This message was presented by Chris Rafferty of our parish
family on Sunday, May 31. Chris was received into the Catholic
Church at the Easter Vigil this past April.
I would like to briefly share what my RCIA experience has
been like. To do this I thought I
would simply answer the questions that have been asked of me most
frequently. These
questions are:
My husband, Steve, and I have been married for 12 years and I
have attended mass with him
regularly since we began dating. I always said that I would
eventually convert to
Catholicism, but I never had any particular urgency. This past
year, I had the opportunity to
be at home rather than work which afforded me some extra time,
but aside from that the one
thing that has occurred to me is that at every mass I would go
through all the motions
imitating those around me and then during the communion rite I
would pray along with
everyone these words: "Lord I am not worthy to receive you,
but only say the word and I
shall be healed."
In the last couple years I have found myself contemplating those
words as I was speaking
them rather than just reading the script from the missalette. I
realized that I wanted to be
able to fulfill what I was saying and participate fully in the
mass. To do that I needed to be
educated about the Catholic religion. That is how I came to be
part of the RCIA process this
year.
During each class we would normally have an opening prayer,
sing a hymn, have general
intercessions and read from the gospel. We then had a faith
sharing session on the gospel
*meaning* (we would break into smaller groups and discuss the
gospel based on prepared
questions we were given). After this we would have material
presented to us by either Fr.
Paul, Fr. Tony or a Team member. The material was presented in a
relaxed atmosphere and
there was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and get answers
throughout the presentation.
To answer this I would have to agree with one of my
classmates when she said that for her it
was an honor to be part of the process. I learned a great deal
about the Catholic religion
over the last 9 months and maybe more importantly a great deal
about myself. RCIA has
caused me to look more critically at myself. In fact, it has been
an examination of conscious
that I hope has helped me grow and make some changes that will
strengthen my relationship
with God and others.
Thank you
I think I can safely speak for the others by thanking both
Fr. Paul and Fr. Tony, Mary Ellen
and all the team members for this RCIA experience. It truly was
one of the best things I
have done with my time. Thank You!