything that I have done or simply mention things that I have done (i.e. - looking at images online that I shouldn’t be or using foul language).

Your first confession can be a bit hairy but there really isn’t anything to get too worried over. Your RCIA team will guide you through it as you get closer to Easter but the main thing I would think about now is to work on forming your conscience and work on performing an examination of conscience. This can be done at any time but it works particularly well as part of the night prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. If you work on developing that aspect right now, the actual confession will take care of itself down the road.

When the time comes, set an appointment outside of normal confession hours so that you will not be pressed for time. My first confession between the actually confessing and the spiritual directions afterwards took about 2 hours! I had my entire life to deal with in terms of sin and I had some rough times to get through. Your mileage may vary on that part.

As for the rest, you will be fine. The priest wants to help you, they are trained counselors in addition to being ordained to act in the person of Christ. Just remember, Christ wants you to come home! He wants to see His lost sheep come back into the flock.

 

[DerrickGuns]

Hello everyone. I just started RCIA Wednesday night. It was very interesting and more people there than I expected. Haven’t had time to go through every post on here yet as I am new to this site as well as the Catholic Faith. Will try to do that before asking any redundant questions. What I remember the most was going over the incarnation of God in Jesus through Mary. That God had to become human to be able to tell how us humans are and for us humans to be able to relate to Him. Jesus was not here on earth to only die for our sins but we were made for him and he was here to try and teach us to live life. What a wonderful idea since I had been taught that Jesus was sent to earth to die for our sins. Makes Him seem a lot less mean at any rate. Well nice to meet everyone and hope to be back soon. Oh and for those of you that think you have a long time to go. I am being told it will take 2 and 1/2 years to get through this. So I have to pray I can make it to the classes for that long since it sort of interferes with my work schedule to some degree. Have to leave and hour early from work to make it. God bless everyone.

 

[jwinch2]

Hello everyone. I just started RCIA Wednesday night. It was very interesting and more people there than I expected. Haven’t had time to go through every post on here yet as I am new to this site as well as the Catholic Faith. Will try to do that before asking any redundant questions. What I remember the most was going over the incarnation of God in Jesus through Mary. That God had to become human to be able to tell how us humans are and for us humans to be able to relate to Him. Jesus was not here on earth to only die for our sins but we were made for him and he was here to try and teach us to live life. What a wonderful idea since I had been taught that Jesus was sent to earth to die for our sins. Makes Him seem a lot less mean at any rate. Well nice to meet everyone and hope to be back soon. Oh and for those of you that think you have a long time to go. I am being told it will take 2 and 1/2 years to get through this. So I have to pray I can make it to the classes for that long since it sort of interferes with my work schedule to some degree. Have to leave and hour early from work to make it. God bless everyone.

Congrats on starting RCIA and welcome to the forum. I hope that you find what you are looking for in the Catholic Church and that God is indeed, calling you home.

Peace,

 

[SeekNFind]

I have a question: I visited a church and really liked it. And looking through their bulletin, they have a lot more social/young adult activities than the church where I’m doing RCIA. What’s the proper etiquette? Can I go to both churches and do RCIA at one and social activities at the other? Or maybe this isn’t a big issue?

 

[jwinch2]

I have a question: I visited a church and really liked it. And looking through their bulletin, they have a lot more social/young adult activities than the church where I’m doing RCIA. What’s the proper etiquette? Can I go to both churches and do RCIA at one and social activities at the other? Or maybe this isn’t a big issue?

Its not too big of an issue though I would suggest that you try to be active in the parish that you are coming into the Church with. One of my great regrets is that my wife and I were forced to move within a few months of being confirmed last Easter. We had begun to become quite active in the parish and in the local university Catholic Center.

I think that you might find as you get closer to Lent and then Easter, that you start to become very close to the people going through RCIA as well as the team and the sponsors. At least, I hope you do.

Peace,

 

[veilofveronica]

Congratulations, and sorry for chiming in late here.

My fiance is currently enrolled in RCIA, and I am his sponsor (which, we realize is slightly irregular, but we had permission from the Pastor for me to be his sponsor as we, sadly, don’t know that many practicing Catholics and we asked if I could be.).

God Bless you on your journey in faith.

 

[SeekNFind]

Its not too big of an issue though I would suggest that you try to be active in the parish that you are coming into the Church with. One of my great regrets is that my wife and I were forced to move within a few months of being confirmed last Easter. We had begun to become quite active in the parish and in the local university Catholic Center.

I think that you might find as you get closer to Lent and then Easter, that you start to become very close to the people going through RCIA as well as the team and the sponsors. At least, I hope you do.

Peace,

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely check their bulletin the next time I go to church to see what they have going on. I know we’re supposed to be doing more social things in RCIA so I look forward to that.

 

[KimberlyAnn0218]

God bless!

 

[SeekNFind]

Where is everybody? Hope everyone is ok! Lent is on the horizon and we are barreling towards Easter! I’m getting a little nervous. . .

One bit of good news, I casually asked my mother if she would be coming to see me get baptized, receive communion and get confirmed and she said she would. It wasn’t a rousing yes, but it was a yes. We’ll see if she follows through. . .LOL.

 

[jwinch2]

Where is everybody? Hope everyone is ok! Lent is on the horizon and we are barreling towards Easter! I’m getting a little nervous. . .

One bit of good news, I casually asked my mother if she would be coming to see me get baptized, receive communion and get confirmed and she said she would. It wasn’t a rousing yes, but it was a yes. We’ll see if she follows through. . .LOL.

Glad to hear that you are still going strong. Hopefully others will chime in and give us an update as to how they are doing also. Lent is a great time of year and the lead up to Easter is fantastic. There will likely be a ton of things going on in your parish. My advice would be to try to do as many of them as you can, particularly during Holy Week.

Peace and God bless,

 

[texasmavs1985]

My RCIA class is doing great. The class is very small but we all interact during class which is good for someone like me that is converting over from a protestant church to Catholicism. I feel every week that I attend mass and the class that my faith is getting stronger (considering I spent about 6 1/2 years away from the church). Can’t wait to be confirmed.

 

[jwinch2]

My RCIA class is doing great. The class is very small but we all interact during class which is good for someone like me that is converting over from a protestant church to Catholicism. I feel every week that I attend mass and the class that my faith is getting stronger (considering I spent about 6 1/2 years away from the church). Can’t wait to be confirmed.

Awesome news! Easter will be here before you know it!

 

[asd72]

RCIA is going well for me. We’ve moved from bible study to a series by CTS going through Catholic teaching.

Battling my occasional Catholic doubts related usually to things such as the sex scandal and other such things in the history of the Church. Fr Baron summed it up best when he mentioned how we hold a treasure in clay vessels, and his teaching in this area has helped.

Looking forward to Easter Vigil and trying to improve my inherent lack of disipline and in particular my prayer life before then.

I hope everyone else is going well.

 

[sw85]

My RCIA has been alright. I prefer it when our deacons teach, they have a gift for it. Unfortunately, none of the other speakers have been particularly engaging. They seem to have a very difficult time staying on topic, much less relaying the most important information to us. The one exception was the fellow who came from the diocese for a class on theology of the body, which was very good. I guess I should just be glad that nothing overtly pernicious or heretical has been taught, which seems to happen in at least some RCIA classes.

I think I will volunteer to do a class or two next year. I’m knowledgeable enough and have a gift for public speaking. May as well put it to use.