Should I attend Mass before RCIA

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Genovefa

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Please help me with a stupid question. I submitted this to the apologetics thread but I did not get an answer. I hope I didn’t offend. 😦 I am sincerely interested.

I am interested in converting, but RCIA doesn’t start for many months. Do I attend mass until then without taking communion or am I supposed to wait?

Also, do I have to go to the nearest parish church (it is really small and doesn’t offer RCIA) or can I go to a larger church nearby.
 
Genovefa said:
Please help me with a stupid question. I submitted this to the apologetics thread but I did not get an answer. I hope I didn’t offend. 😦 I am sincerely interested.

I am interested in converting, but RCIA doesn’t start for many months. Do I attend mass until then without taking communion or am I supposed to wait?

Also, do I have to go to the nearest parish church (it is really small and doesn’t offer RCIA) or can I go to a larger church nearby.
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Oh most definitely, go. Just dont receive communion.

No you can go to whatever parish you feel comfortable with.

Good luck and God Bless.
 
Yes, definitely go. This year’s class in our parish has 4 people that have attended for a long time…some for many many years with their catholic spouse!

If you are baptized in another Christian church, you can cross yourself with holy water to remember your baptism (we confess 1 baptism for the forgiveness of sin) and at Lent you may receive ashes on your forehead as a sign of repentance. And at Holy Communion, many non-catholics or children too young to receive Holy Communion still go up, but they cross their arms over their chest (hands to opposite shoulders) to receive a blessing from the priest. They do not receive Communion until they have gone through the preparations.

As for what church to go to, you can go to the smaller church if you feel comfortable, and start conversations with the priest about RCIA. He can suggest a church with a program or help introduce you to the other Pastor.

God Bless!
 
Call the leader of the RCIA program and introduce yourself. Some getting acquainted time prior to the start of the formal program can be valuable. We have once a month meetings for those who are waiting for next year’s program.
 
His_little1 said:
And at Holy Communion, many non-catholics or children too young to receive Holy Communion still go up, but they cross their arms over their chest (hands to opposite shoulders) to receive a blessing from the priest. They do not receive Communion until they have gone through the preparations.!
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Rome has determined that this is not a good practice, as shown in an official letter here.

To the OP, definitely go! Just stay in your pew during Communion.
 
Genovefa said:
Please help me with a stupid question. I submitted this to the apologetics thread but I did not get an answer. I hope I didn’t offend. 😦 I am sincerely interested.

I am interested in converting, but RCIA doesn’t start for many months. Do I attend mass until then without taking communion or am I supposed to wait?

Also, do I have to go to the nearest parish church (it is really small and doesn’t offer RCIA) or can I go to a larger church nearby.
Click to expand...
:harp::angel1::signofcross:By all means, attend, observe, pray! Not a stupid question at all. For RCIA, you can go where you like. Some dioceses, (once you’ve converted) allow you to attend whatever parish you like. In my daughter’s parish up North, (not all are the same) there are some rules, but she was able to get permission to attend the parish of her choice. It happens that the parish she would normally go to (it was closest) was more challenging traffic wise. Here in Norfolk, we can attend pretty much where we like. You might enjoy attending where ever you like now, and check in on the rules in your particular Diocese, so you’ll be prepared either way.
Welcome!:harp::heaven::hug1:
 
Yes, go to mass all you want. In fact, make a habit of it, going on Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation (one is coming up on Thursday, in fact), as it might be a bit odd once you’re Catholic to be required to go to mass on days other than Sundays.

Just don’t receive communion. If people are beside you waiting to get out to go, just let them out and then get back in the pew. You can solve this problem by sitting on the end of a pew that is right beside a wall. Also, don’t go receive a blessing from the priest when everyone else is receiving communion. This is an unfortunate, improper practice that many parishes still do. You can read the letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from the link in JGMendes’s post above. Basically it boils down to this: everyone is blessed at the end of mass anyways, and there is no theological point of receiving another blessing beforehand.
 
Thank you for all your help. I feel better and less pressured now–especially after hearing of some that attend 4 years before RCIA.

I will start attending and “getting my feet wet”. I am baptized and have been an active church member Methodist and Episcopalian churches.

I will check on the rules concerning parishes in my area before I get comfortable anywhere.
 
Oops, apparantly I witness something weekly that I did not know was wrong. So stay in your pew at communion I guess…but still definitely go!

Peace!
 
Months before I began to receive instruction, I walked and talked like a Catholic. Or tried to.😃

The only things I didn’t do was receive communion and go to confession.

It was good for my soul. 👍
 
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