Becoming Catholic: OCIA at St. Anthony of Padua

Most people who become Catholic start in the same place. Something drew them — a spouse, a friend, a funeral, a book, a church they wandered into and couldn't stop thinking about — and they didn't know what to do next.

This is what to do next.


What OCIA Is

The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA, until recently called RCIA) is the Church's ordinary way of receiving adults. It is not a course with a diploma at the end. It is a process of instruction, prayer, and gradual belonging that ends at the altar, with baptism or with your first Holy Communion.

It takes time on purpose. You are not being asked to make a decision this week. You are being asked to come, listen, ask questions, and see whether what the Church claims is true.


Who It's For

Adults who have never been baptized. You will be prepared for Baptism, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion, ordinarily received together at the Easter Vigil.

Adults baptized in another Christian tradition. Your baptism is real and the Church honors it — you will not be baptized again. You will be prepared to make a profession of faith and to receive Confirmation and Holy Communion, entering into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Baptized Catholics who never finished. Many people were baptized as infants and then, for whatever reason, never made a First Communion or were never confirmed. This is more common than you would think, and no one will make you feel strange about it. OCIA is where you complete what was begun.

Anyone who is simply curious. You do not have to want to become Catholic in order to come. Some people attend for a year and decide it isn't for them. That is a legitimate outcome and no one will pressure you.


What the Sessions Are Like

We meet on Sunday mornings at 8AM in the St. Anthony's Parish Classroom. Sessions run roughly one hour and generally begin in September, though inquirers are welcome to join at any point in the year.


There is usually a short talk, and then conversation. The topics over the year cover:

  • Scripture — what the Bible is, where it came from, and how the Church reads it
  • The Creed, article by article: God, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Church, the resurrection of the body
  • The seven sacraments, and why the Church says God works through material things
  • The Mass — what is happening, and what it asks of the people in the pews
  • The moral life: the commandments, conscience, sin and forgiveness
  • Mary and the saints
  • Prayer, and how to actually begin


Questions are the point of the session, not an interruption of it. Hard questions especially. If you have an objection, bring it — most objections to Catholicism are more interesting than the answers people usually give to them.


The Steps Along the Way

  1. Inquiry. You come, you listen, you ask. No commitment.
  2. Rite of Acceptance. When you are ready to go forward, you are received publicly at Sunday Mass. The unbaptized become catechumens at this point — already, in a real sense, belonging to the household of the Church.
  3. The Catechumenate. The long stretch of formation — the months of instruction, prayer, and Sunday Mass that make up the bulk of the year.
  4. Rite of Election. On the First Sunday of Lent, catechumens go with the Bishop to [the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River], where their names are written in the Book of the Elect.
  5. Lent. The final preparation — the scrutinies, the handing on of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and a good deal of prayer and fasting alongside the rest of the parish.
  6. The Easter Vigil. The night the Church keeps watch. Baptisms are conferred, professions of faith are made, the newly received are confirmed and receive Holy Communion for the first time. It is the longest and the most beautiful liturgy of the year, and it exists for this.
  7. Mystagogy. The weeks after Easter, spent unpacking what has just happened. Becoming Catholic doesn't end at the Vigil; it starts there.


Sponsors

Each person entering the Church has a sponsor — a confirmed Catholic in good standing who accompanies you, vouches for you, and stands with you at the rites. If you already know someone, you may ask them. If you don't, the parish will find someone for you. This is not a formality; most people end up remembering their sponsor for the rest of their lives.


What to Do First

Come to Mass. Sit in the back if you like. Nobody will ask you anything.


Then write or call:

Mother Maria Iparthanos S.S.V.M., Director of Religious Education, 339-208-0388 · ccd@saintanthonynb.org

Or stop at the parish office. Tell us where you're starting from — including "I have no idea what I'm doing" — and we'll take it from there.


"They said to him, 'Rabbi, where are you staying?' He said to them, 'Come and see.'" — John 1:38–39