Why RCIA to Convert?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CurtisHouse
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
My wife just finished RCIA and I went with her as a refresher. I noticed the exact same behaviour by the couple leading the RCIA here.
 
It’s like it’s become a numbers game. I do know that not all RCIA programs are bad. I went through one where I actually learned basic Catholic theology, what we do and why we do it. We were encouraged and given resources to learn on our own. Encouraged to ask questions, to discuss concerns, to express doubts. When I professed my faith in the Catholic Church I knew what I was doing and, while I had so much more to learn (and still do), I knew exactly what it meant.
 
Yeah, I mean during RCIA we mainly watched Dr Edward Sri’s video series. It was educational, but it was nothing that we couldn’t have done at home on our own. Our priest did throw in a lot of his own viewpoints on what should have been included in the videos which wasn’t so it wasn’t a complete waste of time, but I just felt like it could have been more.

Luckily my wife (and I) are both the type who do our own research, so when she was baptized/confirmed she knew exactly what it meant, but it wasn’t due to the RCIA classes.
 
That is true, but also there are Catholics at ours that has been catholic all there life(A woman I know) and she did not know several things
 
Folks were a little easier to convert when they had seen the Lord, or been witnessed to by the Apostles.

FF a few centuries from the scriptures and you will see periods of training there far in excess of that which you are being asked to do. Besides, if you were some other type of Christian before, it may take that long to re-orient your thinking.
 
That is true… what shocked me was this lady grew up Catholic ,but she does not know some things that are basic things…
I do not think we will truly know everything in our life time about our religion… 🙂
 
This Wikipedia article looks well-sourced. The section on “historic Christian practice” suggests that some instruction was the norm by the second century, with long periods of instruction prior to baptism at Easter becoming a custom in the fourth and fifth centuries. RCIA is the revival of a rather ancient practice, albeit not one going all the way back to New Testament times.

 
Thank you, @Usagi, that’s interesting, but unless I’m missing something it doesn’t seem to say anything about people spending several years as catechumens. There were people like Constantine who chose to defer their baptism “for years, often until shortly before death,” but I don’t think that’s the same thing.
 
Dear Joyfulandactive (wish I had been imaginative enough to think of a handle like that!): Our Parish is planning to start Alpha in the fall: pilot session beginning shortly. Say a prayer for us: I have high hopes for it.
Like you, we have a wonderful and very active parish. We are one of only a few parishes in our diocese that is growing (sad to say) and we have only recently come to the point where our weekend mass attendance matches the counts in 1990: but I believe we have now a much higher percentage of active people than in 1990
I believe (and our pastor preaches) that we need to be Intentional Disciples, each of us. Nothing less will do. So the problem is, how to convert the “come-on-Sunday-put-a-check-in-the-box” type of Catholic into an on-fire, intentional-disciple? Alpha seems designed to kick-start that. People need to come into an experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit (yes, and an experience of the Church: can’t separate Jesus and His Church!). Not to say that Alpha should be pitched only to church goers: we must invite non-churched people. I loved it in the Alpha training when they said that Alpha is designed so that if the Holy Spirit does not show up, it will fail. No plan B. That is the ticket for me.

I love this conversation about RCIA. I became Catholic in 1990 from a Baptist and Charismatic background (at different periods in my early journey). The 9 month process was quite long enough, but (I thought) poorly run, as some of the comments here observed about their experience. But, it took me most of 10 more years to get acclimated to Catholic Culture (can I call it that?). In recent years, I am back on the RCIA team (with entirely different leader ship than then). We just baptized and confirmed our group who have been in the program for a year: most had never been in any sort of faith sharing group (even the ones from a church background), so had to learn how to be in a small group and have an adult conversation about faith, let alone come into adult relationship with Jesus and His Church. I will ask them when I see them Wednesday if they thought it was too long. Previous year’s groups mostly supported the one year length.
 
I agree with so much of what everyone is saying. It definitely can be a large culture change for people brought up outside the faith or perhaps in a different Christian tradition. There’s a lot to learn about theology and doctrine but also building a prayer life. We are all in a state of constant conversion as we conform closer to Christ but for those of us from an atheist background, such as myself we also often go through a long period of obvious change as we radically center ourselves on Christ. That very big initial conversion can take some time. I know quite a few converts who experienced a sense of loss. Once they knew Christ there was no going back, they were willing to give everything for the “pearl of great price”. However they also as a result have turned away from behaviors and maybe friendships that were not conducive to a Christian life but haven’t built up new friendships and activities to replace what they left. Also their personality may change in small ways, for example making an effort to be more patient and not talk over people. It’s a re-centering of our lives that needs support. Everyone is unique, so for some people Christian friendships are essential, while for others they want to delve deeper into theology and that’s their focus. It’s just working to build a parish which invites our constant conversion and as you say DLH don’t just remain Sunday Catholics.
 
The Faith is 2000 years old. No one person can every know all of it. That is the beauty, we get to learn more every day!!
 
My mother was a convert before RCIA, and from what I understand it was a very haphazard process. The priest of the parish would meet with you a few times, go over the catechism probably, and then baptize you. Depending on the priest, it was hit-or-miss and, I assume, not very effective.

RCIA is an attempt to regularize the catechesis of adult converts. It is also hit-or-miss depending on the parish, but I assume that overall, it is better than it was.
 
Last edited:
I loved my time in RCIA. We are going to keep it going since myself and another woman wants to know more 😀😀 So the Deacon said sure 🙏
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top