What do I do until RCIA starts again in September?

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I would walk into the Parish Office and ask to speak to a Priest. That should get the ball rolling…
 
Please don’t be discouraged. I do not know if you have a layperson coordinating your RCIA program, or a Deacon or a Priest. In some parishes that are short staffed, the parish priest teaches RCIA himself. sometimes in tandem with other parishes to put together a larger group. Either way, do not become discouraged. Priests can be very very busy men. Remember, if they celebrate daily Mass with the faithful (which they should be) he may be preparing for 5-7 homilies a week! More if there are funerals, and weddings. Then he’s visiting shut-ins, visiting hospitals visiting and praying, perhaps anointing the sick, He’s driving, (in some areas he could be on the road for hours a day between all the people he is visiting.) Somewhere in there he has his own personal prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours, 7 times a day, Adoration, leading other prayer services, such as Stations of the Cross, and or Benediction. Hearing confessions, both scheduled and by appointments. He may spend his evenings teaching RCIA, conducting Baptism class, marriage prep, funeral wake services, or any number of pastoral events. Somewhere in there he may take a day off during the week, our’s takes Tuesday’s off for example.
My point is, don’t be discouraged, Priests are very busy men, if they have a school attached to the parish they may be even busier, in cases like this though, larger parishes, and ones with schools, usually have an associate pastor, or a Deacon to assist them. This however usually doesn’t really lighten the load be cause the load much, because the load was larger to begin with.

hope this helps,
 
Fahey0115 said:
I’m an ex-Southern Baptist looking to convert to Catholicism. The priest at a local parish told me he can’t bring me into the church until fall because that’s when RCIA starts. He did invite me to watch an RCIA session, though. After the class, I asked him what I should do until fall, and he said I could call the office and schedule a meeting to discuss. The office told me he would call back. Haven’t heard back in several days. I say this because I called two other Catholic Churches in my area, one of which never responded to my message, and the other which responded after two weeks. I’m starting to feel like I’m seen as weird for wanting to convert. Are Catholics usually cool and low-key about newcomers? I should add that I live in Oklahoma, which doesn’t have a big Catholic population.
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If you are near St. Teresa of Avila parish, start attending prayer group meetings and consider getting involved in the 40 days for life.

Catholics are typically very poor in helping newcomers and converts, in my opinon. Fortunately, the Archdiocese Pastoral Ministires can often make up for what is lacking in the parishes. I am not sure how long the drive is for you to the City? Ask them about Retreat in Daily Life and a yearly course are offered for those wishing to pursue a ministry in spiritual direction. There are online catholic courses at university of Dayton.

Hanging here at CAF might be the best possible faith formation for you right now, there are tons of resources and plenty of folks to help you with your questions.

If you want some independent study there is a Catholic home study course:.

One of the best possible resources is Catholic radio.
 
One of the best … and most entertaining … and genuinely humorous Catholic teachers is/was Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

He was on television during prime time and won Emmies for his programs!

You can look him up on Wiki for his bio.

But folks have found old recordings of his programs and while you can buy them on DVD, they are available on YouTube!

Here is one:

youtube.com/watch?v=jXQP3UJnagM

And there are links to more on the side of the screen.

Really excellent.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
One of the best … and most entertaining … and genuinely humorous Catholic teachers is/was Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

He was on television during prime time and won Emmies for his programs!

You can look him up on Wiki for his bio.

But folks have found old recordings of his programs and while you can buy them on DVD, they are available on YouTube!

Here is one:

youtube.com/watch?v=jXQP3UJnagM

And there are links to more on the side of the screen.

Really excellent.
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You simply cannot go wrong listening to Abp Sheen. What a godly and brilliant man.
 
Where in Oklahoma do you live? If you’re anywhere near OKC, you have a good number of parishes to choose from.

oneseeker2
 
Fahey0115 said:
I should add that I live in Oklahoma, which doesn’t have a big Catholic population.
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Welcome home from a fellow former Baptist!

Please be a tad patient with the parish at this time. It is the busiest time of the year for them, especially with Holy Week coming. If you don’t have many parishes in your area, the pastor and priests are probably stretched razor thin.

In addition to the other suggestions, I would add looking up the Holy Week schedule for the parish, specifically the Triduum (means 3 days), which is Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday. Thursday will have the service related to the Last Supper, complete with the priest washing feet. Friday will be about the Crucifixion, and on Saturday is the Easter Vigil, which is the highest and holiest (and longest) Mass of the entire year.
 
aidanbradypop said:
I am from Knoxville, Tn where it is a sin to be Catholic 😉 I was also once a Baptist :eek:
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😃 Yes, one of the few exceptions where it’s ok to love the sin and sinner at the same time.

Interesting how times have changed. The Catholic faith never had much of a pressence in the Southern United States. That trend has reversed and if the projections are correct, the Catholic Churches problems will be delivering the services to its parishoners, not about whether it will grow. We are seeing this in cities in Texas, Kansas, Georgia and the Carolinas. I’ve attended parrishes where I had to stand the entire time, standing room only. It’s actually puzzling as to why this growth in the South. Some contributed it to immigration, or Northerners migrating South, but it’s got to be more than that.

To my former Baptist brothers/sisters soon to be Catholic brothers/sisters it may seem odd or weird for others when you mention your Catholic conversion in the Bible belt, but I think you guys are ahead of the pack, ahead of a new trend that in a few years will be quite the norm. Then with a humble heart, and warm greetings, and as Catholic convert veterans seeing family or friends joining the faith as well,you can just say: ‘amen, amen, what took yall so long?’ 😉

Fahey, keep the faith, of course welcome, and God Bless.
Hoo(name removed by moderator)mie said:
You simply cannot go wrong listening to Abp Sheen. What a godly and brilliant man.
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I second this. Youtube Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Old, conservative, out of touch, boring.

Every stereotypical image one has of Catholic holy leadership will change watching and listening to Archbishop Sheen. Not just funny, charasmatic, intelligent and spiritually devout. No one, I mean no one, can speak like him and make you love the Catholic faith more.
 
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