. . It strikes me as too much focus on checking off sacraments and almost no sensitivity to quality of formation and spiritual development. I’m trying to get in touch with the CCD folks to get their (name removed by moderator)ut. I’m expecting (hoping) they’re more sensitive to children’s learning needs and options than the RCIA folks.
It sounds like we have similar backgrounds. Maybe it would be interesting to talk about what attracts us to Catholicism and what concerns us.
welcome home, everybody
One humorous aspect is that the RCIA folks assumed my wife would be my sponsor. She considers herself more in need of catechism than me.
this is very typical and why we strongly encourage the Catholic partner to participate in the process, at least some of the time, even if they are not a sponsor.
In truth, I’m not very enthusiastic about RCIA. It appears mostly geared towards those new to Christianity, which is not us. On the other hand, many of the others who would be in the class are also converts from other Christian traditions so we’d be in good company.
quite right, it was formulated based on the catechumenate of the early Church, the preparation of the unbaptized for full initiation. While there are provisions in the rites for receiving baptized non-Catholics, ideally this is done some time other than Easter, their preparation is taylored to their needs since they have already been evangelized, and usually more is needed on explaining differences between Catholic belief and their own tradition.
the logistics and realities of resources in many parishes, however, mean that in one class you may find people like yourselves, Catholics who are not catechized about their own faith and need to complete their initiation, as well as unbaptized folks. You will also find that not everybody starts and finishes at the same time. These groups will typically meet at other times to focus on their specific needs–confirmation preparation, the rites for the unbaptized and breaking open the Word, for instance
Another thing we thought odd was that they figured our 9 year old daughter would take the RCIA class with us. They do 1st Communion in 2nd grade, so she would be 2 years older than the kids doing preparation if she stayed with the children’s program. However, if she takes RCIA then she’d be confirmed much earlier than her peers yet would be in CCD with them after RCIA. I can’t see how an RCIA class could be targeted to be meaningful for both adults and 4th graders
I have kind of moved your paragraphs around a bit because I began in the middle.
typically a child who is not baptized will be placed in a class with her peers, some Catholic and some not. When the time comes for her parents to be received into the Church, she and they will celebrate the rites together, so the children’s and adult classes may come together for some sessions to prepare for those rites.
yes, whether or not she is baptized, the non-Catholic child, as well as the adults, will be fully initiated, and yes that means she may be confirmed at an age younger than is prescribed for Catholic youth in her diocese. That is just one of the anomalies.
But if as you so wisely state, parents and parishes put the focus on continuing faith formation, they will see to it that their children, whether Catholic from babyhood or received at a later age, will continue formal religious instruction throughout the school years, so that they may revisit the teachings as they mature.
And that all of you who will be in RCIA are in my prayers! 
