Becoming a Catholic
Are you interested in learning more about God, Catholicism, or the Church?
Are you interested in finding out more about how to become a Catholic?
Maybe you have been away from the Church for a little while or for quite some time, but now you feel a tug at your heart calling you back to the Catholic Church. Perhaps you're already a practising Catholic but don't feel you were taught much about your faith after you left school. Or perhaps you are an adult who missed out on the Sacrament of Confirmation during your teenage years and would now like to be confirmed.
If any of that sounds like you, then the RCIA is the place to begin your journey to enlightenment and freedom.
RCIA for Adults
(Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults)
The RCIA is for enquirers, seekers and those wanting reasons for their Faith.
It is an opportunity for discussion, reflection and fellowship on the big questions of life. For centuries, people turned to the Church to find answers to the deepest and hardest questions of everyday life.
Consisting initially of 23 sessions which include a fellowship supper with Q&A as follows:
Introduction to the RCIA & Registration
The Story within our Story
The Meaning of Life: Creation, Religion & Science
Salvation History: Old Testament Pt 1
Salvation History: Old Testament Pt 2
The Covenants & the Coming of Christ
Life of Jesus - Paschal Mystery Pt 1
Life of Jesus - Paschal Mystery Pt 2
The Trinity & the Holy Spirit & the Church
Mary
The Four Last Things
The Liturgy & the Sacraments
Sacrament of Confession
The 3rd Pillar of the Catholic Church
The 10 Commandments Pt 1
The 10 Commandments Pt 2
The 4th Pillar: The Lord's Prayer
Prayer & Spirituality
Praying the Mass
Spirituality & The 3 Ways
Q&A Supper with Fr Bernard
Mystagogia & What Next
You are warmly invited to attend any of the sessions.
New courses begin in September every year and all enquiries are welcome - please do get in touch if you would be interested in knowing more about this.
Course Dates
Sessions normally take place in the presbytery meeting room at St Francis de Sales in Wolverton, on Monday evenings from 7.00 pm to 8.30 pm and are for adults aged 18+.
The dates for the next course will always be found on the RCIA Course Dates under Latest News.
RCIA Course Application
Please click the red button below to complete the Application Form and apply for the next course.
RCIA for Youth
The RCIA Youth Course is adapted for younger people aged between 9 and 17 years old.
There are times when young people by the time they are 9 years or older realise that they have not been baptised or have not received First Confession and First Holy Communion but would really like to and so they look to find something that enables them to do it.
More information can be found here, which includes the Application Form to join the RCIA Youth Course.
Contacting the RCIA Team
Please complete the form below if you have any questions or to request further details.
“We do not make ourselves Christian. Becoming Christian is not something that follows a decision of mine: “herewith I make myself a Christian”. Of course, my decision is also necessary, but first of all it is an action of God with me: it is not I who make myself Christian. I am taken on by God, taken in hand by God and thus, by saying “yes” to God’s action I become Christian. Becoming Christians, in a certain sense is passive; I do not make myself Christian but God makes me His man, God takes me in hand and puts my life in a new dimension. Likewise, I do not make myself live but life is given to me; I am not born because I have made myself a human being, but I am born because I have been granted to be human.
Therefore my Christian being has also been granted to me, it is in the passive for me, which becomes active in our, in my life. And this fact of being in the passive, of not making ourselves Christian but of being made Christian by God, already to some extent involves the mystery of the Cross: only by dying to my selfishness, by coming out of myself, can I be Christian.”
Pope Benedict XVI