Why RCIA to Convert?

[ralfyman]

Some answers are given here.

 

[Michael_Anthony]

The Baltimore Catechism is old and so tends to have devotions that are no longer mandated.

 

[tafan2]

I hope that study is right. The problem seems to be they base everything off of people who “self-identify” as Catholics. That is likely not close to the number (it would be much lower) than those who go to mass every Sunday.

Even then, when I went through RCIA, it sounded like the main driving factor behind people leaving was not getting involved.

And this shows the whole problem. If by getting involved, you are implying getting involved in other activities and ministries of the parish, you might be right. But if RCIA is doing its job, that would not be the determining factor. I have gone through periods of my life where I am very involved and periods where I am not very involved at all, and there is absolutely no correlation in being involved and how well I am practicing my faith. If anything, for me, I think I often do better the less I am involved. But I practice my faith based on the belief in the sacraments and the Church being instituted by Christ and the source of truth. If people came out of RCIA with that instilled in them, not being involved would not be why they left.

Its a related note, but so many people bemoan Catholics not being involved enough in their parishes, people not being welcome, families going to mass and then going home immediately after,etc. The thing is, for many devout Catholics, they are not looking at the parish to be a social point of their lives, that’s not why they are there. People compare us to protestants too much. Protestants need those activities to keep people there, they don’t have the sacraments.

 

[ZMystiCat]

And this shows the whole problem. If by getting involved, you are implying getting involved in other activities and ministries of the parish, you might be right. But if RCIA is doing its job, that would not be the determining factor.

In my experience, when people start feeling disconnected, they’re more likely to leave. They may feel like they don’t belong, that the Church isn’t a good place to be, or may just be excessively open to alternative ideas, to the point that they don’t think them through critically. This is hardly a problem in Catholicism or among the poorly catechized.

The thing is, for many devout Catholics, they are not looking at the parish to be a social point of their lives, that’s not why they are there.

Certainly there’s a way of being communal without being reduced to a social club. Many Protestant churches struggle with being social clubs, but we shouldn’t respond by going to the opposite end where we don’t spend time with or help out fellow Christians. That’s hardly in line with the love we should have for each other.

 

[tafan2]

Certainly there’s a way of being communal without being reduced to a social club. Many Protestant churches struggle with being social clubs, but we shouldn’t respond by going to the opposite end where we don’t spend time with or help out fellow Christians. That’s hardly in line with the love we should have for each other.

I agree, and I am trying to justify not being involved. I am just saying that for many faithful Catholics, their involvement is mainly focused on what they can do for others, they do not rely on feelings of community and such in order to maintain their faith. And that is not all a bad thing, they understand what the faith is all about. I question if a high percentage of people who go through RCIA have that understanding. It is my experience, even on this forum, that most converts who do have a thorough understanding of their faith did not get it from RCAI, they either studied it on their own (often before ever going to RCIA) or they were lucky enough to have a friendship with a knowledgeable Catholic who help them out a lot.

 

[vsedriver]

But I question if the RCIA process is effective. I have heard that fewer than 50% of people who go through RCIA are still practicing Catholics a year later.

I’ve heard that that number also applies to cradle Catholics, so it really doesn’t evaluate the effectiveness of the RCIA programs.

 

[blackforest]

Why is it necessary?

It may not be. What is your faith background?

I think we, as a Church, in the US have become so caught up in the RCIA rituals as part of our parish life, we are not willing to evaluate it’s effectiveness.

Our Diocese has a work-around for people who grew up in similar denominations. I didn’t learn about this until going clear through RCIA, though. Unfortunately, my RCIA experience didn’t go into much about the complexities of the Catholic faith and, for this cradle Anglican, it seemed more like Sunday School.

That said, if the OP’s background is a far cry from Catholicism, (e.g. atheist, Buddhist, Mormon, Baptist . . .), I’d recommend going through the program to get the 101 of things.

