Perhaps you are married to a Catholic and are bringing your children up in this faith tradition. Or you attended a wedding or funeral of a friend or loved one and would like to explore this faith tradition more deeply. Maybe it is an interest in Catholic social teaching or an experience of the sacraments. Or perhaps you have a friend or family member who is Catholic and their present life is an inspiration. 

The Catholic Church has a special process to help you learn more. It’s called RCIA – the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It’s a program that honors the faith journey of an individual. Entering the RCIA is not a commitment to joining the Roman Catholic Church. The RCIA is, rather, the process through which persons may join or complete their initiation into the Catholic faith. 

Is RCIA for me?

The program is for three groups of people:

1. People interested in finding out more about being a Catholic Christian.
2. Those who have decided they wish to be baptized in the Catholic Church.
3. Those who were baptized in another faith, and would like to become Catholic. 

How does RCIA work? It consists of four periods of formation which are marked by rituals that celebrate what has been completed and call a person into the next phase. 

1. The Inquiry or Precatechumenate
2. The Catechumenate
3. The Lenten period of Purification and Enlightenment
4. Mystagogy or a time of deeper understanding of the mysteries. 

RCIA at Holy Cross seeks to fulfill what the Church has instructed in the Second Vatican Council’s document Ad Gentes:

14. Those who have received from God the gift of faith in Christ, through the Church, should be admitted with liturgical rites to the catechumenate which is not a mere exposition of dogmatic truths and norms of morality, but a period of formation in the whole Christian life, an apprenticeship of sufficient duration, during which disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher.

The catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites. 

(Source: James Lachance and David Lynch, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Burlington, NC)

To find out more, please contact Deacon Phil Rzewnicki, OFS, deacon@holycrossdurham.org or call (919) 961-0206.