Year-round RCIA

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Our parish has year round RCIA and I think it is an excellent idea! Anyone interested in becoming Catholic (or learning about the church and discerning) can begin class at any time!! I am one of the Inquirer’s Class leaders, and we usually have a good crowd of Inquirer’s. After 7 weeks with us (we teach the same 7 classes over and over with ALOT of time for questions and discussion) the Inquirer moves into the other room for more in-depth catechesis. It works out very well. I too attended a year round RCIA in another parish in a different state- so it may be more common than one thinks. I felt very called to Catholicism during the first week of Lent. Having no clue, I contacted the RCIA director of the parish and was referred to the parish with the year round program. I was able to begin learning about Catholicism the following week- and joined the church 20 years ago- so year round isn’t a new idea. To begin the process while the call to Catholicism is still strong is a wonderful gift!
 
There’s nothing “outside the box” about a year-round catechumenate. There’s no reason that someone should inquire about RCIA in January and be told to come back in September when “classes” start. That’s not the Church’s vision, it’s the adaptation that some/many parishes have implemented.
 
Casilda, I wasn’t aware that Maronites used the RCIA process. Is that just in your area or is it universal? I would have assumed that each Church had its own process for adult initiation.
 
Thankfully, the Maronites have not implemented rcia. I should have emphasized that the local Roman Catholic diocese, and those parishes that lie within a 50 mile radius where I reside, all have Sept to Easter rcia.
 
Casilda said:
Thankfully, the Maronites have not implemented rcia. I should have emphasized that the local Roman Catholic diocese, and those parishes that lie within a 50 mile radius where I reside, all have Sept to Easter rcia.
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Thankfully??? OK, time to drop out of this conversation.
 
I would love to see some of this implemented. I decided to return to the Catholic Church after studying the Catholic Church 😛

After spending so much of my time studying doctrine, the CCC, and participating in debate, I feel that I do understand what I am getting into.

However, due to my own laziness and fear, I struggle with deciding to leave home to look for a RCIA group. And, when I do decide to go for it, it is usually around this time of the year, where I have already lost something like 3 months of the group… (then fear and laziness kick back in, convincing me to forget it until next year, where I will be as lost and lazy and scared to look into it. :confused:)

Now, imagine if I get the strength to enroll into RCIA right now, and actually am accepted into it right away? :rolleyes:

But then again, that is just my laziness convincing me that it is not my fault. :mad: Silly lazy me… 😊

PS: here in Brazil, it always start right after Easter (when the last group ‘graduates’). If it were to start September I would maybe have better luck…
 
I’d like to see this happen. My timing was good in that I inquired right after RCIA started up. I do wonder what happens to people who inquire after Easter, during the summer, when it’s months before the next RCIA class.
 
AKDee said:
I’d like to see this happen. My timing was good in that I inquired right after RCIA started up. I do wonder what happens to people who inquire after Easter, during the summer, when it’s months before the next RCIA class.
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The church that me and my RC husband are attending has August to Easter RCIA. I inquired back in the Spring and was told that that classes didn’t start until late July/early August.
 
ACM is an excellent program.
They actually advocate a 2 year process, which is ideal.
We had their team come and give a seminar to our RCIA catechist from this and surrounding parishes.
Good materials.
 
AKDee said:
I’d like to see this happen. My timing was good in that I inquired right after RCIA started up. I do wonder what happens to people who inquire after Easter, during the summer, when it’s months before the next RCIA class.
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I got in touch with my parish’s RCIA director in July 2013. We did Inquiry for two months with her, then met the rest of the group in September. She had been doing individual meetings most of the summer, so everyone had frequent contact with the parish.
 
marbleartist said:
Our parish has year round RCIA and I think it is an excellent idea! Anyone interested in becoming Catholic (or learning about the church and discerning) can begin class at any time!! I am one of the Inquirer’s Class leaders, and we usually have a good crowd of Inquirer’s. After 7 weeks with us (we teach the same 7 classes over and over with ALOT of time for questions and discussion) the Inquirer moves into the other room for more in-depth catechesis.
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Just curious how they handle when someone moves to the other room. Ideally the catechisis is geared to the inquirer, but I know that’s not always feasible. Especially for converts, year round makes more sense to me.

I know when I went through a year round program 8 years we would basically meet with the DRE and do an interview covering 18-20 different topics. They would then look at those in class and teach to the areas that the most people had issues understanding. If there was only one or two people that didn’t understand X then the DRE would meet with them seperately. The candidate then said when the felt ready and would again go through an interview. If the pastor and DRE were satisfied they would schedule to receive them (us) as soon as possible. When I started there were some that had been attending 2+ years. Some of us that were ready earlier were only there 3 or 4 months. The time was directly related to how long it took for the individual for conversion.

