Scenario for discussion:
Family of 5.
The father is Catholic, the 3 children ranging from under 12 month to 6 years old have been baptized. The mother is a Protestant. She would like to become Catholic, but the RCIA program in the parish calls for 2 meetings per week for 2 hours each. Catechism for the oldest happens at a different time than the RCIA classes. The father works a full time job with some travel. No nanny or other support is around. So between father, mother and 3 small kids, it’s very difficult to commit to the 12 month schedule of the RCIA program.
Question:
Should the structure/schedule of the RCIA program be flexible to accomodate the needs of a family such as this? Is it fair for a non-Catholic mom to have to attend several hours a week of RCIA classes and discussion sessions when the needs of the family are great? Should the RCIA program schedule and requirements be adjusted in order to get converts access to the sacraments sooner?
Discuss in the comments boxes, please.
19 comments
Comments are closed.
I thought RCIA was for non-Christians not for Protestants.
Some accomodation should be made for this woman.
RCIA is for non-Catholics.
I can’t see why older children couldn’t go at the same time as the parents. My daughter went with me when I went through RCIA. It would be a good thing for young adults to see other adults converting to the faith.
There is a limit to the flexibility that any RCIA class could have. It seems to me that some allowances should be made for those who are unable to attend at the subscribed time. Before we had RCIA private instruction was given by the Parish Priest but I can’t see why this couldn’t be done by any truly qualified person.
I believe that RCIA in itself is not a necessity and the the parish priest can determine the level of catechises of the person to see if attendance is really necessary.
I contacted my parish during the middle of the RCIA classes for that year. I was told that I had to wait for the following year. This seemed to me to be the longest year of my life. My wife and I were going to daily Mass by then and her being a cradle Catholic could receive the Eucharist. I had to wait in my desire to receive Holy Communion until the Easter of the following year. So I am pretty sympathetic to the position of not overly delaying the sacraments.
According to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:
“The RCIA, which stands for Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, is a process through which non-baptized men and women enter the Catholic Church. It includes several stages marked by study, prayer and rites at Mass. Participants in the RCIA are known as catechumens. They undergo a process of conversion as they study the Gospel, profess faith in Jesus and the Catholic Church, and receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Holy Eucharist.”
“Coming into full communion with the Catholic Church describes the process for entrance into the Catholic Church for men and women who are baptized Christians but not Roman Catholics. These individuals make a profession of faith but they are not baptized again. To prepare for this reception, the people, who are called “candidates,” usually participate in a formation program to help them understand and experience the specific teachings and practices of the Catholic Church. Some of their formation and preparation may be with catechumens preparing for baptism, but the preparation for candidates is very different since they have already been baptized and committed to Jesus Christ, and many of them have also been active members of other Christian communities.”
RCIA and reception are two different things.
I agree with Keith R that RCIA and reception are two different things. I think the pastor or someone he designates should talk to the woman and make a judgment call on what level of catechesis she should have prior to full communion with the Church. There may be no need for her to go through the full RCIA process.
RCIA should never be an unnecessary obstacle that keeps someone from the sacraments. If full RCIA instruction is necessary for proper catechesis and understanding, that’s fine, but in many cases (especially for converts, who’ve often done a lot of research and reading, already) it isn’t necessary, and is just a year-long delay so that the proper box can be checked off on some form.
Not necessarily. The one thing we do not need is more sketchily catechized Catholics who do not know the truths of the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, our RCIA program always offers child care during meeting times. As for the four hours per week, our faith is deep and individual, and one can only benefit from giving the Holy Spirit as much time as possible in which to work. Our program is so jam-packed just getting the basics in that there is little time to just allow the Holy Spirit time to work in a peaceful and reflective atmosphere.
It does seem pharisaical to me, though, to offer the treasure of the Catholic Faith while placing obstacles in the path of those who seek it, and not offering the means to help. Have you spoken with the RCIA leader about this? Perhaps there are some women who would be happy to watch the children while the wife attends RCIA. I know in our Church there are-I’d be one of them.
In Christ’s peace and love, with prayers,
Robin L.
By the way, two meetings for RCIA instruction per week for twelve months is a lot. The RCIA programs I’ve heard of, and the one I participated in, had one meeting a week, from October to Easter, about six months.
If the parish is using the extra time to teach well and provide good spiritual formation, they deserve credit.
The RCIA class Hubby and I came in under was full of so-called cradle Catholic HERETICS, who didn’t make “good” Protestants and sure as spitfire shouldn’t have been trying to teach the Catholic faith.
I wonder if programs like this aren’t sometimes used as a gee-gaw, let’s find yet another venue to bash PreVatican II teaching.
No we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I’d sure like to see some some checks and balances here.
I am studying to be a priest (in my fourth year of formation) and I was a convert from evangelical protestantism. I had a terrible RCIA experience (see previous comment). One think that I have learned in my canon law class: dispensations are always available for these types of things. It would not be right for the parish to deny someone such a grace as to enter the Church, nor to deprive the children of their mother’s supervision. Alternatives should be offered (many good ones were suggested here).
I think that each diocese should set up a special program for converts, since their needs are different. Most RCIA people are getting married to a Catholic. Confirmation classes are set up for younger, cradle Catholics. There are few alternatives for intelligent, well-read, faith-fulled Christians who wish to be in full communion. In fact, I have heard of people who fit this description discouraged from entering.
Here at our parish, if you really can’t make it, we have two alternatives: one of us will meet you for private instruction, or if you can make it sometimes but not others, we videotape the classes so you can catch up at home (we don’t allow you to do the whole thing that way, however).
