It’s Purpose, Rites, and Rituals

Most Catholics are baptized into the church when they are infants. However, people who are older than the age of 7 when they are received into the Church participate in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which is commonly known by its initials as the RCIA. The RCIA is a process that prepares them to be fully initiated into the life of the Catholic faith community.

When an unbaptized person participates in the RCIA they re called catechumens, a name used from the earliest days of the Church that means “those being prepared.” Those adults and older children who have already been baptized into another Christian church but who now seek to be Catholics are called candidates for full communion. Most catechumens and candidates become full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil when they receive the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Those already validly baptized into another Christian church are not baptized again, and so are welcomed into the Catholic Church and then they receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist.

The RCIA process may last for only a few months or could last for years, depending on the needs and the readiness of the catechumens and candidates. When a child is baptized, the Church expects that the child will be gradually initiated over the years into the life of faith by his or her parents and godparents, and the parish community. When an adult or older child enters the Church, they immediately need to be initiated more completely before they receive the sacraments. The RCIA is designed to allow people to move forward when they are ready for the next step of their formation.

When people first consider becoming Catholic, they enter into a period of evangelization and catechesis known as the precatechumenate. This is a time for inquiry and introduction into the life of the Catholic Church, its teachings, and into the richness of Sacred Scripture. The period has no fixed duration or structure and has no formal ritual or celebrations, although prayer is an element of learning about and experiencing the Catholic way of life.

When they make the decision to join the Church, they are accepted into the Order of Catechumens in a liturgical rite that marks the beginning of the formal period of initiation into the Church. During the catechumenate, the catechumen’s faith is nurtured through celebrations of prayers and blessings, and through a course of study and formation. If a person dies while a catechumen, he or she receives a full Christian burial and is considered to have been a member of Christ’s body, the Church.

When people are ready to enter the Church, they begin a period of purification and enlightenment that normally takes place during Lent. On the First Sunday of Lent, those seeking to become Catholics usually participate in the Rite of election with their bishop. During this period, the people, now called the elect, are prayed for publicly during Mass each Sunday as they go through an intense period of conversion where they spend much time in fasting and prayer, and living out the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.

Following the Easter Vigil when the candidates or the elect receive the Sacraments of Initiation, these new Catholics – now called neophytes – enter into their final period of formation, called the mystagogy, a period of post-baptismal catechesis that lasts for the six weeks of the Easter season. During this time they reflect on their experience of receiving the sacraments and gather together each Sunday with all the faithful at Mass. They are now fully initiated members of the Church with all the rights and responsibilities that go along with it. Like all the faithful, neophytes are called to continue to grow in faith once their formal formation process is completed.