I should mention that while candidates and catechumen took some classes together, they tended to have more classes. In many cases those that had been baptised, but not catechized would occasionally join them for basic instructions on the fundamentals of Christianity. The major difference was that catechumen had a defined end date at Easter, but candidates were “eligible” when they were ready; not based on an arbitrary date on the calendar.
 
I think year round RCIA would be good. I believe our church had a summer program this year, but it might have just been for candidates.
 
Our FSSP parish brings in candidates on a rolling basis for individual instruction with Father. 🙂
 
There is a concentration of readings (OT & Gospel) which focus on the Eucharist during the summer, and it is sad that too may RCAI programs start in the Fall, aster all those readings.

On the other hand, having so time off and the ability to re-group has some value also.
 
I like the idea of a year-round RCIA program. My parish is thinking of implementing one. Sadly, RCIA is not implemented correctly in many parishes, where RCIA is treated as simply a set of classes that need to be completed by the Easter Vigil.
 
Casilda said:
I think all parishes need to think outside the box.

acmrcia.org/blog/how-handle-rcia-inquiries-any-time-year
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Casilda,

Although you characterize this as ‘year-round RCIA’, the link doesn’t really propose this solution; rather, in its own words, it’s really just providing something to plug the gaps up until “after which time a person could be plugged into the standard RCIA sessions”.

“Standard RCIA sessions” aren’t what the Church proposes, per se. At the very least, a solution that treats all inquirers identically, regardless of their baptismal status (i.e., unbaptized person; baptized Christian outside of the Catholic tradition; baptized in the Catholic Church (but uncatechized); or baptized in the Catholic Church (and catechized, but only having never received Confirmation)), is – it seems to me – the primary problem facing ‘RCIA program leaders’ these days.

On one hand, we don’t want to tell those who are unbaptized “wait until September”… but in a certain way, we really do want them to remain in something resembling a ‘holding pattern’ until they can enter into the RCIA program when it begins. For these persons, some sort of pre-inquiry engagement (as your link suggests) would be beneficial… although it wouldn’t substitute for the RCIA process.

On the other hand, for the other types of persons (non-Catholic Christians, as well as those baptized in the Catholic Church), a different process is in order. RCIA leaders are in a bind with these folks, however: parish resources and programs may not be available to deal with them appropriately, and as a result, they’re treated exactly in the way that the Church tells us that they should not be treated: as if they were inquirers for the catechumenate.

It’s a difficult problem.

How to solve it? Perhaps, in this particular time in which parishes are being asked to consolidate programs and think regionally rather than parochially, we might be uniquely positioned to offer programs that operate seasonally rather than geographically. That is, rather than hearing the answer “wait until September”, an inquirer might be able to be informed, “well, RCIA begins in September… however, at St Agatha, we have a team that meets every Monday night from November through February; and, at St Benedict, we have a team that meets from March through May; and at St Cecilia, we have a team that meets from June through August. Perhaps you might like to join one or more of these groups, until you’re able to join our four-parish RCIA program at St Dennis in September? Of course, if you’re already baptized, would you like to schedule a meeting with our parochial vicar, and you two could talk about how you might be integrated into parish life and reception of the sacraments?”
 
The title of the article is, “How to Handle RCIA Inquiries at Any Time of the Year.” I offered it in hopes of inspiring those who teach rcia to think outside the boxes they are so narrowly closed up inside of.

I tell people to avoid rcia and go straight to the priest, especially if they are Catholic and returning to the church or a baptized Christian. I have witnessed to much harm done with this one size (does not fit all) rcia. I was never able to reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church because of how rcia is implemented and staffed.
 
Casilda said:
The title of the article is, “How to Handle RCIA Inquiries at Any Time of the Year.” I offered it in hopes of inspiring those who teach rcia to think outside the boxes they are so narrowly closed up inside of.

I tell people to avoid rcia and go straight to the priest, especially if they are Catholic and returning to the church or a baptized Christian. I have witnessed to much harm done with this one size (does not fit all) rcia. I was never able to reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church because of how rcia is implemented and staffed.
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And having been involved with RCIA for about 20 years now, I have never been able to reconcile some people’s attitude that a baptized Christian needs less than someone who has never been baptized.

People who have been baptized in other faith expressions may know a little about the Church, or know a tremendous amount of untruth about the Church, and may actually know little about the faith expression they were brought up in.

I don’t know what your experience of RCIA was - it sounds as if it was not good; nor do I know if you have experienced it elsewhere, and for what length.

Occasionally, I have met people who really do not need a lot of catechesis before joining the Church, but they have been the rare exception. The rest have been very positive about their experiences.

I agree that one size does not necessarily fit all; but then, again, on Sunday we all get the same homily, and one size… is what we all get. Most of us out here in the trenches are doing the very best we can. I am not against thinking outside the box; on the other hand, there are limited resources (i.e. people who can implement the program).
 
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