Name change puts focus on series of rites to welcome adults into the Church

By Sean Gallagher

For more than 40 years, Catholic parishes across the country have welcomed men and women into the Church in a process called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, commonly referred to as RCIA.

Beginning this Advent, the name of that process will change to the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA).

Father James Brockmeier, director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship, explained that the name change has come about at the same time as a new translation of the rituals of OCIA are being implemented.

The new translation can begin to be used this Advent. It will be required to be used beginning in Lent next year.

Father Brockmeier emphasized, though, that the reason for the name change is to highlight that OCIA is “a series of rites that help people come into the life of grace and the life of the Church.”

For those who have not been baptized, who are known as catechumens in OCIA, these rituals begin with the Rite of Entrance into the Catechumenate, which often happens early in Advent.

Later on, ordinarily in Lent, there is a Rite of Election in which catechumens from across a diocese express before the bishop their faith and desire to be received into the Church, and the bishop encourages them in the last stage of their formation and prays for them.

As Lent progresses, there are celebrated in parishes three rituals called scrutinies that are intended to spiritually strengthen catechumens as they approach their baptism, confirmation and first reception of the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil, which is the culmination of OCIA.

“The new name makes clear that it’s several liturgical moments that are part of this process,” explained Ute Eble, archdiocesan director of catechesis. “When we welcome a person into the OCIA process, we are praying this person into the Church.”

Often celebrated at the same time as these rites for catechumens are rituals for those baptized in other Christian communities, known in OCIA as candidates, who seek to be received into the full communion of the Church.

Most of these rituals in OCIA take place during Sunday Mass in parishes. Father Brockmeier noted that this is because the rituals aren’t just for those seeking to be welcomed into the Church but for all the faithful.

“Welcoming someone into the Church is welcoming them into the community of the parish,” he said. “If people can see that it is part of their mission as a member of a parish to actively welcome and foster the faith of those who are coming into the Church through OCIA, that will be fruitful not only for the person coming into the Church but also for the parish as a whole.”

He went on to explain that “the purpose and vision of OCIA” is to help people “find in the Church a place of real community where they encounter Christ through the love of others, where they can join the community in serving and living out the Gospel.”

Eble said that the rituals of OCIA happening during Sunday Mass can be a way for lifelong Catholics to grow in their faith.

She noted that witnessing people publicly embracing the faith of the whole parish community “can be a really powerful inspiration for the people in the pew to investigate further where they need to turn around their lives.”

People choosing to take part in OCIA and ultimately be received into the Church, Father Brockmeier and Eble said, are often the fruit of individual Catholics accompanying friends, relatives, co-workers or neighbors as they come to know Christ and how he is working in their lives.

That accompaniment continues in OCIA as parish communities give spiritual support to catechumens and candidates as they journey through the rituals toward their full reception into the Church.

“The Church is called to accompany those who are seeking Christian initiation so that they can come to know not only the teachings of the Church but the life of the Church, the people of the Church and the mission of the Church,” Father Brockmeier said. “That happens when we create and form relationships, walking with people through their discovery and encounter with the Church.” †