Category Archives: Conversion – Coming Home

RCIA v.2

August 31, 2012

RCIA v. 1 – 2012 – The first RCIA class was more than a year back in my rear view window, and as of Easter, 2013, its class members were all now full members of the Catholic Church.

March 31, 2013 – Easter

April 30, 2013 – My husband and I agreed that we were both ready for my entrance into the Catholic Church.

May 31, 2013 – Melissa had directed me to Fr. Ron who would be open to a modified RCIA path for me into the Catholic Church.

June 30, 2013 – I met with Fr. Ron and Jason to discuss the possibility of entering the church before Easter – with the emphasis on my getting baptized.

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Tick-tock – time was passing…something which is most particularly noticeable after one passes the age of 60. One month gone after meeting with Fr. Ron, and I was still waiting to receive the promised book for Jason’s RCIA class.

Anxious to get going with life, I contacted Jason for the title. On Amazon I ordered Peter Kreeft’s Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Church Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

It arrived…$20…and another book about Catholicism on my shelves. Three books on the catechism of the church…and I was still waiting for RCIA to begin.

——– ORIGINAL MESSAGE ——–
Subject: Kreeft Book Arrived
From: JANE JIMENEZ
Date: Mon, July 21, 2014

Hi, Jason,
Peter Kreeft’s book arrived Saturday. My husband Vic and I leave Friday for a week with our son and family in Maryland…returning August 1. Do you have an RCIA plan for the book that I can start with?
~~ Thanks! Jane Jimenez

——– Message ——–
To: Jane Jimenez
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2014

Good to hear from you. I’m almost done with the curriculum. As soon as I finish, I’ll let you know the sequence we’re following. Have you given any more thought to doing it with the group? Community is the best context.
~~ Jason

——– Message ——–
Subject: Kreeft Book Arrived
From: JANE JIMENEZ
Date: Tue, July 22, 2014

Jason,

What is your time frame for the RCIA group? Time frame for my entering the church?
~~ Jane

——– Message ——–

To: Jane Jimenez
Subject: Kreeft Book Arrived
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2014

Some, when ready, enter on Easter, but like Fr. Ron said, we can’t have a blanket time frame because it’s all about someone’s personal readiness. I hope that makes sense. At any rate, you’ll discover and experience more from the group than you will from just me, so I hope you’ll consider attending. Takes place on Tuesday evenings, beginning Sept 16.
~~Jason

——– Message ——–

To: Jason
RE: Kreeft Book Arrived
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2014

Thanks, Jason. We leave tomorrow 6 a.m. for a week and return August 1. I will check back with you the first week of August.
~~Jane

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Thankfully, regular life intervened and gave some amount of respite from my anxieties about RCIA.

Our trip to Maryland for a visit with kids and grand kids was a wonderful time away from the daily details of life. By the time we returned, I anticipated that Jason would have his lessons plans completed, and he could give me some reading assignments. I was more than ready.

At home and settled in from our trip, I gave Jason a call.

“Hi, Jason, this is Jane. I’m back from our trip and wondered if you had a plan for me to get started.”

“Our RCIA class is starting next month. It’s not that far away. Why don’t you sign up and attend the class?”

“If I did that, what would be the schedule for me to be baptized and enter the church?”

“Well, we have classes until Easter, and everyone enters at Easter Vigil Mass. It’s a wonderful experience, and you really bond and develop good relationships with other people going through the RCIA program with you.”

“I guess I’m a bit confused, Jason. Fr. Ron had mentioned an option that would allow me to be baptized prior to Easter. I understood that there was an option for me that would permit me to do that and to enter the Church sooner than Easter…which is eight months from now.”

“Why don’t you want to be a part of RCIA?”

“I’m happy to learn, to study and to take classes. But I want to be baptized.”

“You know the Church allows you to wait until Easter. As a catechumen, if something were to happen to you before Easter, you would be treated as if you had been baptized. You don’t have to be baptized before Easter.”

“Maybe not…but I want to be baptized. I don’t want to wait. Fr. Ron said that was possible. It seems like you are saying that it’s not. Are you saying that the only option for me is to go through the regular RCIA program?”

