The Bureacracy Of Christ

[theculturewarrior]

What difficulties did you experience in trying to convert. I mean, not personal difficulties...but difficulties with priests, RCIA instructors, and anybody else standing between you and the sacraments?

I think it would be healthy to share our experiences, and also the graces we've received from them. We aren't running this race for nothing.

This will help those in the process of converting to know what kinds of things to expect, and hopefully to show them that the race is worth running.

I'll start.

When I decided to convert, my first instinct was to call my parish. I told them that I wanted to be Catholic, and they said that I would have to marry into the Church to convert.

I didn't give up though. I called the church that I had been attending, not my parish, but they had RCIA on a day that I had class.

So at last, I went to the Newman Center. The said they could do it on my schedule, but it was really frustrating, because I hardly had classes. Classes were 20 minutes at most. I think I counted nine classes.

But out of that, I started learning myself. I made friends with the people at the Newman and came out of my shell, and it was a process that made me a much healthier person. I still had a lot to learn, but I had my sacraments, and I was on my way.

[Sojourner]

I suppose I didn't have many difficulties ... I like the nun who did our RCIA program, and everything on that end went pretty smoothly. But I really got the sense that our program wasn't much more than a rubber stamp. As long as we did all this stuff, we got in. It mildly bothered me through the whole thing, but then two weeks before Easter, we were discussing the nature of Christ, and several people in the class didn't know that Jesus is both God and man.

I guess it would have been nice to make the class a little more individualized, in terms of making sure everyone was getting the important stuff -- or if they already had the important stuff, that they were still growing.

Most of what we learned I had read in my first four months of studying Catholic teaching the year before, so I just kept studying on my own. I didn't realize at the time that it's not the norm for baptized Christians who are being reconciled not to go to RCIA, but instead to meet privately with the priest of a particular parish. Had I know that was the case, I would have pursued that, and I think the entire experience could have been fuller.

With that said, though, I think I still learned a lot from the experience of obeying even when I was frustrated (and I was VERY frustrated) by the situation. It taught me a lot about respecting authority even when I don't agree with it (which is a good thing for me to learn since I work in a profession that's all about questioning authority).

My biggest impediments, though, came from outside the church -- Protestant friends who sat down with me and talked about what a big mistake I was making. But that's another story.

[homeschoolmom]

Wow... I'm having a tough time thinking of anything. We were allowed to join RCIA towards the end (Feb.) after having met with the director and his realizing that we knew a lot already. We were allowed to miss some, if need be (childcare)...

Some things that were frustrating and still are are things like Divine Mercy Sunday. We had quite a row in our house about attending Sunday mass on that day (we went on Sat. vigil)... So, dealing with legalism (especially where it has no place) has really been draining.

Other than that, we haven't run into anything too bad this way. But I expect it sometime...

[PedroX]

I had no problems with the buracracy, but rather the unorthodox positions of my instructor. Now, trying to follow my vocation that's beauracracy!!

peace...

[justfran]

Can't really think of anything really...just that there's not enough teenagers at my parish (there are a few, but NOT ENOUGH!)

[Crusader_4]

Yea i feel the same way i am like the ONLY teenager there at mass somedays.