What they don't tell us in RCIA

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I LOVE my RCIA class. We started in August, and every week we have different topics which we are given materials to read before each one.

During the first class we were given Bibles and a copy of the CCC. Since then we have also received several other helpful booklets which outline different topics (The Eucharist, Mary, Lent, Confession etc) We refer to the CCC and the Bible OFTEN during each class.

Our group really has gotten over ‘asking questions’ and we regularly blurt out our questions without hesitation, which is GREAT. I’ve learned more from others’ questions than mine. Our Deacon always recommends we call him if we have any questions between classes. We have several team members also, who are very knowledgable, and if they don’t know something, they find it out.

I find that our topics of discussion have really opened my eyes. There was so much I didn’t know, and now I really understand what sets the Catholic Church apart, and I KNOW I am making the right decision.
 
the period of inquiry is supposed to precede entry into the catechumenate, and it should take as long as you need to get answers to your basic questions, enough so that you can make an informed decision on whether you want to proceed. the catechumenate itself should take a year, from Easter to the following Easter, when you are received into to Church (we are talking here about the unbaptized).

the inquiry period is not supposed to be advanced theology, but it is supposed to answer questions with Church teaching, not the opinions of the instructor, and to use authoritative sources. It is NOT the time for in-depth study of the Catechism. that is much more suited to the catechumenate period.

It is also not necessary for the reception of baptism and other sacraments that you have an advanced theological understanding, merely that you have an informed understanding. It is not necessary, before you sign the papers to build your new house, that you have a degree in architecture and engineering, only that you understand what is going to be in your new house and how it is to be built, and that you trust your builder and contractor.

the biggest problem with the catechumenate is the instructors. The instruction is supposed to include “Breaking Open the Word”, with catechesis based on the Sunday scripture readings, but is supposed to add, either on Sunday or at another session during the week, systematic instruction on doctrine. the second crucial part of this process gets lost sometimes. Also, BOW is not faith sharing, although that is part of it, where everybody gets to give their own interpreration of the Scripture. It is supposed to segue into presentation of the Church teaching and interpretation.
 
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Pug:
What happened to the last piece of the Lord’s Prayer (our father)?
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Okay, I’m curious about this question. What was left out? I looked at Matthew 6:5 and do not see anything missing.
 
I was baptised a Catholic, got sucked into the malestrom when I was nine and spent 21 years as a Mormon, attended BYU, temple marriage, the whole nine yards.

I’m in RCIA right now and the Catholic culture is baffling to someone coming back. I’m old enough to remember going to the Latin Mass with my father and grandparents.

I don’t think people realize how tense it is when you don’t know what you’re doing. I just purchased a book on Catholic Etiquette that I hope will make it easier.

I really feel sorry for my classmates who had no formal religion prior to enrolling in RCIA. IMVHO, parents who raise their children without any religious training really deprive their children of a framework when religion does enter their lives. For example we have questions like, “How can Christ rule when he comes again, when in the US we have the separation of church and state?”

For me, being Dismissed from Mass has made things harder on those days during the week when I attend by myself. It’s harrowing when I get in the wrong line at Communion and end up facing a eucharistic minister, they just freeze when I cross my arms – then I just wish the floor would open up and put me out of my misery. (That was just last week so the humiliation is fresh.)
 
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Rascal:
Okay, I’m curious about this question. What was left out? I looked at Matthew 6:5 and do not see anything missing.
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As a Methodist, I had learned the Lord’s Prayer a certain way, ending, “but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” I hope I got that right, it’s been a zillion years. Anyway, at mass in the Catholic Church, they stop at the “deliver us from evil” part and when I converted I had wondered about it.

Older versions of the English bible have the extra part there in Matthew, but scholarship says that part was not there in the original manuscripts, so it has been taken out of English versions of the bible. They think it was an addition, so they took it back out.

I don’t know what the Methodist Church recites nowadays for the Lord’s Prayer, if they have the extra phrase on the end or not anymore. It was just one of those little weirdnesses when I converted.🙂
 
The Lord’s Prayer doxology is one of those items that people could argue over (and used to) that is really an unanswerable inigma. Many of the earliest manuscripts do not have it. In one early manuscript I believe it appears as a margin note. That begs the question…“Was it a margin note because it was a copy error?” or was is a margin note because “it seemed like an appropriate ending” to the prayer Jesus gave us? Was the doxology only said in communal prayer settings? We’ll never know with certainty.

