Skipping RCIA, straight to the sacraments?

[sw85]

So I made the decision to become a Catholic about six months and started RCIA (I think) around three months ago. I did all my homework before even starting RCIA, and the breadth/shallowness of the RCIA course is not really adding anything to it. Our instructor sometimes refers to RCIA as part of a “faith journey” (i.e., it’s constituted for the benefit of people still unsure whether or not they want to be a Catholic). But it’s not a journey for me. My journey’s over. I’m already at my destination.

Does anyone know if there is protocol in place for people like me to skip over RCIA and proceed straight to the sacraments? (I need all of them, baptism included). Any precedent for this kind of thing? If I bring it up to my deacon or priest, will I be received favorably or looked at as an upstart? I positively hunger for the sacraments, and want so much to have a fuller life in the Church, but I feel like I’m being held up, basically, by red tape. Any advice/personal stories/whatever would be much appreciated here.

 

[silicasandra]

So I made the decision to become a Catholic about six months and started RCIA (I think) around three months ago. I did all my homework before even starting RCIA, and the breadth/shallowness of the RCIA course is not really adding anything to it. Our instructor sometimes refers to RCIA as part of a “faith journey” (i.e., it’s constituted for the benefit of people still unsure whether or not they want to be a Catholic). But it’s not a journey for me. My journey’s over. I’m already at my destination.

Does anyone know if there is protocol in place for people like me to skip over RCIA and proceed straight to the sacraments? (I need all of them, baptism included). Any precedent for this kind of thing? If I bring it up to my deacon or priest, will I be received favorably or looked at as an upstart? I positively hunger for the sacraments, and want so much to have a fuller life in the Church, but I feel like I’m being held up, basically, by red tape. Any advice/personal stories/whatever would be much appreciated here.

You have to do RCIA. There are rites associated with the process that will help you grow in your faith even if you feel you already have the intellectual foundation down.

Community in the Catholic Church is incredibly important. Even if you feel you aren’t growing intellectually in the faith by attending the sessions, what could you teach someone else? You could also make new friends who are making a similar spiritual journey. Once I left college and joined another parish, it was hard for me because everyone assumed I had been doing this my whole life and there were still things I was getting used to.

(I will also throw in that I felt much the same way you did, but I ended up being very, very wrong. I did not realize how wrong I was until several years afterwards - in fact, not until this past summer. There is always, ALWAYS, more to learn. )

So stick with it. Ask the leader of the classes or your priest for suggested reading to supplement the class content.

 

[Castello]

Schedule a meeting with your Pastor (in fact, that is usually done in the first few weeks of RCIA around here…) Be obedient to what he tells you.

Remember, we are all on a journey, it begins with baptism and ends with (we pray) heaven. Obedience, patience, they were something I had to grapple with when I thought I wanted to “clep out” of RCIA. I am happy I made the journey with my class.

And, welcome home!

 

[graceandglory]

So I made the decision to become a Catholic about six months and started RCIA (I think) around three months ago. I did all my homework before even starting RCIA, and the breadth/shallowness of the RCIA course is not really adding anything to it. Our instructor sometimes refers to RCIA as part of a “faith journey” (i.e., it’s constituted for the benefit of people still unsure whether or not they want to be a Catholic). But it’s not a journey for me. My journey’s over. I’m already at my destination.

Does anyone know if there is protocol in place for people like me to skip over RCIA and proceed straight to the sacraments? (I need all of them, baptism included). Any preNcedent for this kind of thing? If I bring it up to my deacon or priest, will I be received favorably or looked at as an upstart? I positively hunger for the sacraments, and want so much to have a fuller life in the Church, but I feel like I’m being held up, basically, by red tape. Any advice/personal stories/whatever would be much appreciated here.

You could look around for a more faithful, orthodox RCIA leader. Use this time to grow in your faith. Learn to be submissive, humble.

