|
||||
|
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults Welcome to a most exciting and momentous journey. Your willingness to follow God’s call and enter into full communion with the People of God in the Catholic faith important and significant. The faith of Catholics is deepened and enhanced by your presence and openness to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process. Thus, we commit ourselves to be present with you throughout this journey and to be open to receive the transformative presence of God’s Spirit with and through you.
As we all seek to conform to Christ, we walk together on this mutual journey of conversion. Our focus is to allow the Spirit to transform us that we might become a new creation in Christ. We, the members of the Catholic family, offer our prayers and our stories of faith as we accompany you on this journey.
RCIA at the Church of the Holy Eucharist is a year long process. There are team members prepared to begin the process when the inquirer is ready.
RCIA is bringing the "Good News" alive in the modern world ...
The letters "RCIA" stand for the "Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults", the document flowing from Vatican II which guides the process by which adults are initiated into our Roman Catholic community. The RCIA describes a process in which men and women are guided and cared for as they awaken in faith and are gradually introduced to the Catholic way of life.
The RCIA process is a series of carefully planned stages, marked by liturgical rites in the presence of the whole community, in which new Catholics embark on and join us in a continuing and deepening conversion into faith and discipleship. The RCIA takes the distinctive history and spiritual needs of each person into account, differentiating between the baptized and the unbaptized, the catechized and the uncatechized. The needs of mature, practicing Christians from other faith traditions are considered on an individual basis. (read history)
The RCIA draws its model from the "catechumenate" of the ancient Church. Becoming Christian in the early days of the Church involved a sharp break with the surrounding culture. New Christians entered into the joy of new life and a life-sharing community of faith, but also entered into a way of living which demanded deep commitment and entailed great risks. In the modern world, our faith also demands deep commitment -- our beliefs and the beliefs of our society are often in tension. The Church revived the catechumenate -- embodied in the RCIA -- because new believers in the modern world need careful preparation and caring support as they enter into the mysteries of Christ and the commitment of Christian living.
Conversion: a Journey of Mind, Heart and Spirit
To seek the RCIA process is the first step on a lifelong journey of intellectual, emotional and spiritual conversion. In her book, Turning: Reflections on the Experience of Conversion, Emilie Griffin reflected that "conversion" is the process of "turning over one's life and energies to God." While we know that the concept of "turning" is apt -- the root image of conversion is the proverbial "one hundred eighty degree change" -- we also know from our own lives and experience that conversion is an ongoing, lifelong process of personal spiritual growth as well as a social process in which we strengthen and draw strength from others. The RCIA recognizes both the ongoing quality and the communal nature of conversion, providing an intellectual and spiritual framework and a faith community in which an individual's conversion experience can be understood and supported. Caring for people in the midst of this life-changing experience is the goal of the RCIA ministry.
Preparation: Awakening, Growth and Formation
The full RCIA process consists of four periods of awakening, growth and formation marked by celebration of three major rites involving the whole Holy Eucharist community. (see more)
Copyright © 2006 The Church of The Holy Eucharist Tabernacle, NJ 08088 | Phone:(609) 268-8383 | Fax: (609) 268-3294
Please
read our Copyright, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy
|
|||