The doxology appears in the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Appostles) version of the Lord’s Prayer (Chapter 8). This tells us that the doxology was in use in the first century (or early 2nd century depending on the dating by scholars) by those early Christians. It also tells us that the “use” was substantial and long standing enough to warrant its inclusion in this early Christian document (I think of the Didache as an early form of the catechism and sacramentary rolled into one!) What was good for our early family members is good enough for me. The prayer is valid said either way. Hope this helps.
 
I’m in RCIA right now as well… and I agree, there seems to be a lot of bullet dodging at times, especially around those topics such as abortion and birth control, although my instructor did come right out and say “We believe abortion is wrong…”

So being a little bit of a conspiracy theorist, I thought, well they’re trying to soften things up a little so we won’t get too freaked out.

What I found out is that while the CCC is where most of the answers lie, the opinions and practices of the Team as well as other Catholics vary so much, you’d get a different answer from each person anyway!

Which is fine with me (and actually relieving) cuz thats how the real world is. So I’m getting baptized despite AND because of the team (and God, of course) and any of thier flounderings and real or imagined failings cuz I feel it’s the right thing to do at this point, as must you if you made it this far.

Plus! there’s that concept of conscientious dissention regarding the teachings of the church as long as it’s done in a spirit of humility and soul-searching (I’ll personally leave that one alone for now;)

Anyways, Good Luck, follow your heart, be yourself and ask whatever you want, trust me, they won’t kick you out!!! 😃
 
This is a very informative string. I too am going through an RCIA course but I am having difficulty. I agree with everything with in the CCC and the Catholic church’s perspective on the seven questions mentioned before. However, I struggle with the large volume of dogma and traditions , and the short time to reflect on wheither I beleive in it.

I was a Baptist Deacon, and have since left that church. I found their unofficial dogma of hatred towards others most disgusting.

I wish the best for those who are trying to find a way to express their catholic faith in Christ.

“If you love one another, you do well”

John
 
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robertjohn:
However, I struggle with the large volume of dogma and traditions , and the short time to reflect on wheither I beleive in it.
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Robertjohn,

I struggled in that way as well.🙂 There was too much to process and I found myself being done with RCIA and needing so much more help figuring it all out! At the time I would not have thought of it, but you can just go again next year to hear more or have more time to make up your mind.

They didn’t have the CCC back then, just a cobbled together notebook with handouts. Consider yourself lucky! There’s even more info for you to process than I had.😉
 
Thank you, Pug. I was wondering if that was what you were talking about. I always took that “ending” as part of the mass, not part of the Lard’s prayer.
 
Hello All!

Looks like the question that I had is one that several have or had. Thank you all for your responses. Have another question - is there a NAB version for reading the Bible every day or a list on what to read? I have a RSV from the Lutheran Church.

Melody
 
Tim in MI:
I am a cradle Catholic, but I’ve had several experiences with RCIA, including sponsoring a candidate into the Church in 2000. After my experience, I’ve reached the conclusion that having a good RCIA instructor is the second most important role in the parish, behind the pastor. ).
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I agree, now please tell me why most Catholic parishes are pulling teach to get good, knowledgeable, practicing devout Catholics to join the RCIA team? or even to be sponsors? If you believe it and live it why don’t you share it? Do you think the priest lied at your baptism or when he dismissed you at Mass last Sunday and you are not bound to evangelize and share your faith? If you are not doing something to pass on the faith, you better be asking yourself “Why?”
 
As an RCIA teacher, I just want to encourage any of ya’ll reading this to speak up. Please DO ask questions! We don’t mind looking stuff up if we are unsure of an answer, and it’s easy to overlook things which you grew up with, or never realized something was a “Catholic” thing compared to other churches.
 
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puzzleannie:
I agree, now please tell me why most Catholic parishes are pulling teach to get good, knowledgeable, practicing devout Catholics to join the RCIA team?
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What does “pulling teach” mean?? what are you saying? :confused:
 
Here are a few good ones to ask (cause then all candidates will hear the answers)

-why is the catholic church the one true church
-how often MUST we go to confession
-why is contraception intrinsically evil
-where do we find all the teachings of the church
-is abortion always wrong
-who put together the bible and why do catholics have more books?
-what is the girm (general instruction to the roman missal)
  • why doesn’t everyone bow in the nicene creed when we HAVE to (cause it even says in the missal in church)
  • why do people bow to the altar?
  • why do people only bow to the tabernacle, not genuflect?
just a few good ones off the top of my head…if you need answers to any, just email me mike@sevensorrows.com
 
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