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What Does Catholicism Have To Offer?
Starting October 6, we will begin weekly Monday sessions from 6-8:00pm in the St. Nicholas Room for those inquiring further about becoming a member of the Catholic Church. Thank you to all those who attended out “Meet and Greet Gathering” last week. For information call Bernie Beyer at 526-2017 ext 31.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults From the decree of the Congregation of Divine Worship on Jan. 6, 1972, it sates: "The Second Vatican Council prescribed the revision of the rite of baptism of adults and decreed that the catechumenate for adults, divided into several steps, should be restored. By this means of the catechumenate, which is intended as a period of well-suited instruction, would be sanctified by liturgical rites to be celebrated at successive intervals of time." The catechumenate which means "to proclaim", "to teach" became a more concise process of accepting new adult believers into membership after the Roman persecution of the 300's. The Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults is the restoration of the catechumenate process. This is the norm in which adults become full, active, participating members of the Catholic Church. The 4 stages are as follows: R Liturgical rites are celebrated in the midst of the community at different stages of the inquirers faith journey to mark their progress of conversion. It is the entire Christian community that initiates our new members. Not the old "convert" classes of instruction. The first period is called the precatechumenate or period of Inquiry. Those candidates seeking membership are called Inquirers. This is a time for the inquirers to ask questions, to join with us in Sunday worship, to begin to learn what it means to be catholic. The evangelization process. We have them walk with a parish sponsor to help them see who we are and what we are about. After a period of discernment, we meet with them and their sponsor and question their intentions and seek to find their desire to become one with us in Christ. We would celebrate the first liturgical rite, the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. For already baptized candidates we would celebrate the Rite of Welcome. C Christian initiation and in our case, catholic initiation takes place during the second step called the catechumenate. Those inquirers who celebrated the Rite of Acceptance, are now named catechumens. This period uses the Sunday readings as our foundation of instruction on the Gospel, the teachings of the Catholic Church, and the rite of dismissal during our Sunday liturgies. There are also rite of blessing, exorcism, and prayers that are celebrated during this period. This period can take several years, depending upon the needs of the catechumen. After a period of discernment and reflection with the catechumen and their sponsor, their readiness for the sacraments of initiation is determined. On the First Sunday of Lent the community celebrates the Rite of Sending to the Bishop for the Rite of Election. I Initiation to our way of life as Catholic Christians continues in this period of Purification and Enlightenment. This takes place during the Lenten season preceding the celebration of the initiation sacraments at the Easter Vigil. Lent becomes a time of reflection, centered on the conversion process, and the Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. Liturgically, we celebrate on the Second Sunday of Lent, a Penitential Rite for our candidates and for full communion and confirmation. On the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent we celebrate the First, Second, and Third Scrutinies with our Elect. These are opportunities for our elect to scrutinize their lives, to look deeply within, seeing those things that keep them from Christ. The spirit of repentance, a sense of sin, and the true freedom of the children of God is what we pray for, for our elect during the scrutinies. We always use the cycle A readings because of their powerful imagery and message. During this period we also present our Elect and candidates with the Nicene Creed and the Lord's Prayer, "the ancient texts that have always been regarded as expressing the heart of the Church's faith and prayer." On Holy Saturday we meet with our elect and candidates and celebrate the Preparation Rites which includes the invitation of the elect to refrain from their usual activities, to spend time in prayer, and observe a fast, as far as they can. A This is the normal process of initiating unbaptized adults into the Catholic Church. The rites do include combined and separate rites for the already baptized adults and children who wish to complete their sacraments of initiation or enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. This catechumenal process faded away during the middle ages when infant baptism became more prevalent. The RCIA has also restored to the order of the initiation sacraments back to baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist for our children. The RCIA is to model the process of conversion, rather than a traditional religious education program. The Sacraments of Initiation are celebrated at the Easter Vigil, the celebration of Christ's resurrection because of its correlation for those being baptized. Dying to Christ, and sin, and rising with Christ to new life. The RCIA process continues with the period of Mystagogia which helps our newly baptized, "neophytes", to reflect and understand more fully the mysteries they just celebrated. So, we continue gathering to reflect and contemplate on the experience moving each neophyte into full participation in their catholic faith.
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