Stages of the RCIA

First Encounters a.k.a. The Initial Interview

First Encounters a.k.a The Initial Interview

by Kathy Kelly-Huey

 It often begins with a phone call

 The adage “you only get one first impression” is apt when we consider the initial conversation we have with those who grace us with a phone call asking, “When does RCIA start?”  The way we answer this question influences every subsequent action and interaction we share with the person who posed the question.  I like to answer the question with, “The moment you picked up the phone to call me.”  By beginning with an affirmation of how God has already been at work in the Inquirer’s life and that he/she has already responded to the Holy Spirit assures the Inquirer that he/she has arrived on time and in time and is right where he/she is supposed to be. If he/she had begun this journey any sooner, he/she might not have been ready for the journey.  Jesus didn’t call all the apostles on the same day either.  For some this is an initial awareness of how God has been active in their life.

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Sorting Fish: A Task at the Beginning (Part 3)

Baptized Christians.  Debbie and Ernest are both baptized Christians.  Debbie is a young professional, single and searching for “something more” in her life.  Although baptized in the Methodist church as an infant, her family was not active in any church.  She has had no formal religious training.  Because of some conversations with a Roman Catholic colleague, she is interested in Catholicism.

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Sorting Fish: A Task at the Beginning (Part 2)

Sorting Fish

The Gospel of Matthew records Jesus’s parable about the reign of heaven being “like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind” (13:47).  I suggest that a parish evangelizing outreach is like a net that may collect “fish” of every kind:  unbaptized adults and children of catechetical age, baptized uncatechized Christians, baptized catechized Christians, baptized Catholics needing Confirmation and Eucharist, baptized Catholics needing only Confirmation, fully initiated Catholics who have been alienated from the Church and seek to return, and Catholics seeking an update. 

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