“Well…ah…I…uh…I’m confused myself. I don’t really know what I am supposed to do. And I don’t have the authority to make a decision like that. I don’t really see what the problem is and why you don’t want to take the RCIA program. As a catechumen, the church lets you wait and get baptized at Easter.”

“Well…ah…I understand your situation Jason. Maybe the best way to understand this is to let Fr. Ron clarify it for us. Thanks, Jason.”

By now…I felt like I was the last person in line at a party where we were playing the telephone game. I had begun with Fr. Ron 45 days ago. If I could trust my memory, I had been told that he would consider an optional form of RCIA for me that would permit me to be baptized and even enter the church prior to Easter, hopefully before Christmas. Two months had passed since that meeting, and I felt like I was back in the batter’s box warming up.

******************

——– ORIGINAL MESSAGE ——–
From: JANE JIMENEZ
Date: Wed, August 06, 2014 8:27 pm

Good evening Father Ron and Jason,

I am somewhat confused at this point. Is it possible to speak by phone with Father Ron? I find back-and-forth dialogue easier in one brief phone conversation than in using e-mail?

I am available at Father’s convenience on my cell phone. If you prefer to set a date/time for the call, just let me know what works. I am also more than happy to come in. I just want to conserve your time in your busy schedule.

Thank you,
Jane Jimenez

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NEXT: DEACON DAVE, RCIA v.3

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FATHER RON – RCIA v.2

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I had set every clock in the house to remind me of my appointment with Father Ron. Arriving fifteen minutes early, waiting in the church office, I wondered about the very real possibility of being Catholic before Christmas.

In short order, Fr. Ron appeared at the hall entrance and led me back into a comfortable meeting room with windows looking out to a garden atrium. Settled into chairs, and following his lead, I gave a five minute synopsis of my coming to faith and then coming to the door of the Catholic Church by following the lead of other Catholics on EWTN and attending mass this past year in my own parish. “I called my parish, and I asked if there was any other way to enter the church before next Easter. They said that their RCIA program was the only option.”

“My husband has finally come to peace with my decision to become Catholic. He won’t join me, and I don’t expect that he ever will. Now, looking ahead, I am willing to learn, to grow, to study. It’s not that I want to skip RCIA. But I can’t wait twelve months to be baptized.”

At the mention of baptism, Fr. Ron’s attention focused more intently on me. “RCIA is not a one-size-fits-all program. There are other options available. We can personalize the program for people. Tell me about your baptism.” So I did.

“RCIA is not for everyone,” he reassured me. “We can take time to talk and set out a reading plan. Then we can get together to discuss your reading and understanding.” At that moment, a young man came into the room. Fr. Ron looked up. “Let me introduce you to Jason. He is the director of our RCIA program, and I invited him to be a part of this.”

We all did the hi-hello-good-to-meet-you civilities…and returned to the conversation Fr. Ron and I were having…that is, sort of returned to it. Jason was full of youthful enthusiasm and shared his plans for the coming RCIA program. He told me he would make certain I got a free copy of the book they were using for RCIA. Fr. Ron finished the meeting, “You can start working with Jason and then keep in touch with me.”

Following Fr. Ron through the hallways and back out to the lobby, I stepped outside of the office into the parking lot…instantly blinded by the afternoon sun. I had the unsettled feeling that something significant had transpired but that I had no idea what that significant something might be.

Instead of a program of study, another appointment with Fr. Ron and a target date for getting baptized…I had…well?

Putting the keys in the ignition, I calculated that the book from Jason should arrive by Friday.

____________________________________
*All names have been changed.

*******************************

NEXT: RCIA v.2

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THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

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A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or astronomical body’s atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation (snowstorm, rainstorm), heavy freezing rain (ice storm), strong winds (tropical cyclone, windstorm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere as in a dust storm, blizzard, sandstorm, etc. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm]

Living in the desert all my life, I have been spared the hardships of blizzards, avalanches, hurricanes and tornadoes. In the Phoenix metropolitan area, we are lucky if we experience our average annual rainfall of ten inches.

With so few “weather events” to look forward to in the Arizona desert, we learn to recognize the signs of any approaching storm. The calm. The red sky. The eerie quiet. Put them together on any one day, and they are a dead giveaway. Tie down the house. A desert storm is on its way.

If only it were that easy when it comes to the storms of life.

