Inquirer, Candidate, Catechumen Responsibilities

What do I have to do when I come to RCIA?

That is the question this post will answer. The responsibilities listed below are specifically mean to avoid being burdensome, while promoting a healthy growth in life, and providing the catechists some verifiable means of gauging progress.

Inquirer

When you are first coming to RCIA you are an inquirer. This is non committal period. Nothing wagered, nothing lost but your time.

Come to the Tuesday night meeting as much as you can. If you miss a night, there is no harm. Each session is designed to stand alone. The more sessions you come to the more questions you can ask and here others ask, but if you miss any one session there is no make up work that needs to be done.

Go to Mass on Sunday as often as you can so you can experience what it is like and get to know it. Write down questions you have, and bring them with you to Tuesday night meetings.

If you have a Bible bring it with you on Tuesday nights; we put them to good use.

There is no time limit on inquiry.

Once you are ready to move on to more in depth study and preparation, a greater commitment will be asked of you.

Candidate

Candidates (those adults already Baptized preparing for full communion with Church) are responsible for faithfully attending Sunday Mass and coming to the Tuesday night meetings.

Candidates are given a calendar and a notebook.

Candidates are give a Bible. Bring it to the Tuesday night meetings.

Candidates are given a catechism, read the material for Tuesday night ahead of time and write down any questions you might have.

When you attend a Sunday Mass, write down what time you went, what the homily was about and which priest gave it. If you went to Mass at a different parish write that down too. The next time you see a RCIA Catechist, show them your notebook, and they will initial your calendar for that Sunday.

After attending a Tuesday night meeting, the Catechist will initial the calendars of everyone in attendance. If you miss a Tuesday night meeting, read the make up material assigned for that night from the syllabus. Write a page summary in your notebook. The next time you see an RCIA catechist show them your summary and they will initial your calendar.

Everyday you need to pray quietly for 5 minutes.

Everyday you need to open the Bible and read some scripture. This does not count toward your 5 minutes of prayer, but could certainly be done before or after.

Candidates at their own discretion may attend the Catechumen dismissals on Sunday. If so, get the dismissal lead to sign you calendar in lieu of a homily summary.

Catechumen

Catechumens are unbaptized adults preparing for initiation into the Church.

They have the same responsibilities as Candidates, with addition that Catechumens should attend the scheduled dismissals during Sunday Mass. The dismissal leader will initial all of the catechumens calendars after the session. If a catechumen misses a dismissal they should write a homily summary just as a candidate would do.