What Are You...

[Singinbeauty]

One question I have always had was, are you considered christian in the catholic faith if you attend Mass but have never taken the RCIA classes to formally join the catholic church? So technically you aren’t catholic, even if you are a person who attends Mass every week, what are you?

Serious question, I promise!!! It came to me when reading threads about RCIA…

 

[puzzleannie]

If you are baptized you are a non-Catholic Christian. If you are not baptized, you are a non-Catholic. If you are attending Mass and otherwise learning here and there about the Catholic faith you are an Inquirer. If at some point (and be warned we are now praying for this to happen) you approach someone in the parish and ask how to proceed, you will be in the pre-catechumenate, and meet with someone or in a group more or less formally until such time as you decide to proceed with formal preparation and study for the sacraments. At that time, you will celebrate the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens, and will be a catechumen, with your status formally recognized as a member, albeit incomplete, of the Church with certain rights. Ooooh I love my job. welcome home, wherever you are on the journey

 

[Claire_from_DE]

You are a welcome visitor.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

Perhaps they are someone who enter the Church in another way. While RCIA is normative for adult conversions to the Catholic Church in the United States in this current time, it is not absolute. There are other ways to come into the fullness of the Catholic Church.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

Perhaps they are someone who enter the Church in another way. While RCIA is normative for adult conversions to the Catholic Church in the United States in this current time, it is not absolute. There are other ways to come into the fullness of the Catholic Church.

 

[ttrent]

What are the other ways? I am 55 years old. When I was younger my mother sent me to Catholic boarding school. By the time I was 10 I knew the mass by heart (in Latin). I lived the life of a Catholic without being one. My mother would never agree to have me baptized. I still have all my holy cards and Missle. I too attend Mass now frequently but feel out of place. I don’t feel I should have to spend 1 or 2 years going to RCIA if I know this is what I want and I understand the church’s teaching. I know we can’t know everything before we are formerly accepted. But I am getting older and want to feel like I really belong this time. So is there another way?

 

[Singinbeauty]

I do want to let everyone know that the person I speak of is only hypothetical in my OP. There seem to be others who would like an answer to this question for personal reasons but for me, it’s only for inquiry purposes only.

By the way, thank you to everyone so far for the information… this question has plagued me for some time. Part of me is confused because even in ancient times the bible does not seem to say that people had to go through a class to become part of the early church. I get the thought process for RCIA though…

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

What are the other ways? I am 55 years old. When I was younger my mother sent me to Catholic boarding school. By the time I was 10 I knew the mass by heart (in Latin). I lived the life of a Catholic without being one. My mother would never agree to have me baptized. I still have all my holy cards and Missle. I too attend Mass now frequently but feel out of place. I don’t feel I should have to spend 1 or 2 years going to RCIA if I know this is what I want and I understand the church’s teaching. I know we can’t know everything before we are formerly accepted. But I am getting older and want to feel like I really belong this time. So is there another way?

Talk with your parish priest.

If you’re not baptized, RCIA is the normal way of receiving the sacraments. If you have been baptized then things may get muddy. Many (most?) parishes will also direct you to RCIA; however, if you are already baptized there isn’t a set period of time you must stay in RCIA. You don’t have to wait for the Easter Vigil of a given year to be received into full communion. It’s a question of when you are sufficiently catechized to be able to say that you believe what the Church teaches.

 

[strngrnrth]

Part of me is confused because even in ancient times the bible does not seem to say that people had to go through a class to become part of the early church. I get the thought process for RCIA though…

I heard RCIA was a Vatican II innovation. I don’t now what it replaced, though.

 

[Jacquelinem]

Both my husband and I were baptized Methodists when we were children. When the Holy Spirit moved us out of the blue to attend a Catholic Mass one Sunday, we both sensed it was meant to be our home.

We made an appointment with Father who answered questions we had and gave us reading materials to look over. After several meetings with him, my husband and I both knew we wanted to be Catholic. We were confirmed on Thanksgiving day of 2006. We never had to attend classes but our Priest was very thorough when questioning us to learn whether we had full knowledge of what we were doing.

We did and thank God

 

[Pong]

I heard RCIA was a Vatican II innovation. I don’t now what it replaced, though.

Actually it wasn’t an innovation so much as a re-discovery. The process of entering the Church had been done RCIA-like, if you will, in the earliest years of the Church but was later replaced by a more one-on-one approach with the candidate or catechuman studying privately with a priest until ready. Vatican II brought back RCIA in a move to go back to the way of the early Church by emphasising the conversion process as more of a journey of the soul rather than just of the mind.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

What are the other ways?

Anyway the Bishop deems fit. It is ultimately his decision how he will receive you into the Church. In the United States, RCIA is normative, but that doesn’t mean a Bishop of a certain diocese won’t choose another normative way for his diocese (note: I don’t know any examples of hand). There could also be dispensations made to receive into the Church via other ways and at other times - Easter being the very normative date to be received into the Church for the Universal Church.

 

[puzzleannie]

What I know we can’t know everything before we are formerly accepted. But I am getting older and want to feel like I really belong this time. So is there another way?

the time of preparation that involves formal study and faith formation, the catechumenate is supposed to be one year, from Lent to the following Lent. The Rite of Election comes at the beginning of the 2nd Lent, with all the rites proper to Lent, and the sacraments of Initiation at Easter. Your baptism is what makes you Christian, your confirmation completes baptism and you will receive communion for the first time.

if you have been studying and investigating for many years the instruction part need not take as long, but that could be decided in an interview with the priest or director. the mandatory rites must still be done at the appropriate stage of your journey. the RCIA is the way adults are brought into the Church, except in case of emergency.

example, a youth who has been attending Catholic school for 8 years, studying religion with his peers, attending Mass, very good knowledge of the faith, scripture, Catholic life and practice, has never been baptized because of parental neglect or opposition. He turns 18 and asks for baptism on his own initiative. He can be accepted as a catechumen and go through immediate preparation for the sacraments and be received at Easter, without a 1 yr precatechumenate and 1 yr catechumenate, which is the model for someone unbaptized with no knowledge of the Faith.

another example, a person who has lived in an invalid marriage with a Catholic for many years, attends Mass faithfully, has brought children up in the faith, knows enough to help with CCD, is active in parish ministries, but has never received the sacraments because the Catholic spouse refuses to convalidate the marriage. Spouse dies, candidate is now free to ask for baptism and the other sacraments, so no long period of education is needed, just time for immediate preparation for the rites and sacraments.