In the past year, I had weathered the disappointments of RCIA. I had surveyed the landscape, counted the months and laid out the options. Like a traveler mapping out a ten month trip through Europe, I had marked the key points up ahead on my journey into the Catholic Church, calculated the time to finish, and set about gathering provisions.

But none of my plans took into account getting caught in a desert storm.

Easter had come and gone, new Catholics welcomed into the church. On the outside, I remained a protestant. Our garden was blooming. At home, my husband and I enjoyed eating outside on the patio and listening to the fountain. Looking ahead, we planned trips to visit our children on both the western and eastern seaboards of the country.

Spring, with its beautiful weather and flowers, is a generous season. Without any forewarning, one spring day, Vic and I ended up talking about churches, the Lutheran that we attended together and the Catholic that I sought. And what had seemed years away beyond the horizon suddenly lay at my feet. With equanimity and generosity, Vic said it was time. I should enter the Catholic Church. He was at peace.

I should enter the church? It was now April, after Easter. RCIA would begin again in September – six months away. Six months until the enrollment date for RCIA added to the six months to attend RCIA…this meant that I could enter the Catholic Church twelve months from now.

Twelve months. It wasn’t a lifetime. But it sure seemed like it. I figured I could hunker down and make it…except for one thing. Baptism. One year to wait for baptism?

One year?

As if God could read my mind, before the end of the week, He sent Melissa into my life. Leaving work one night, she noted my crucifix. She was a Catholic and assumed I was, too. Unable to restrain the torrent of words bubbling up from my heart, I led her through my story right up to the point of perplexity. One year. Did I really have to wait an entire year to be baptized, to become Catholic?

Melissa laughed. “Oh, no. I know a priest who worked with me on the college campus years ago. Students who came to the Newman Center wanted to become Catholic, and they didn’t have to wait. He will help you. Call Father Ron.”

In the anticipation of being baptized…of being Catholic…the signs of the coming storm never caught my eye.

____________________________________
*All names have been changed.

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NEXT: FATHER RON – RCIA v.2

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SLIPPAGE IN THE TRANSMISSION

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DO NOT WORRY

²²He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? [Luke 12:22-26]

The One who I sought was the One who gave comfort. I would not worry.

I could not control the content or duration of the RCIA class last year. Nor could I control who in the Catholic world cared or didn’t care about my “insights.” The Church as the Body of Christ is built of imperfect people, I being chief among them. Time was on my side. My husband and I would eventually come to peace on this change in our lives; the years would see to that.

I had made it this far moving toward the Catholic Church. I could make it to the end. Calmly, in control, I navigated the days ahead of me, laying my years in the hands of God.

Years…what did that mean for baptism? Could I wait years to finally be baptized?

Driving down life’s highway, my hand on the gearshift, I felt an odd movement under my feet…a mysterious car feeling…new and unexpected. It passed. And I returned to my thoughts.

Baptism? Never being able to cite chapter and verse, I knew full well the significance of baptism in the life of a Christian. Repent and get baptized. Even Jesus, the Source of Faith, consented…no, he didn’t simply consent…he sought out and determined that He would be baptized. And He was.

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. [Mat 3:16]

In all the many years when I thought I had been baptized, I knew my fellowship with Christ was secure. But what about today? Sure…I won’t be condemned. But then what?

The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. [Mk 16:16]

On life’s highway, the movement under the floorboard under my feet in the car returned…with a sound. It was not a good sound. Looking ahead to next year, I decided to ignore it…the sound.

RCIA? I could wait. Catholic Church? I would wait. Eucharist? I would have to wait. But baptism?

My thoughts were jolted. Another huge bad car noise. Not again! We had serviced the car before Easter…and here I was on a long journey…hearing strange sounds and feeling strange movements under the floorboard under my feet in the car.

Grabbing my cell phone, I called our mechanic. “The car. It’s making these new awful sounds under my feet. The car jerks. I’m going fast, and then the car slows down. I put the car into drive, but it doesn’t want to go into drive. It’s like it’s trying to make up its mind.”

“Slippage,” he said. “The gears in the transmission are slipping.” When you get home, bring the car in.

Two days later, a lesson from my mechanic on transmissions, and twenty minutes on Google, I learned a lot about the speed of a car. It can go fast. And it can go slow. Changes in speed are handled in the transmission with its gears and fluids and solenoids.

