Rite of Election, Rite of Continuing Conversion, Difference?

[Jeanette_L]

I am supposed to be in a Rite of Sending and Rite of Election tomorrow, separately and just read in a previous post that if you are already baptized, you are not supposed to have the Rite of Election, but a Rite of Continuing Conversion or something like that. Anyone know about this? I have already been baptized and am converting to RC from Evangelicalism and am now confused as to why I am participating in this rite. Any thoughts? I have to admit that I find all these rites very confusing, and I don’t think there are too many people who understand them all.

Thanks!
Jeanette

 

[Joe_Kelley]

There is an official book - The White Book - which has all these rites in it. It provides for combining rites for the baptized and unbaptized when it is impracticable to celebrate them separately…

The Rite of Sending is your parish’s approval and recommendation to the Bishop. The Catechumens [unbaptized] are called forward first, the team and their sponsors recommend them to the celebrant and the congregation ratifies this by applause. The celebrant then has them sign the Book of the Elect.

The Candidates [previously baptized] are called forward then and approved in a similar manner. They do not sign the book since they are already in a Baptismal Register someplace.

At the combined Rite of Election/Call to Continuing Conversion, the Catechumens are called by name from each parish and each parish presents their book to the Bishop… The Bishop then elects them to receive the sacraments at Easter. After the ceremony he signs each book and it is returned to the parish and displayed throughout Lent.

Next the names of the Candidates are read out and the Bishop recognizes them to be Confirmed and receive First Communion at the Vigil Mass.

Ideally the Bishop would administer the sacraments at the Easter Vigil. Since he cannot be everywhere, by these rites he delegates the power to do this to the pastor or other celebrant of the Vigil mass.

I’ve abbreviated this description but hope it gives you the general idea.

 

[Figment713]

Thanks very much for your (name removed by moderator)ut on this.

I’ll be attending the Rite of Election today, and this is the first I’ve learned what to expect there.

Thanks again for the time tyou took to post this.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Jeanette L:

I am supposed to be in a Rite of Sending and Rite of Election tomorrow, separately and just read in a previous post that if you are already baptized, you are not supposed to have the Rite of Election, but a Rite of Continuing Conversion or something like that. Anyone know about this? I have already been baptized and am converting to RC from Evangelicalism and am now confused as to why I am participating in this rite. Any thoughts? I have to admit that I find all these rites very confusing, and I don’t think there are too many people who understand them all.

Thanks!
Jeanette

Many who direct RCIA don’t seem to understand them either. The **Rite of Sending **takes place in your parish community. Your parish community send you to the Bishop. It is for the Catechumens (un-Baptized), however the Candidates (Baptized Christians) can also be sent. This Rite is also optional if for some serious reason it cannot be done.

The **Rite of Election **with the Bishop is required for, it is not optional for Catechumens, they must attend. They actually become the **Elect **at this Rite, not at the Rite of Sending. Missing this could actually prevent them from receiving the Sacraments of Initiation.

The Rite of Continuing Conversion is for those who are already Baptized Christians. Since the Bishop is the ordinary minister of Confirmation it is good that he see who he is authorizing his pastors to Confirm. This is not required, he can authorize pastors to Confirm for him without seeing or meeting anyone before hand. So a Candidate who cannot for serious reason be at the Rite of Continuing Conversion simply misses out on a great opportunity in having the Bishop pray for them in person. But it does not prevent them from being received into the Church.

 

[Jeanette_L]

Thank you everyone for educating me on this. Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water (I guess in some sense I am, huh?) Anyway, we had the Rite of Sending this morning and will be meeting the Bishop this afternoon for the Rite of Election and Rite of Continuing Conversion. I am more comfortable now that I understand things a little better.

Thanks Again!
Jeanette