Give your Catholic faith about five years of maturity, then you will look at this time as a part of your faith journey. I used to groan every time I heard that. Now I am grateful for every step of the way. I am not finished with my faith journey yet. Not until the battle is over and I am a part of the CHurch Triumphant; I am still the Church Militant. Still marching on!

 

[TrueLight]

There are some traditional parishes which do one-on-one instruction, like the FSSP. The instruction is likely to be in depth and tailored. The priest decides when you are ready to be received.

That’s the route I did because I felt like you do. I do not regret taking that route and I thank God for making it possible for me.

 

[TimothyH]

Learn to be submissive, humble.

This is not unwise advice.

Saul was one of the most learned Pharisees, a rabbinical scholar, and even he went away for three years to grow and mature as a Christian before he began his apostolic career.

I wanted to skip the ten weeks of classwork I had to do for adult confirmation, but am glad I did it now. I felt the same way. Why do I have to wait? I know all this stuff. The woman who taught it was a polar opposit of me, and I think God put me with her to teach me many things. She is now a dear friend and I go to her sometimes simply because she sees things differently from me, helps me to see the other side of things.

-Tim-

 

[sw85]

You could look around for a more faithful, orthodox RCIA leader. Use this time to grow in your faith. Learn to be submissive, humble.

Give your Catholic faith about five years of maturity, then you will look at this time as a part of your faith journey. I used to groan every time I heard that. Now I am grateful for every step of the way. I am not finished with my faith journey yet. Not until the battle is over and I am a part of the CHurch Triumphant; I am still the Church Militant. Still marching on!

I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m not happy with the way RCIA is run. There are parts of it here that could be better but on the whole it’s important and necessary – it’s just clearly tailored to people who are coming into Catholicism cold, without much background in the faith. For myself, I know I stand to learn/gain a lot more through active participation in the life of the Church instead of just merely studying it (of which I’ve done enough).

 

[jmcrae]

So I made the decision to become a Catholic about six months and started RCIA (I think) around three months ago. I did all my homework before even starting RCIA, and the breadth/shallowness of the RCIA course is not really adding anything to it. Our instructor sometimes refers to RCIA as part of a “faith journey” (i.e., it’s constituted for the benefit of people still unsure whether or not they want to be a Catholic). But it’s not a journey for me. My journey’s over. I’m already at my destination.

Does anyone know if there is protocol in place for people like me to skip over RCIA and proceed straight to the sacraments? (I need all of them, baptism included). Any precedent for this kind of thing? If I bring it up to my deacon or priest, will I be received favorably or looked at as an upstart? I positively hunger for the sacraments, and want so much to have a fuller life in the Church, but I feel like I’m being held up, basically, by red tape. Any advice/personal stories/whatever would be much appreciated here.

Easter is not really all that far away. If you think you can be a good Catholic for the rest of Eternity, you can certainly manage to be a Catechumen for the next 13 weeks - I promise, you will survive.

Have you started your Period of Catechesis, yet? This is where you will get the “meat and potatoes” of the faith, and you may even find that they cover material that you hadn’t known existed - it has been known to happen - it happened to me. I had been going to Mass and reading about the Church for 17 years, and I thought I’d just skip past RCIA and get the Sacraments, too - but they told me to go to RCIA, so I went - and - I learned a whole lot of things that I had never encountered at Mass or in any of my book-reading - so, give it a chance; you might be surprised.

Maybe the RCIA lesson that God has planned for you is the lesson in patience.

And as a poster above has pointed out, it’s not all about head knowledge, even if it turns out that you do know everything. You may indeed know every fact that there is to know about the Church and its teachings - perhaps you could even give St. Thomas Aquinas a run for his money on the finer points of theology - that’s great, if so! But you also want to make friends, and find your place in the parish, and get the habits of the Catholic lifestyle ingrained into your bones and muscles, so that it’s absolutely second-nature to you, and you can say your prayers in your sleep - because at midnight or one o’clock in the morning of the Easter Vigil, you may very well be called upon to do so.