A car can change speeds, but there’s a lot involved in making it happen. Kind of like people when we change speeds. Especially like me.

I had programmed my spiritual future for years. But baptism required a speed adjustment. Just like my car…I was having problems of my own…slippage in the transmission.

Baptism? Was yesterday soon enough? Yesterday? Tomorrow? My transmission was grinding.

²²After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. ²³John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized…[John 3:22-24]

That night, my head on the pillow, I kept thinking about the day in the future when I would eventually be baptized. I did not worry. But I could not rest.

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NEXT: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

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THE GIFT OF FAITH

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As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. [John 17:21-23]

The gift of faith…so amazing…is given to us through the Holy Spirit, from God the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ. But we each have our role to play. We can either invite people in…or push them away.

The language of division in the Christian faith is sure to build clouds of rain from the tears of God in heaven. Division is not divine. It resides in the condition of human beings, born of sin. Adam divided from God through disobedience. Adam and Eve divided from each other through temptation and blame. Cain and Able were divided through jealousy. In heaven, was not God weeping?

Loving us beyond our comprehension, Jesus gave his life to bring us together, both together as humans, and together with our Father. His suffering and his death on the cross, the supreme gifts making the resurrection possible…built a bridge home to the divine. And for our security on earth, He left us his Word, his apostles and his Church. Still…we are human. Born into sin.

It is tempting to blame our modern divisions on Luther and Popes, but the schism of the Reformation is only one break of many others beginning in the first days of Christian history. Mary and Martha divided over how to serve Christ and their guests. The disciples divided from the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive alabaster oil. [Mark 14:3-9] The disciples divided from the sons of Zebedee over who had the right to sit next to Jesus in heaven. [Mat 20:20-28] Peter divided from, even separated from Christ, denying him three times. And he wept bitterly.

Originally, Luther and his followers only imagined one division, a separation from the Catholic Church by those who were “not Catholic.” What Luther never envisioned was the scope and variety of beliefs and practices that would explode out of being “NOT”. Many claim there are more than 30,000 different protestant denominations. But who is to know? After all, if you are not Catholic, you are entitled to be anything…even your own denomination of one…yourself.

In its variety of denominations, protestants are generally open to banding together under the Christian tent. However, the tent is seldom large enough to include the Catholic Church. For her part, the Catholic Church has played a role in division with her claim to exclusivity in beliefs, sacraments, rituals, authority and salvation. In all of this, can we not see Jesus in heaven weeping?

Thus, few changes in church affiliation are as difficult as those for people entering the Catholic Church. The general impression is that the person is moving out of Christianity into Catholicism. Sadly, it can become the source of even more division, separating the convert from family, friends and, tragically, spouses.

Gratefully, as I moved toward the Catholic Church, my husband accepted this change with charity. I knew he would not follow me. Neither would he deny me.

Still, in the little changes of our Sunday routine, I sensed his apprehension. Even as I left the house early to go separately to mass, I committed to attending our Lutheran church as well so that we would have common experiences in our faith lives. Yet, in the finality of my eventual conversion, we would no longer share the sacrament of communion (the Eucharist).

Choosing the Catholic Church had put us on different sides of all the wrangling that takes place among Christians and Catholics. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is closer to Jesus…who gets to sit at his right and at his left? It was easy to see that my choice could be taken as a rejection of my husband’s church and his Christian faith. He continued to push me forward on the road to Rome, but I felt a quiet hurt that doesn’t escape a wife’s attention after sharing forty years of life together.

Talking briefly, I assured him our marriage is too important for it to be undermined by Christian divisions. And I vowed to my husband that I would not make any change until he was confident that his faith would not become “less” for the sake of my faith becoming different. I would wait…weeks, months or years. For now, we would continue to worship Christ together.

This made it easy to walk away from the past September’s RCIA program. I had already mentally programmed myself for years of waiting. The following year, on March 31, Easter arrived, and the catechumens joined the Catholic Church right on schedule. Vic and I shared Easter at our Lutheran church. And having full confidence in God’s timing, I reset my RCIA clock for the coming year.

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NEXT: SLIPPAGE IN THE TRANSMISSION

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