I was baptised and received confirmation as a Methodist. I am getting engaged soon to a Catholic woman and we would both like to have our children raised in the Catholic faith. I would also like to convert and be married in a Catholic church. Where do I start????

-- Kevin S. (stoney354@aol.com), December 23, 2002

Answers

Contact your wife's pastor, or the parish office, and ask about their RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). This is the standard course of instruction for adults entering the Catholic Church. The program leads directly to acceptance into the Church, and reception of any of the sacraments you may not have received - Baptism (not needed in your case), first Communion, Sacrament of Reconciliation, and Confirmation. Welcome aboard!

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), December 23, 2002.

First, God bless you! I do hope everything works out and you have a wonderful life together!

Second, go to a Catholic Church, find a friendly priest and tell him about your situation. He will let you know what to do next.

Merry Christmas to both of you! :-)

-- Christine L. :-) (christine.lehman@us.pwcglobal.com), December 23, 2002.

Paul, I think that your advice to Kevin is fine. However, as a baptized Christian, he should be aware that he is not required to go through the long RCIA process.
The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (as the name implies) is primarily for non-Christians preparing for Baptism. It is true that some already-baptized converts now say that they are very happy that they went through all or part of the RCIA process. After Kevin finds out what that entails, though, he is within his rights to ask for a simpler, shorter, alternative way to learn the Catholic doctrines that he will need to embrace before professing his faith in our Church.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 23, 2002.

Dear John,

In our diocese, RCIA is recommended for all adults entering the Catholic Church, regardless of their religious background or lack of same. Surely a sound introduction to Catholic beliefs is just as important for people who have been raised with contradictory beliefs as it is for those raised with no religious beliefs. RCIA is also the standard preparation for Catholic adults who never received the sacrament of Confirmation as adolescents, and wish to do so now. In fact, five of the eight people in our current RCIA class are in the latter category.

Peace! Paul

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), December 23, 2002.

Thanks, Paul.
I'm not surprised to see that, in your diocese, RCIA is "recommended" to all who wish to become Catholics (and even to some who are already Catholic). But can you confirm that it is not required of some of these people? I hope that all who are not catechumens (non-Christians) are not forced to enter RCIA, but have the option of private instruction, as in this parish.

The reason this is important to me (and possibly to Kevin S, who started this thread) is that I am almost certain that I have read that the RCIA documents themselves stated that a Christian "candidate" to become Catholic may opt for private instructions instead of RCIA. I seem to recall reading that one diocese had gotten into some trouble for requiring all converts to go through RCIA, which can be six to eight months in length. There are many cases of non-Catholic spouses who have attended Sunday Mass for years and have become thoroughly versed in Catholic doctrine by reading, etc. I believe that folks like these don't need to be in RCIA for six or more months, but can soon be confirmed as Catholics after showing that they are truly ready to join the Church. Can you confirm this to be a licit option?

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 23, 2002.

Dear John,

I am sure that such an alternate plan could be licitly offered to someone such as you described, who has essentially been living as a Catholic "for years". There would be little point in requiring a person to "learn" what they can demonstrate they already know. That would have to be an individual decision on the part of the pastor, or someone duly appointed and qualified to make such decisions on his behalf and with his approval. However, the mere fact of having been baptized in a Christian Church would certainly not be considered sound reason to bypass RCIA, and depending on just which church the person was baptized and raised in, might well be the strongest indication of their need for RCIA instruction. These are the people who ask the most questions and pose the greatest challenges in RCIA classes. People who simply have not been exposed to Christian teaching are often like dry sponges, eager to soak up what is offered. They don't challenge very much that they hear, because they don't have anything else to compare it with. But people who for many years have heard and accepted doctrines that conflict sharply with Catholic teaching, and who in many cases have actually been deliberately fed misinformation about the Catholic Church itself, naturally have many issues to be worked out, and an intensive program of instruction (ours lasts 10 months) gives them an opportunity to address such concerns and to gradually "convert" to Catholic belief. It doesn't happen overnight, and in some cases requires additional one-on-one meeting with such folks, in addition to the weekly classes.

Peace! Paul

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), December 23, 2002.

Great!!! good for you,Rcia is the best way to go as everyone has stated above.God bless you kevin.

-- Andrew.M.Tillcock (Drewmeister7@aol.com), December 24, 2002.

Hold your horses, Andrew! It is not true that "everyone has stated" that "RCIA is the best way to go." I remain skeptical or uncertain about it.

(1) I think that it is the wrong way to go for some people. I have mentioned the people who are almost Catholic already. I will add another category later in this message.

(2) With all due respect to Paul, who is a deacon, I think that he may be mistaken about something -- unless I am misunderstanding him. He says, "... the mere fact of having been baptized in a Christian Church would certainly not be considered sound reason to bypass RCIA ...". I would disagree with this, if Paul means that a Christian must use some kind of convincing reasons (other than a simple preference for private instructions) to persuade a pastor to let him enter the Church without going through RCIA. However, I will not be able to prove this until I can get hold of the official Church wording that (I think) I have seen in the past -- language that indicates that a non-Catholic Christian cannot be compelled to go through RCIA in order to become a Catholic.

(3) There are serious concerns about whether or not RCIA has been implemented properly in many places. To be sure, one hears stories of high praise for RCIA, but one also hears horror stories, probably from the many dioceses wherein dissent has been allowed to flourish. I wouldn't want a single candidate or catechumen to go through RCIA in those bad places. I would rather see every one of those people go through private instructions given by orthodox priests in rectories.

Up in point #1, I mentioned that I would speak of a second group of Christian "candidates" for conversion for whom I would consider RCIA the wrong way to go -- i.e., people who should be instructed privately. Ironically the group I have in mind is one that Paul thinks should go through RCIA. He wrote: "... depending on just which church the person was baptized and raised in, might well be the strongest indication of their need for RCIA instruction. These are the people who ask the most questions and pose the greatest challenges in RCIA classes." My belief is that these non-Catholic Christians are the worst ones to be in RCIA, because they disrupt the otherwise smooth education of the non-Christians who (Paul himself said) are like "dry sponges," ready to soak up Catholicism. The last thing these catechumens need is to have doubts galore planted in their minds by Christians who are disruptive with incessant "questions" and "challenges." My opinion is that those questions and challenges should be handled in private instruction.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 24, 2002.