Who is your Patron Saint? I will keep you in my prayers, and ask the intercession of your Saint to help you - and meanwhile, be patient - the journey does, in fact, have a destination, and you will, in fact, treasure these memories that you’re making in your RCIA process.

 

[jmcrae]

I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m not happy with the way RCIA is run. There are parts of it here that could be better but on the whole it’s important and necessary – it’s just clearly tailored to people who are coming into Catholicism cold, without much background in the faith. For myself, I know I stand to learn/gain a lot more through active participation in the life of the Church instead of just merely studying it (of which I’ve done enough).

You’re not “merely studying.” You’re becoming part of the community.

Also, especially at this time of the year, there are plenty of things that you can get actively involved in - I’m sure your parish has a food program for the poor that you could help out with, for example, and they need ushers, page-turners, cooks, set-up and clean-up people, and other volunteers for the various concerts, dinners, and Christmas pageants that are taking place in the parish. These are perfect places to get involved while you’re waiting for your Initiation Sacraments.

 

[agapewolf]

I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m not happy with the way RCIA is run. There are parts of it here that could be better but on the whole it’s important and necessary – it’s just clearly tailored to people who are coming into Catholicism cold, without much background in the faith. For myself, I know I stand to learn/gain a lot more through active participation in the life of the Church instead of just merely studying it (of which I’ve done enough).

No one has EVER studied enough. The long history is rich. It would take a lifetime to just unpack and dive into and study JPII’s works alone.

 

[charliedrake]

So I made the decision to become a Catholic about six months and started RCIA (I think) around three months ago. I did all my homework before even starting RCIA, and the breadth/shallowness of the RCIA course is not really adding anything to it. Our instructor sometimes refers to RCIA as part of a “faith journey” (i.e., it’s constituted for the benefit of people still unsure whether or not they want to be a Catholic). But it’s not a journey for me. My journey’s over. I’m already at my destination.

Does anyone know if there is protocol in place for people like me to skip over RCIA and proceed straight to the sacraments? (I need all of them, baptism included). Any precedent for this kind of thing? If I bring it up to my deacon or priest, will I be received favorably or looked at as an upstart? I positively hunger for the sacraments, and want so much to have a fuller life in the Church, but I feel like I’m being held up, basically, by red tape. Any advice/personal stories/whatever would be much appreciated here.

If you love red tape the RCIA as well as the Church is for you. Don’t let that hinder the wonderful direction you are going with faith.

 

[erine]

I felt the same as you, and I was way ahead of everyone in terms of the research I’d done and reading and so on. But I ended up getting a lot out of RCIA, and at least two new good friends a well. My friend skipped RCIA and she doesn’t know a lot of basics now and has fallen away a bit. Clearly that won’t be your case because you are educated and everything, but I think you could sell yourself short on the community aspect and also on how important and awesome reception into the church is, which is emphasized by the long wait. My confirmation was amazing and I’m so glad I didn’t skip RCIA.

 

[jmcrae]

I have known so many people who skipped RCIA because they knew all of the theology, but then left the Church within a year because they didn’t know how to go to Confession - they were too embarrassed to go back to RCIA and ask for instruction on how to go to Confession.

 

[thequeen]

I have known so many people who skipped RCIA because they knew all of the theology, but then left the Church within a year because they didn’t know how to go to Confession - they were too embarrassed to go back to RCIA and ask for instruction on how to go to Confession.

Hi jmcrae that is so sad because I had private instruction from a very dear and holy priest and he taught me every thing including confession and my instruction took as long if not longer than rcia by the time i was conditionally baptised and recieved the sacraments of confession first communion and confirmation I had been through all the Holy days of obligation one of them twice oh and by the way that was in 1991 1992 and 1993 I was received in to the Church on 17 December 1993 I began my instruction in November of 1991 and I am here to stay.and I am thankful that it took that long because if I didn’t know something before This dear priest who is 90 years old now I can guarantee you I sure knew it aftewards.

