What if someone in RCIA doesn't accept all of the Church's teachings?

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RCIA and the Mass isn’t exclusively for people that accept all of the Church’s teachings. Anybody can attend if they want to attend and they can learn and pray with the community. After a certain point - God willing - they may come to accept and enter full communion.

A Catholic is required to consent with their will. Their intellect and their heart may still struggle somewhat and it might even be a warning sign if they don’t struggle at all because that might mean they aren’t considering the big picture. For example, if the Church teaches that marriage is forever until death and it’s not an issue for them in the present moment, so they think “Eh, okay, sure, fine” but then at some point in the future it becomes relevant and it’s a potential crisis for them.

In any event, struggling with certain teachings can be a very positive sign.
 
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I have a couple of areas where I dissent. I won’t say what they are.

We need to remember that the Church does allow room for a well-formed conscience to prevail. In the areas I cannot assent to, I also consider scientific sources in forming my conscience, as I am a retired scientist (applied chemistry and physics).

So in the first place we need to allow a well-formed, thoughtful, and well-prayed conscience to prevail.

Secondly, we must allow doubt to exist while the person works at forming that conscience, a process that may take a lifetime. It should not be surprising that many monastics become so precisely because they have some difficulties of faith, and want to seek God sincerely to conform to His will. It’s also why I became an oblate, and still pray and meditate over my areas of dissent.

As the Holy Father says the Church is a hospital for sinners. Not a prize for the perfect. I would also add a hospital for the weak, the lost, the incredulous.

It is an Institute of Christian perfection, not a resort for perfect Christians.

BTW I am a cradle Catholic but also a revert after a long absence who came back even though I couldn’t assent to absolutely everything. I am by nature suspicious of doctrine and dogma and I feel faith, trust in God and charity are the most important aspects, but as said above, where else can we go?
 
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adf417 said:
Why would this person want to continue on the journey? Why would he not quit RCIA himself?
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Presumably for all the same reasons that Catholics who do not accept all of the Church’s teaching stay in the Church. That is hardly a rare phenomena.
 
My experience has been, if someone claims to have no doubts and accepts everything at face value, be suspicious. Be very suspicious and run far away.

Such persons often display a rigidity that masks very deep issues, or it’s the zeal of the newly converted. It’s not the sign of a mature faith. If the zeal wears off then it is the sign of someone maturing in faith. If it doesn’t, it’s the sign of something off.

I discussed this once with an older oblate that I respect enormously. He said “if someone has no doubts, I’d like to know what he’s smoking, because I sure as heck have lots of doubts”.
 
OraLabora said:
My experience has been, if someone claims to have no doubts and accepts everything at face value, be suspicious.
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Supernatural faith is a theological virtue–a gift from God, not a vice. I get what you’re saying–someone saying they never had a trouble or doubt would be like someone saying they have never sinned. But we should be clear it is not a bad thing and in fact is a goal, just like staying free from sin and it is possible to be virtuous, both in faith and in deeds. And definitive or resigned dissent against the unity of faith is just as bad as giving up oneself definitively to other sins.
 
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I think this post contains wisdom on a number of levels. It requires a certain level of spiritual maturity to even recognize that one has a serious issue with a given teaching. I see many Catholics who either fail to actually form any opinion on most teachings, so that no disagreement (or agreement) is even possible, or who simply rationalize away their differences by either deliberately misconstruing Church teaching, or outright denying it. The second is on regular display here on CAF.

Another issue, which relates to the rigidity you describe, is what I call “checklist Christianity,” which may be too far adrift to get into here.
 
I would think that this is not what Jesus’ prayed for. They could enter the Church, and try and change others to their way of thinking.

(Joh 17:21 ESV) that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

(Joh 17:22 ESV) The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

(Joh 17:23 ESV) I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
What if they are told “pray to see it the Church’s way” but in the end, they say “no, I don’t believe that, my mind’s made up, I am right and the Church is wrong”.
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What’s with the what ifs? Nothing can be based on what ifs. It takes concrete situations on a case by case basis to make any meaningful opinion about something so important as suspending someone from joining the Church.

People who want to join the Church ought to know that it isn’t some club or cult where people swear allegiance to everything the Church teaches. That’s insane. The important things to assent to are in the Creed. Each individual may not completely agree with other teachings - that is fine and understandable. People grow in wisdom, but even a lifetime may not be enough to come around on every issue. The Church may even have some things wrong.
 
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I have taught RCIA for a few years now and never ran into this situation. I am sure such a person is more likely to keep their opinion to themselves out of fear of not receiving their sacraments.

I am not the one in charge of rcia at my parish. I am only a catechist. If it was my responsibility to do something about a situation like a catechumen not agreeing with a church teaching, I would simply let my senior pastor know what is going on and let him decide what to do. Decisions like that are above my pay grade.
 
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This person is regularly speaking with the priests, deacons, catechists. If they cannot honestly accept a doctrine or dogma, they would not want to make the profession of faith as it would be a lie. They would continue to study, pray, until they can make that vow in truth. I’ve seen people wait for years over one doctrine, anyone who has been involved with RCIA will tell you the same thing.
 
