177/365 Upcoming in RCIA

RCIA is the process by which adults become Catholic. If they are baptized and coming from another trinitarian Christian tradition (as opposed to UU, who are not TRinitarian, or the Quakers, who do not baptize, or from places more suspect like the Mormon church or the Jehovah's Witnesses...), then they go through however much catechism they seem to need and are confirmed. This amount varies from a few months to a few years. A fully catechised Lutheran who reads up on his own and has been attending mass with his wife for 6 years is probably, but not necessarily, in a different category from someone who kind of remembers going to church with his mom but he's not sure what church that was. And folks who are not baptized are introduced to the Church in a similar way, although tailored to match their needs and starting points, which sometimes can lead to a longer journey.

Note all the qualifiers in the above paragraph. Our parish does a sort of continuum of RCIA. We don't do a school year style crash catechism course (anymore). Things don't start up in October and wham! end at Easter Vigil. Oftentimes things do end at Easter Vigil, especially baptisms, but they might start the summer before, or the winter before. It's more of a living, organic process than a structured curriculum.

There is a curriculum, based on the weekly Gospel readings and drawing from the Catechism. Topics are wide and varied even on a given week. For instance, I am responsible this coming fall for October 10. I believe, based on a quick internet search (I will double check this obviously before I prepare), that the Gospel is the healing of the 10 lepers, with only one returning praising God to thank Jesus, and of course this one is a Samaritan to boot. So I can touch on a variety of topics: conversion, journey of faith, blessing of the sick, etc.

Sometimes the discussion is dry, and other times lively. I have a great suspicion that I'm not very good at the catechism part, but pretty good at the connecting part. The story telling and, as Sr. Hildegard put it, the falling in love with God part. The problem I have is that I have a hard time summoning the energy to talk about what the Church teaches about this or that topic. So I looked over the topics for this summer and autumn and avoided things like Eucharist and Social Justice (I have thoughts, beliefs, and opinions about these but I don't want to misrepresent, you know?). But I can do conversion, and I can probably even do the blessing of the sick (which is a sacrament).

I think what I find hardest about RCIA is it challenges my own Catholicism. Converts tend to be earnest and many of them see the world as very black and white (in my experience). And they are searching on a very basic level for a spiritual home, one that I'm only partially comfortable about living in, and really only because I've found a back porch where I can smoke and drink and be myself (so to speak). They are standing in the vestibule looking in. I need to show them the kitchen and the dining room and maybe the library or den. They don't need to see the mud room, do they? The basement? And I'm always hesitant about that back porch. Not everyone would be cozy here.

This year might be interesting. It could be just one person (that's all we have signed up at the moment), or maybe as many as 4...and things are always changing. Because we have the reputation of an immigrant parish, there are folks on the list who do not speak English as a first language. People I can't assume I have any shared background with, anything on a most basic level in common with. That's scary, too. And then I'm supposed to sit with them with the Gospel and a cozy meeting room and talk about God.

That's no easy task.

Ruminating.