 

[MSSheBear]

I am sorry you aren’t enjoying your RCIA. I find that in mine I am learning a lot about the parish community that I could not have found out any other way. There are things like the various ethnic festivals and who runs the food pantry and which people you avoid if you don’t want to serve and what the priest thinks of late-comers and early-leavers.

I assume you know a lot more about theology than I did. I find that even if I didn’t come in “cold” I certainly have learned some things. So I would recommend that you stick with the RCIA.

That said, I am definitely looking forward to the Easter Vigil.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Does anyone know if there is protocol in place for people like me to skip over RCIA and proceed straight to the sacraments? (I need all of them, baptism included). Any precedent for this kind of thing?

If you are in danger of death you can be baptized immediately. Otherwise you do what the Church you want to join intends for you to do: go through the process she has developed including the various rites that are part of RCIA.

 

[novelista]

I was anxious to experience the sacraments also, when I wentt hrough RCIA last fall. And Easter was so late this year, like April 25 or something, the latest it could possibly be.

I would sit in the pew or be dismissed before Communion and it was so annoying. However, upon reflection,I think it is important to go through the entire RCIA process, epecially when you’re unbaptized (as I was) because it strengthens you to keep going and to evaluate if this is the right path.

Now that I am baptized and confirmed, when I partake of communion, I feel it is a very special gift in that not only am I lucky that I chose to become Catholic, but also that God called me to be part of his Church.

I think that you will find your faith to be strengthened by your journey to full baptism/confirmation.

 

[erine]

I was anxious to experience the sacraments also, when I wentt hrough RCIA last fall. And Easter was so late this year, like April 25 or something, the latest it could possibly be.

I would sit in the pew or be dismissed before Communion and it was so annoying. However, upon reflection,I think it is important to go through the entire RCIA process, epecially when you’re unbaptized (as I was) because it strengthens you to keep going and to evaluate if this is the right path.

Now that I am baptized and confirmed, when I partake of communion, I feel it is a very special gift in that not only am I lucky that I chose to become Catholic, but also that God called me to be part of his Church.

I think that you will find your faith to be strengthened by your journey to full baptism/confirmation.

Me too, I would get annoyed about getting dismissed or not receiving communion. But now it’s hard to ever take the sacrament for granted when I think back on those days.

 

[Marie5890]

I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m not happy with the way RCIA is run. There are parts of it here that could be better but on the whole it’s important and necessary – it’s just clearly tailored to people who are coming into Catholicism cold, without much background in the faith. For myself, I know I stand to learn/gain a lot more through active participation in the life of the Church instead of just merely studying it (of which I’ve done enough).

I know exactly what you are talking about. I felt the same way when I was going thru RCIA.

In the end however, it wasnt my call to make or to impose on the parish how they chose to initiate and welcome someone into the parish community.

So, I just decided to be patient and humble, and follow thru on the process that they decided was the right course for their (and eventually, my) community.

As disciples of Christ, we are called to be patient, to be kind, to be patient. Look at RCIA as your opportunity given to you to exercise and develop these virtues.

 

[Cat]

RCIA is one of the most ancient traditions of the Church. My husband and I liked coming into the Church the way the earliest Christians came into the Church.

Perhaps you could use the next few months to study ancient Church history and put yourself into the position of those early catechumens, who were literally risking their lives to become Catholic.

And since you are knowledgeable, then make it your goal try to help those who are newbies and don’t have as much knowledge.

Is your program taught by a priest or laypeople? Either way, perhaps you could be on the RCIA committee next year.

I agree with those who have mentioned community. We each received a laminated card with the names and patron saints of all our fellow RCIA class members (there werw about 30 of us), and I still have mine and occasionally pray for those people.

I also agree about attrition. I am so pleased the almost all of the RCIA members in my class of 2004 are still active in the Church. There’s something about being accountable to a group of people that helps you to stick with it, even after the warm fuzzy “feelings” go away.

Enjoy this wonderful time in your life!