What to expect at RCIA?

[Ted_in_Charlott]

Expect a lot of rants about George Bush and global warming.

Oh, no, wait! That was just my particular experience!

I had to endure that dribble also, but at least we got a strong Catechism go through also.

To the OP, just go into the class writing down all your questions before hand. The priest at my class still uses my questions in his class from 3 years ago. Then as you go the week in between classes right down follow-up.

As a rule the same old questions are asked over and over and even though they may be new to you, they have been asked before. But sometimes a really good new question will be asked. Here are a few interesting ones:

Is eating the Eucharist cannalbism?
Did Mary have to be from the tribe of Judah?
Did God forgive / pardon Adam and Eve and if so, how?
What is Grace?

Also as you hang out here and in your class, you will find there are certain people that cannot distinguish between politics and religion and believe that certain parties are more Christian than others. If you run into people like that, be sure to take everything with a grain of salt. You are there to become a Catholic not the member of a political party.

 

[iwanttobelieve]

Haha, that’s fine… I’m used to being surrounded by those who don’t agree with me politically.

I’m very happy to report that I will definitely be starting RCIA in September. However, my job has me traveling quite a bit. Will that hinder the process, or can I continue with classes at a different parish in a different state?

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Interesting question. I have NO idea!

 

[pippin]

However, my job has me traveling quite a bit. Will that hinder the process, or can I continue with classes at a different parish in a different state?

I don’t think you can attend in different areas, unless you are going to be there a while. Different parishes use different textbooks. When my husband went through RCIA there was one member of the class from a different state. He had been recalled to active duty in the military and was stationed in our area. He had started at his home parish and finished with us.

For shorter trips you might try teleconferencing. I sponsered a woman last year. One member of the class also traveled a lot. He called in and ‘attended’ via speaker phone.

 

[DL82]

I began RCIA in London and finished in Glasgow, because I’d changed jobs and moved house. The priest in London just wrote a letter of recommendation, and I arrived and continued. The only problem was that the different priests did things in a different order, so learned about the sacraments of initiation twice and didn’t cover prayer. I spoke to the priest, who gave me a couple of hours one-to-one tuition, and that sorted that out.

If you’re travelling all over, that might be more difficult. At my RCIA, they handed out weekly reading from the Catechism, so you might ask for a programme in advance, and a few hours private tuition if you can’t make the meetings for a few weeks, and then you should be fine.

Welcome home!

A note on being ‘orthodox’ - I started with the same idea. One important fact to bear in mind is that the Church’s beliefs are not just to be studied but also to be lived, and lived in communion with one another. It’s one thing being able to quote the Catechism chapter and verse (and a good thing at that), but one thing you need to learn through RCIA and involvement in your parish is how to LIVE the Catholic faith as an imperfect human with other imperfect humans. When I had my first confession, just before I was confirmed this Easter, I resolved that I would never commit mortal sin, but as it’s truly sunk in what sin means and how amazing God’s standards of love and grace are, I’ve never gone a week without being back in the confessional, and that’s much healthier than trying to convince yourself that you’re alright just because you know every page of the rule-book.