TheLittleLady said:
This person is regularly speaking with the priests, deacons, catechists. If they cannot honestly accept a doctrine or dogma, they would not want to make the profession of faith as it would be a lie. They would continue to study, pray, until they can make that vow in truth. I’ve seen people wait for years over one doctrine, anyone who has been involved with RCIA will tell you the same thing.
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I think it depends on what the disagreement was. Not everything is in the profession of faith. If failing to be in 100% agreement with all Church teachings was required, how many Catholics would there be? I think that standard would lose us most of the laity, and a pretty big chunk of the clergy.

I think that if one can say the Creed without reservation, that person can be Catholic in good faith. Disagreeing on individual teachings does not disqualify someone from being Catholic.
 
I stood before God and my Parish and said: I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.

Would not have done so if I were telling a lie.
 
JerryZ said:
Well indeed I am a cradle Catholic and I also confess that for a good part of my life I did not fully know my faith. However it is different for someone that is grown up on a different tradition or no tradition at all. If memory serves me well in the beginning Catechumenate had to stay in that “state” for a long period of time until they completed their preparation and had to fully assent to all that the Church teaches. Now days we compress the RCIA in less than a year. And for Baptism how do we know if the person is not already Baptized? Too many of us are or were “cafeteria catholics”. Catholics in name only, darned I cringe every time I hear those words. No we need to be fully Catholics able to defend and proclaim the faith to the 4 corners of the World. How can we be that if we don’t fully acknowledge and accept all the teaching of our faith?
Peace!
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One grows from the minimum.

The minimum is indicated in the Canon Law (CIC) 865 §2. An adult in danger of death can be baptized if, having some knowledge of the principal truths of the faith, the person has manifested in any way at all the intention to receive baptism and promises to observe the commandments of the Christian religion.

Conditional baptism is the solution when baptism is in doubt.
 
TheLittleLady said:
I stood before God and my Parish and said: I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.

Would not have done so if I were telling a lie.
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I respect that position, and understand it.

Does that standard persist? In other words, should those that come to the realization that they disagree with the Church’s teaching (either because of change of heart, deeper understanding, or a shift in Church teaching) leave the Church?
 
One of my favorite quotes from Peter Kreeft is that getting into Heaven is not based on a theology exam, where you get in if you get a 60% and go to Hell if you get 59%. I know such things are up to the priest, but as long as all dogma is given assent, I do not see a problem working through some doctrines, unless of course the person does not recognize the authority of the Church to teach (the apostolic part).
LaughingBoy1503 said:
I have taught RCIA for a few years now and never ran into this situation. I am sure such a person is more likely to keep their opinion to themselves out of fear of not receiving their sacraments.
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I was in that same situation, with two issues. One was Marian, the other was capital punishment.
 
Yes, we had to say, “I believe and profess all that the Catholic Church teaches, believes, and proclaims to be revealed by God.” I could go along with that 99% of the time, so I made this proclamation. This is a few years ago. I recently had a sit-down with my priest to ask a few questions, and he was nice enough to give me a lot of his morning. At the end, I said that I love the Catholic church, the Catholic faith, and my Catholic life, but there were one or two points that I could understand the Church’s viewpoint but that I could not totally go along with it one hundred percent. He said that he imagined that most of the congregation, if they were honest, would have to say the same thing, that there are a couple of points that they just can’t quite get their mind around. He said he was not concerned about that, just mainly that we love God and our fellows, and he told me not to worry about my few reservations.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Maybe because they see a lot of people who are already Catholic, yet do not accept all of the Church’s teachings, and nobody says “boo” to them
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TMC said:
Presumably for all the same reasons that Catholics who do not accept all of the Church’s teaching stay in the Church. That is hardly a rare phenomena.
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Someone in the RCIA process and someone in the church is not the same thing. My question stands - why would someone who does not believe what the church teaches want to become a part of that?

Peace!!!
 
That is the Profession of Faith for any Christian converting to Catholicism, so, yes every priest knows this.
TMC said:
In other words, should those that come to the realization that they disagree with the Church’s teaching (either because of change of heart, deeper understanding, or a shift in Church teaching) leave the C
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No one ought leave the Church.

If one is unbaptized, they would work with their Sponsor, Priest, etc. to come to an understanding.

If they are already in the Church, the Catechism addresses it:

2088 The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith:

Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.

2089 Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."11
 
TheLittleLady said:
No one ought leave the Church.

If one is unbaptized, they would work with their Sponsor, Priest, etc. to come to an understanding.
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I recognize that the situation is different for someone already in the Church, or for those born into the faith, and I am not saying they should leave the Church. But it is certainly true that many Catholics, I would suggest most Catholics, do not agree with every aspect of the Church’s teaching. Sometimes that comes from a lack of understanding, but often it comes from a place of understanding. I don’t think those people should necessarily leave the Church.

If a Catholic cannot in good conscience agree with some aspect of Church teaching, even after much study and prayer, what do you think they should do? I think they should stay if their conscience allows it–and I think that many millions of Catholics are in that position, including many clergy.
 
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