Typical RCIA?

[KarenElissa]

I think my parish has a pretty good RCIA program. I’ve been happy so far.

One thing I like is that while we are all in class together, there is somewhat of a distinction between people who are or are not baptized. A number of us will receive Confirmation/First Communion at the end of November. I enjoy the classes and group and such, but I’m REALLY excited about being fully Catholic and I’m glad I don’t have to wait until Easter Vigil. They have a good grasp on the fact that this isn’t “one size fits all.” They have stressed that it is a process and everyone is at different points in the journey.

The director of our program is also WONDERFUL! She is the Adult Faith Formation Coordinator for the parish, she is in charge of all the adult learning groups ad such. You can tell she has a passion for God and for the Church and is always really excited about it! She is also very knowledgeable. She hasn’t stumbled on a question yet, and as far as I can tell, everything she has said has been orthodox.

I really like that it is a combination of faith formation, knowledge, and all those Catholic traditions. Every week there is a chance to talk with the people at our tables about a question related to what we are talking about that week. Like this week was Communion of the Saints/Mary, so we talked about people who have been saints in our lives and what qualities they had. When we talked about The Eucharist we talked about what our thoughts were in receiving Communion for the first time. Then we spend time on the knowledge part. Often she leads and kind of presents based on the book we have. For the number of weeks we spent on the Sacraments Monsignor came and presented. And there is always time for questions. We also usually spend time on various Catholic “stuff.” We open and close in prayer in various ways, often using those traditional Catholic prayers that “everyone” knows. This week we did a Litany of the Saints in the middle. The idea is to help us “be” Catholic and begin to adopt all of this “stuff.”

Yup, that was pretty long, but oh well!

 

[KarenElissa]

Opps, forgot one other thing that isn’t huge, but I think it is neat. Every week they do a short little interview of one person in the group, name, religious background, why we want to be Catholic, and prayer request, and take our picture. Then they put a little blurb about that person in the Sunday bulletin. The idea is that people can then know who we are and pray for us and also help makes us part of the community. It seems like a really neat idea! I’ll be in this Sunday, so we will see what happens.

 

[Sr_Sally]

I would be interested in hearing what people would LIKE from RCIA, especially the ones who feel they suffer/suffered through it in order to jump through the hoops to become Catholic.

I am a cradle Catholic, I did not have to jump through hoops to come back to the Church. My dh is a convert, he did not either. He took the “advanced placement” class–that is he had a few private sessions with our Pastor and was included with the rest of the adult confirmandis at Easter.

That said we do have a wonderful RCIA program. It is taught by our priests in rotation. Lay people do all the coordination though. The classes are very structured with a course outline laid out in advance (it is the same every year). There are no snacks, but questions are definately encouraged. The thing that makes this program so wonderful though, is that the priests are there for every class.

We are very blessed to have enough priests to do this. But in every parish where it is possible, I firmly believe it should be done.

 

[jammer44]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It seems that there is quite a difference in experiences in RCIA depending on your parish. Perhaps I’ve found my calling for once I’ve come into the church completely, to try and help reform the RCIA process to spice it up a bit and help make it more meaningful.

 

[puzzleannie]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It seems that there is quite a difference in experiences in RCIA depending on your parish. Perhaps I’ve found my calling for once I’ve come into the church completely, to try and help reform the RCIA process to spice it up a bit and help make it more meaningful.

it would be fantastic if you would consider coming back and being part of the RCIA process, you have so much to offer. However I would only add, the RCIA does not need reform, the way in which the catechesis and the rites are implemented in many parishes needs reform (see concurrent thread on this topic)

by the way, Welcome Home!

 

[pyropam]

Every time I read threads like this, I stop what I am doing and thank God for our wonderful parish and priest. Our parish has more than 450 families. Our priest does the RCIA classes himself. He is a convert (Southern Baptist) and he not only answers your questions but, he can also understand why you are asking them.

We love our classes so much, that all of us who converted this past Easter are back in the class. Many of us brought more people along this time around. Probably more than 50 of us in the class.

I have learned so much! I guess I should start praying for those who are not enjoying their classes.

We can ask all the questions we want. We have coffee and sodas during class. From time to time we will have guest speakers from places like EWTN. We had Fr. Mark Mary once. They are wonderful as well.

RCIA classes are held at the same time as the CCD classes for the children. This is an added bonus. We had one woman who could not get a sitter for her two little boys (twins), and after the first couple of classes, Fr. had a woman from the church keeping them at the church.

We even tape some of the classes so that we can play them over and over! Our priest is wonderful at explaining everything.

I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful priest! He teaches RCIA, Bible Study, Daily Mass, Vocations Club Leader, Motorcycle Club Leader, Pro Life Events, Outdoor Prayer Vigils (at our grotto), and so many other events. If you want something done right…do it yourself .

 

[AngelsAmongUs]

Hi There. Pyropam and I attend the same church and we came into the church together. She’s right. We have a terrific priest and our RCIA classes are fabulous. We’ve got more people coming with us this year so I’m excited all the time.

It saddens me that not everyone enjoys their RCIA classes. I will be praying for everyone attending RCIA this year that they will have a wonderful experience. These classes are so important to understanding the faith. I will remember all those teaching the classes and all those taking the classes in my daily prayers.

 

[LeahInancsi]

I’m a former protestant seminary student who, after years of study was called home. It’s been a long road for me (and my family), but I’m happy to have finally found where God wants me to be. However, here’s my question. Our priest wants us to go through RCIA. Especially since my wife never did seminary or anything like that. They were going to let me maybe slide through some of it, but I don’t want to have her going alone, so we’ve started attending the class.

However, the classes are becoming quite painful. The structure of the class is that we show up, we do a couple short prayers, and then the Sister who teaches the class starts lecturing for 90 minutes. We go through the Scripture readings for the next week (getting her interpretation on them), and then usually have an hour of our 90 minutes left for teaching time from the Catechism and another book that we’ve all been assigned to read each week.

The lady is a sweet lady, but I’m sorry, 90 minutes of lecture is just too much. We all have to fill out a form for the RIte of Acceptance in a week or so and it’s asking questions about what we’ve learned. Frankly, I don’t know that we’ve learned that much because we can’t remember any of it!

So my question is, is this how RCIA usually works? Is this the prescribed format? Can anyone share how their classes were structured?

As a 2006 graduate of RCIA, I don’t see anything wrong with 90 minutes of lecture. I loved it! I sat glued to 2 hours of lecture. Just because you were a Protestant seminary student doesn’t mean you know everything you need to know about Catholicism to make the decision to become Catholic. In my opionion, the primary purpose of RCIA is to expose prospective Catholics to Catholicism. Although the “C” in RICA stand for Christian, Catholic would be more appropriate.