A person who is considering the possibility of becoming a Catholic, or who simply wishes to learn more about the Catholic Church, will find no better way to do this than to become a part of Gate of Heaven’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults or RCIA program.
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is a process designed to form and inform inquirers who fall into three categories:
1. The unbaptized person
2. The person baptized into a faith tradition other than Catholic
3. The baptized Catholic who was neither confirmed nor reared as a Catholic
A few months after beginning the RCIA process, each inquirer is assigned a sponsor. This sponsor is not to be confused with a baptismal or confirmation sponsor. The RCIA sponsor is a practicing Catholic, usually a member of this parish, who goes through the sessions and rites (ceremonies) of the process with the inquirer, serving as a friend and mentor.
There are various periods and phases and rites in the RCIA process, which will be explained before the inquirer experiences them. To do so now would only be confusing. The only things that are important for the reader to understand now is that there is no charge and absolutely no pressure put upon an inquirer.
Conversion is a serious matter of conscience; it is a matter of rejecting who and what we were to take on a new spiritual identity. It is not rejecting a bad life and opting for a new and good one. To convert is to grow in one’s understanding of his relationship with God and to act upon that new understanding when his conscience compels him to do so.
In one sense, everyone should be continually converting, or growing closer to God.
For more information, please contact John Jorda at 570-675-2121.