I’m all for getting people into the program right away, but bear in mind that in the early Church you could be a catechumen for years before you were allowed to receive the sacraments – unless death was imminent. Sometimes I think the modern Church is in such a hurry to get people in that we don’t make sure they actually know the faith. Some people will take it upon themselves to learn the faith. Some won’t. Rather than going back to the 10-year-wait of the Church Fathers, perhaps we should start making people take some form of mild test of knowledge – another early Church notion that I think would be more palatable. If it were produced by the CDF, then potentially we could avoid a lot of the goofiness of RCIA teachers who teach nonsense, since they would have to prepare people for the test at least, and hopefully they would know at least some solid basics by the time they entered the One Holy Catholic Church.
I once had a young couple, she-Catholic, he-unbaptized. They were both in the restaurant business and were unable to come to any of the adult faith formation sessions. They got home from work very late on Saturday night, really sunday morning, and their only free day was Sunday. The Restuarant was closed on Sunday.
I had a session for them on Sunday afternoon every week. I even scheduled RCIA rites at later masses on Sunday so they could participate. The process took a little longer for them, but their family participated in the catechesis. Soon his unbaptized sister participated and she was eventually baptized too.
Yes, you always take into account the real live experience of the catechumen.
I’d like to see the mild form of test of the solid basics of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostalic Faith that Father JP mentions given to cradle Catholics. I know many who’d be hard pressed to pass it and it makes me sick and sad. And we wonder why people hate (what they THINK is) the Catholic Church.
Is man made for the sabbath, or the sabbath for man? It seems to me that what is important is the knowledge of the faith sufficient to make the committment to practice it, before entering the church. There are many ways to meet this need, I would think.
I entered the church pre-RCIA (1973). I was 16 when I started studying Catholicism seriously and attending Mass weekly. I joined what was called an “Enquiry Class” (which I think would be a good idea for any parish – a class that doesn’t assume anything but is there for enquirers into the faith to learn whatever they want and need to know). I was the youngest unattached person there (one couple had their child along but the child was also in CCD classes). We had a textbook and lots of questionaires and a wonderful parish priest who gave us 1 hour a week for as long as we wanted to attend. Those electing to be received were individually questioned and scheduled for reception at the following Easter Vigil, unless there were pastoral reasons for an earlier reception.
Alas, I was not able to be part of the Easter vigil ceremonies after I had made my decision. My parents refused consent, and as I was a minor not in danger of death, I was made to wait until my 18th birthday. After waiting 2 years, I didn’t want to wait until Easter – maybe I should have? A few more months? But my college chaplain got my records from my high school parish, and interviewed me a few times, and applied for the dispensation to receive me outside of a parish church, and away we went!
It seems to me that the times and the fact that it meets twice a week is extremely hard for almost anyone to meet. When I converted, we met one Sunday a month and then once or twice a month in the evening. During Lent, of course, the program went into high speed, and we met every week, and sometimes twice a week.
One possiblity, could the wife attend the RCIA meetings over at the next parish, and be confirmed there. I know that some people in my group came because we had the shorter program.
I do like the idea of having the converts get a little different program at least some of the time because they may have more knowledge and different type of questions than the catechumens do.
As a member of my parish’s RCIA team, we have all sorts of help available for this woman or others in difficult circumstances. Our sessions have childcare avilable and a catechesis/RCIC program for school age children at the same time. In addition, we tape all of our sessions for those who cannot attend. Those participating by tape also have to write a response to the taped lesson and attend our family potlucks and retreats. If none of this worked for an individual, we would help her find an RCIA program at a neighboring parish that would better meet her needs. We start inquiry 3 times a year, confirmations are done twice a year for candidates and baptisms only at Easter although dispensations can be obtained when necessary for any of this.
RCIA, if it contains the same quality of content comparable to the CCD materials I experienced in the 70s-80s; can only be a waste of time and a poor transmitter of our faith.
If the Catholic Catechism is the primary text, then RCIA will be a very rich experience.
A few people have mentioned cradle Catholics and lack of knowledge, and I have to agree.
But one of the reasons ‘cradles’ tend to be unknowledged and stay that way is the lack of learning programs for them.
I am a revert, and came back to the Church in my twenties, in a program at my parish called Re-membering Church. All the people in the program were cradle Catholics who were either coming back to the faith, or just wanted to learn more about the Church. We discussed everything — the Mass and other sacraments, Mary, suffering, redemption, vocation, sex, contraception, Jesus’ passion and resurrection, Easter traditions, etc.
Through this program, I ditched the Pill, conscrated myself to chastity until my wedding day, and was confirmed.
The sessions were run by a team and a Grey Nun, and they were great. Maybe more parishes should think about this sort of program.
I’ve been teaching RCIA for 8+ years. Generally for someone in this position someone on the team would meet with her to bring her up to speed — depending on her level of catechesis that might not require a lot, but RCIA is not just catechesis, it is also formation. Still, generally one needs to meet folks where they are and with what they can do.
I hate to pile on RCIA, but my class (from 10 years ago) was pretty terrible. The baptised Christians in the class (such as myself) weren’t even instructed to seek the sacrament of reconciliation before first communion. We were told (by the priest) that reconciliation was more or less a counseling session that we could use as we like. That neatly fit into the theology we were taught (namely, universal salvation).
I should note that the parish was notoriously unorthodox even for its notoriously unorthodox diocese. I’m sure it’s better elsewhere.
I was wondering if, at a minimum, the parish could offer free babysitting by another adult or CYO teens during the RCIA sessions. If she has a sponsor (other than her husband) or a close friend, someone she’s met at RCIA so far, perhaps that person can help her find what she needs. If she cannot do these things, she should talk to the RCIA instructor and then the parish priest about her situation and seek a solution. Just my 2 cents.