RCIA

This site is dedicated to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). “The RCIA is a communal process and involves a number of stages punctuated by liturgical rites to aid and assist the potential convert toward the final rite, usually at the Easter Vigil at which time they will become full members of the Roman Catholic Church. The entire process takes several months, but participants are generally invited to proceed at a pace which suits them individually. The Church prefers to call this a process and not a program.” (From Wikipedia)

Listed on this site are a series of documents I have prepared for various topics that are covered during the course of an RCIA process. I have obtained much of the information and material from Roman Catholic sites on the Internet.

Although there are a wealth of Roman Catholic RCIA resources on the Internet, there is a lack of free available prepared lectures / talks / presentations. The purpose of this site is to try and fill that gap.

I have broken this site down according the Periods that form this process:
Period 1 – Period of Evangelization and Precatechumenate
Period 2 – Period of the Catechumenate
Period 3 – Period of Purification and Enlightenment
Period 4 – Period of Post-Baptismal Catechesis or Mystagogy

In my descriptions and outlines of the RCIA process I have used the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) approved for use in the Dioceses of the USA. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Study Edition, Chicago, 1988. ISBN 0-9304-94-9).  The reason I have done this is because this document contains ‘Rites’ in each Period that pertain to non-Cathchumens (namely those who have already been Baptised, but are not in full Communion with the Catholic Church).

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) approved for use in the Dioceses of England & Wales includes very few of these ‘Rites’.  Due to this shortfall many Parishes and Diocese in England and Wales utilise the ‘Rites’ for non-Catechumens contained in the USA approved document.

I hope you find the site useful. Please feel free to send me any comments / suggestions / corrections / errors via the Contact Me page.

God Bless,

Chris Sloan

Maidstone, England