 

[HeDa]

Converting the Jewish people steeped in the scriptures and witness to the life of Jesus is one thing and people of today steeped in secularism and exposed to every possible twisting of scripture and world religion is another. The early church spent many months catechizing pagan people before baptising them.

In the early church, the preparation time was about three years for non Jewish people. I often say that becoming Catholic has made me think and reason in a totally different way than when I was a protestant. Becoming Catholic has given me a different perspective on life that I didn’t and couldn’t have before. Some converts need “eye surgery” as “wearing glasses” is not enough when removing all the errors of faith they were taught about the Catholic Church. Instead of fleeing from another Christian denomination to the Catholic Church it is a process of looking forward to becoming Catholic and also being thankful for what was good in our past denomination and not talk badly about the rest.

Many converts need to get to know Catholics as they will be the only Catholic in their family, at work/school and among friends. Getting to know people takes time and should take time. It is never just “me and God” in the Catholic Church but “God, me and the whole Catholic Church”.

 

[HeDa]

It is a good topic for a thesis. “What makes converts stay or leave the Catholic Church and why?”. Could sure help a parish and also a diocese.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Are you a validly baptized Christian?

I have heard that fewer than 50% of people who go through RCIA are still practicing Catholics a year late

Many years of working with RCIA. This is a generous figure, in my experience it is higher.

My opinion of why? Because people are in RCIA for the wrong reason (to make a fiancee or spouse happy) and because most RCIA programs do not prepare people for the hard times, they do not work on getting the person involved in parish life connected to other Catholics.

We end up with many new Catholics who have little knowledge of why we do what we do, but do know they are supposed to “feeeeellllll soooooo goooood” doing it.

AMEN!! When someone does not get the “feels”, they become disillusioned at best and despair at worst.

Heaven forbid they do not get the feels or do not “always find help” in XYZ devotion that was pushed by the RCIA team.

Heck, we barely teach about prayer more than how to pray the Rosary.

 

[tafan2]

Many converts need to get to know Catholics as they will be the only Catholic in their family, at work/school and among friends. Getting to know people takes time and should take time. It is never just “me and God” in the Catholic Church but “God, me and the whole Catholic Church”.

I suspect this is correct, which admittedly is not completely inline with some of my earlier comments. Had not really thought about this.

Becoming Catholic has given me a different perspective on life that I didn’t and couldn’t have before.

This is another good point, but I do not know exactly how to frame it. I certainly think that a well-formed Catholic has a different out look on life than others. Its hard to describe. Part of it is the whole “universal call to holiness” thing, but that is not all by any means. I see it when I discuss many topics with non-Catholics or even luke-warm catholics. My wife and I have discussed it, but I cannot quite describe it or quantify it. There are examples where it stands out like a sore thumb (GK Chesterton’s writing comes to mind), but in general I believe it is rather subtle and many Catholics do not realize it exists.

 

[BartholomewB]

In the early church, the preparation time was about three years for non Jewish people.

Really? That surprises me. Was this the practice in a particular place and at a particular time, or was it the general rule applying all over the known world?

 

[chessnerd321]

If you have been baptized then you can be received into the church at any time. Some pastors are willing to let people come in at a time other than Easter. In fact, the Easter vigil isn’t the proper time to confirm candidates, strictly speaking.

In my humble opinion, it seems less acceptable to gatekeep baptized Christains from Catholic sacraments. There needs to be individual discernment with the pastor. Imagine if they had told someone like Scott Hahn to wait another year, for example.

 

[joyfulandactive]

Yes we have a wonderful and very active parish. This priest recently asked me to join the Evangelization Committee (which I wasn’t aware existed as I only moved back to the parish recently). I have been to one meeting so far and discovered it is very well funded as the parish consider it a priority - which of course it is! “The church exists to evangelize”.

