RCIA is a rite of the Church designed to assist prospective members to become part of the church community. It applies both to unbaptised people and to adults who have been baptised as infants but have not received the other sacraments. The programme runs from September until Easter and meetings take place weekly on a Thursday at 7pm in the Church Hall. The schedule can be found below.
Anyone interested in hearing more about how they can participate in the programme, either to deepen their own knowledge, to support others or as a pathway into being received into the church, please contact Alana Reilly. Tel:07738638746 email: reilly.alana@outlook.com.
Structure of program
We will start on Thursday, 5th September at 7pm and will run weekly until Easter. In this first, introductory session, we will share materials and get to know each other. We’ll be following the structure of a particular series of online books and, much like a book club, we’ll read a chapter a week ahead of the session. The idea being that we’ll come together to share thoughts and ideas and, most likely questions about what we’ve read.
We won’t always have the answers and, most likely we’ll have different opinions and interpretations and that’s fine, in fact, it’s encouraged so I hope everyone will feel able and willing to share. The key thing is that everyone feels respected and valued and we create an atmosphere of inclusion together.
The online version of the series of books we will follow can be found here: https://mycatholic.life/rcia/
Download the Hallow app to enhance your learning:https://hallow.com/
Your contribution
As well as the weekly sessions, there will be opportunities to participate in other Parish activities which will support our journey and we’ll share more about these as the weeks progress. That being said, I’m aware this is a big commitment in terms of time and effort and so, we know there may be times when life gets in the way and that may impact your ability to either join a session or participate fully. Although we encourage full commitment, your participation is and will always be on your terms so, should you ever feel we’re working at a pace that’s not comfortable or workable for you, please let me know and we can look at ways to make it easier.
Joining the church
At the end of our program, there will be an opportunity for those of you who wish, to be welcomed into the church. With Fr. Peter’s guidance, we can support you with that. For those of you who are interested in this, If you haven’t already thought about finding a sponsor, I encourage you to think about who that might be. A sponsor is a friend or family member who is already a member of the church who can offer you support and spiritual guidance. Again, this person doesn’t need to be an expert, just someone who can be a sounding board and offer encouragement when you need it.
Your sponsor doesn’t need to attend all the sessions but I’d encourage you to invite them along and, if they are able to join, particularly our first session or milestone events, that would be wonderful.
Schedule – Term 1
