1. RCIA – what is it, why is it important, what is the structure of the process, who’s involved, what is the time of initiation What is RCIA? June 28, 2009
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23. Further Study June 28, 2009 Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: Study Edition Liturgical Press, 1988 ISBN:978-0-8146-1593-5 Paper, 378 pp., 7 1/4 x 10 1/2 Price: $29.95 http://www.litpress.org/Detail.aspx?ISBN=0814615937
Editor's Notes
Source: Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults , Study Edition, The Liturgical Press: Collegeville, Minnesota, 1988, declared to be the vernacular typical edition of Ordo initiationis christianae adultorum in the diocese of the United States of America, published by authority of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
What is RCIA? Why is RCIA important? Who is involved in RCIA? What the structure of the RCIA process?
Cf. decree (Prot. No. 15/72) of the Congregation for Divine Worship, 6 January 1972. RCIA stands for “Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults” The Second Vatican Council prescribed a revision of the rite of baptism of adults The catechumenate (preparation for baptism) of adults is… Divided into several steps Intended as “a period of well-suited instruction” Sanctified by liturgical rites to be celebrated at successive intervals of time
Cf. RCIA, no. 2-4 Endorsed by the ancient practice of the Church Designed for the preparation of a group of candidates, but can be adapted by pastors for one person
Cf. RCIA, no. 2-4 Contains usual rites and rites for special circumstances, to include optional rites and combined rites RCIA is a “gradual process that takes place within the community of the faithful”
Cf. Christian Initiation – General Introduction, no. 2-3 “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:29) Baptism incorporates us into Christ and forms us into God’s people, it is the door to life and to the kingdom of God The Church believes that it is its most basic and necessary duty to inspire ALL to be baptized
Cf. RCIA, no. 9
Cf. RCIA, no. 10
Cf. RCIA no. 10-11
Cf. RCIA no. 11
Cf. RCIA no. 11
Cf. RCIA no. 12-13
RCIA, no. 15-16
Edith Stein, Welt und Person. Beitrag zum christlichen Wahrheitsstreben [Word and person. A contribution to Christian truth seeking], ed. by L. Gelber and Romaeus Leuven, O.C.D. (Freiburg, 1962), pp. 158ff, as quoted by Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar in Dare we hope “That all men be saved”? , translated by Dr. David Kippand Rev. Lothar Kraut, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1988 Longer quote: We attempted to understand what part freedom plays in the work of redemption. For this it is not adequate if one focuses on freedom alone. One must investigate as well what grace can do and whether even for it there is an absolute limit. This we have already seen: grace must come to man. By its own power, it can, at best, come up to his door but never force its way inside. And further: it can come to him without his seeking it, without his desiring it. The question is whether it can complete its work without his cooperation. It seemed to us that this question had to be answered negatively. That is a weighty thing to say. For it obviously implies that God’s freedom, which we call omnipotence, meets with a limit in human freedom. Grace is the Spirit of God, who descends to the soul of man. It can find no abode there if it is not freely taken in. That is a hard truth. It implies—besides the aforementioned limit to Divine omnipotence—the possibility, in principle, of excluding oneself from redemption and the kingdom of grace. It does not imply a limit to divine mercy. For even if we cannot close our minds to the fact that temporal death comes for countless men without their ever having looked eternity in the eye and without salvation’s ever having become a problem for them; that, furthermore, many men occupy themselves with salvation for a lifetime without responding to grace—we still do not know whether the decisive hour might not come for all of these somewhere in the next world, and faith can tell us this is the case. All-merciful love can thus descend to everyone. We believe that it does so. And now, can we assume that there are souls that remain perpetually closed to such love? As a possibility in principle, this cannot be rejected. In reality, it can become infinitely improbable—precisely through what preparatory grace is capable of effecting in the soul. It can do no more than knock at the door, and there are souls that already open themselves to it upon hearing this unobtrusive call. Others allow it to go unheeded. Then it can steal its way into souls and begin to spread itself out there more and more. The greater the area becomes that grace thus occupies in an illegitimate way, the more improbable it becomes that the soul will remain closed to it. For now the soul already sees the world in the light of grace. It perceives the holy whenever it encounters this and feels itself attracted by it. Likewise, it noteces the unholy and is repulsed by it; and everything