We are constantly bringing in speakers and have frequent parish missions for those already Catholic to build their faith (we also have a 24/7 adoration chapel). We have been running Alpha for a couple of years, twice a year. Alpha is for those who may know nothing about Christianity at all. It is a simple format, with a meal, a talk and a small group discussion. I just went to a training day last week. Many different churches use the format so the training day was well attended by people sent from lots of local churches. The speaker said the Catholic parishes are actually having the most success with the format. They said they were growing by 30% while the others were growing by 10% once they introduced Alpha. I would definitely like to drill down into those numbers (I will ask the leaders when I see them). It could be that Alpha is also bringing back lukewarm or less well catechized Catholics.

I believe some people have concerns about Alpha being used in Catholic parishes as it originated in an Anglican parish in the UK. Our leader Johnny told me he was a convert to Christianity and was leading Alpha in his evangelical church. When he became Catholic he approached our parish priest about bringing it to our parish and he turned him down.

However, our PP also attends a meeting with other PPs in the area for fellowship and to share ideas on evangelization. He heard another priest sharing how successful Alpha had been in bringing in new people. So our PP approached Johnny and said he had changed his mind and wanted to find out more. Our PP is very orthodox, solid and sound in his beliefs so he obviously must’ve looked at the program very closely. Our youth ministers are planning to run one for High Schoolers this year. Youth Alpha is very new, maybe a year ?

Returning to RCIA, our PP runs it so I can be sure he is being very through in his preparation of new Catholics. I will be joining the team this year. I have been concerned for sometime that we need to be offering more support to these new Catholics once they enter. I asked him about that and that’s when he told me tafan2 that he chased down everyone that he could. He actually knows us all by name (we are a really big parish) so he already had a pretty good idea of who was still coming to Mass but he checked the database and all the last contact information we had when gathering info for his informal survey. But of course it is possible he missed some people. Our parish is in the suburb of a big city with lots of churn and people moving in and out constantly.

I am a convert who had private instruction in 1987 but I didn’t receive any direct, structured support once I was Catholic. I sometimes was floundering a bit, many new Catholics need continual pastoral support/fellowship - basically friendship.

 

[tafan2]

In the early church, the preparation time was about three years for non Jewish people.

Somewhat of a history buff here, would love to know where this figure comes from. It could certainly be true. But I am not for sure it is all that applicable in this day and age. Few non-Jewish people at the times of the early Church would have been very familiar at all with even the concept of a single God who created all things. In addition differences between their culture and the concepts of Christianity would have often been quite large. Couple that with the fact that the early Church probably had to be on guard against infiltrators, and it all makes sense.

 

[joyfulandactive]

I actually am of the opinion that if you are very well formed in the faith, attend Mass and have an active prayer life and then combine that with continual formation as disciples which involves some meaningful relationships/friendships with other Catholics in your parish you have a winning combination.

By that I mean that the warm, welcoming churches/parishes that know people personally and pastor them lovingly grow. We are made biologically to be social and we suffer a great deal when isolated. Jesus also said “I call you friends”. Our modern society can be very lonely and disconnected and I believe many people are definitely evangelized by the active love they are shown. We are supposed to be a loving community that is recognized by our love for one another. Coming and going anonymously is not the model Christ showed us and is definitely NOT the model of the Jewish community that he was born into.

Our parish introduced Connect groups a few years ago. Anyone is welcome to join one. They are small groups that meet in people’s homes to pray and fellowship. There are Connect group for married couples, young married couples, young mothers, singles, those who went through RCIA, those made up of anyone, any age etc. There are about 12-15 and they are growing all the time. Noone is insisting that anyone join something they are not interested in but I think a social dimension is very important. Not because we are a “social club” but because we are the people God made us, social beings. The church is a social organization.

 

[phil19034]

I think there are a few solid (logical) reasons to address your concerns:

1. in the early times of the Church, there were not a number of competing denominations. There were Christians and non-Christians. So there was less confusion regarding beliefs.
2. as time when on, you had a number of heretical sects teaching their version of Christianity. So it became more and more important to make sure people understood what they were “signing up” for.
3. Catholics believe in education before receiving all 6 of the 7 sacraments, even baptism (only Annointment of the Sick doesn’t have its own training - though you could argue that it’s take care of in general catechesis). Even though babies can’t take classes before being baptized, their parents have to take classes to make sure they truly understand what they are committing their kids to.

