RCIA may be the best known acronym in all of Catholicism.
For more than 2 generations, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) has been preparing people to enter the Catholic faith and catechizing Catholics in need of completing their sacraments.
Just prior to the COVID pandemic, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had taken initial steps to change the name of the program from RCIA to OCIA. Formally announced in November of 2021, the name change was simple – replace the word Rite with the word Order. And, the logic behind the change was simple as well.
Liturgically speaking a rite is comprised of the ceremonial aspects associated with the celebration of a sacrament (e.g. the Rite of Marriage, the Rite of Baptism). Rite can also describe specific liturgies based on local customs and languages (e.g. the Rite of Committal at burial). Since the process of Christian Initiation incorporates many rites in preparation for the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist – it really isn’t correct to refer to the entire effort as a rite.
Hence, the word order is more appropriate as people being called to Christ and His Church are, as we hear in the gospel, challenged to re-order their lives that they may follow Jesus. This is similar to religious orders adopting the rules set forth by their founders (e.g. Franciscans, Benedictines etc.).
Along with the name change, the USCCB set out to restructure the program; moving from a rigorous Labor Day to Easter Vigil schedule towards a more ideal continuous and ongoing program tailored to individual Catechumens and Candidates. By meeting people where they’re at on their faith journey we can ensure that their conversion to Catholicism, or their coming into full communion (completing their Sacraments), happens when they are spiritually ready to order their lives to Christ and His church rather than based simply on the calendar.
The Disciples Unleashed Family of Parishes has been working to engineer an effective transition to the USCCB’s vision for adult and continuing catechesis. We started with simple things like using both RCIA/OCIA in our letter head and presentation materials and combining the instructional aspects for the three individual parishes into a single FOP activity.
Now we set our sights on the more substantial transforming of OCIA into a personalized formation process. And, we’ve identified the high leverage enablers required to make the vision of OCIA a reality. And, you may be surprised to learn that at the very top of our list of key enablers is YOU. Yes, YOU.
In the coming year we’ll challenge every member of our Disciples Unleashed faith communities to consider taking a role in expanding and improving OCIA. In order to fully realize the vision, we’ll need everyone to consider how the Lord is calling us to help transform OCIA into Our-CIA. After all, when Jesus commissioned his church to “go, make disciples of all nations” he was talking to all of us!
The Disciples Unleashed 2024/2025 OCIA sessions kick off at St. Isidore on Sunday September 15th at 10:30 AM. We will host an OCIA Informational Night at St. Isidore on Wednesday August 28 at 7:00 PM in the Social Hall. And, we plan to keep you informed on the progress of the OCIA (Our-CIA) as we march toward the 2025 Easter Vigil.
Your OCIA team humbly asks every parishioner to commit to taking two critical “first steps” toward transforming OCIA into Our-CIA:
- Invite anyone who may be called to our Catholic faith or who is in need of completing their sacraments to our Informational Night on August 28th (offering to attend with them would be a great “ice-breaker” and expression of top notch hospitality)
- Put the OCIA team and our incoming Catechumens and Candidates on you daily prayer list.
Stay tuned for upcoming Our-CIA Updates. We will be highlighting the exciting things happening with the program and, from time to time, we will let you know the specific ways we’re counting on you to make Our-CIA a success.