• now, perhaps an argument can be made that one should not have to be forced to wait until the Easter Vigil. However, as a cradle Catholic I will say this: I wish I could have been baptized and Confirmed at the Easter Vigil because it has always seemed to me to be a very special and I’ve always considered those baptized & confirmed at the Vigil to be very lucky.

God Bless

 

[Scott84]

To the OP, congratulations on taking steps on becoming Catholic!

I myself was welcomed into the Church just a couple days ago at the Easter Vigil! I had to wait a year (since April last year when I chose to convert)! But it was well worth it!

In the early years of the Church there was RCIA. And many new converts had to wait a couple years to be baptized! If you think catechizing today is tough, it was a lot tougher in the early years of the Church.

After Vatican II the Church decided to revive the ancient Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, and typically this can last 9 months to a year. If you are going to be Catholic, the Holy Mother Church says it is necessary for you to understand not just what you are getting into, but that you understand what the Church teaches, why She teaches it, and what we profess and believe.

Believe me, the journey is worth it! Especially when you receive your first Holy Communion!

 

[JanetF]

This Is The Faith: A Complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith by Canon Francis Ripley. Paid 20 dollars for it

I would venture to say that will be the best $20 you ever spend. It’s a wonderful compendium of the faith! There is so much rich material out there, that if you put out a request for more to read, I’m sure you would get numerous replies. What you have listed is a great start.

Anything written by AB Sheen is guaranteed a good read.

If you like listening to podcasts, you might search for Fr. John Riccardo. I find him to be quite inspiring and very helpful in understanding some of the more complex parts of scripture (Ep 5 is his specialty). There are a lot of resources on EWTN’s website, as well as this forum’s parent catholic.com.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Horton]

AMEN!! When someone does not get the “feels”, they become disillusioned at best and despair at worst.

Heaven forbid they do not get the feels or do not “always find help” in XYZ devotion that was pushed by the RCIA team.

Heck, we barely teach about prayer more than how to pray the Rosary.

Oh so much this. I’ve been involved with RCIA since I went through myself. Last fall I took a step back because I could not be part of a system that failed to teach truths. The couple that runs RCIA here, a deacon and his wife, would keep things very close to the vest. They have been doing RCIA here for over 20 years and so the priests didn’t get too involved, it was a deacon & wife right?

In my time with them I observed so many irregularities I was shocked. They intentionally did not check on marital status so they could claim they didn’t know. They allowed spouses who were in these irregular marital situations be sponsors. (All this without initiating a petition to a marriage tribunal.) They allowed folks to go through the confirmation process without documentation from their baptismal parish so there is no way to record the sacrament. And so many others.

Toward the Easter Vigil last year I went to the priest with my concerns and he actually was unaware of most of this. He had trusted the deacon and his wife to be taking care of all this since they had been doing this for so long and had all this experience. He was being transferred out that year (just a normal transfer) and he informed the new priest of what was happening. I also spoke to the new priests and they laid it out for the RCIA leaders as far as wanting to interview all those who joined.

I did end up being a sponsor again this year as someone I had met asked me to. I came into it pretty late in the game with this lady so I met with her 1x1 several times and pretty much had to teach her most everything I could in that short period of time.

One of my worst peeves with this particular RCIA team is its lack of reverence during Mass which they pass on to the groups. They treat it like a protestant prayer & worship service. It would not surprise me to see someone bring in a cup of coffee. Most of those have no idea of the proper postures or attitudes during Mass. Even the lady I sponsored. After communion she knelt for a bit then sat back and pulled her phone out of her purse and was going to use it. I kind of snapped at her to put it away and to kneel again as Jesus was still on the alter. She told me I would have to explain that to her! Anyway rant over. I am happy we had about 15-17 adults come into the Church at the Easter Vigil including two husbands of life long Catholic women after 40+ years of marriage. Those women had their prayers answered that night.