The Surprising Catholic Origins of Thanksgiving
If you have ever been curious (or confused) as to how one becomes Catholic refer to the flowchart above! [Use this link to the RCIA flowchart to view it too.] Below is the key to the aformentioned flowchart. The order of becoming Catholic is called RCIA (or OCIA) which stands for the Rite (or Order) of Christian Initiation for Adults. It is a modern form of the ancient process for initiating new members into the Body of Christ, the Church. The formation process is concerned with the total formation of the whole human person: mind, heart, body, and spirit. So, RCIA/OCIA is not merely learning about Catholicism, it is about becoming Catholic.
So, I’m an INQUIRER?
The inquiry stage is a time, of no fixed duration, for introduction and discernment of the Gospel, to become acquainted with the Catholic Church. Once an inquirer commits to becoming Catholic, they become a catechumen (if they are going to be baptized) or a candidate (if they have already been baptized).
Length: No fixed duration.
“He [Jesus] said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.’”
– Matthew 16:15-18 [late 50s – early 60s A.D.].
“We ought therefore, brethren, carefully to inquire concerning our salvation, lest the wicked one, having made his entrance by deceit, should hurl us forth from our [true] life.”
– Epistle of Barnabas, 2. [70-120 A.D.].
So, I’m a CATECHUMEN?
The word catechumen means ‘one who is being instructed,’ in Greek. During the catechumenate, a catechumen receives catechesis from a catechist. In other words, someone who is being instructed receives instruction from an instructor. This is often done using the Catechism - or intruction - of the Catholic Church or instruction.
Length: Normally consists of, at least, a year of nurturing and growth of the catechumen’s faith and conversion to God.
“One who is being instructed [catechumen] in the word should share all good things with his instructor [catechist].”
– Galatians 6:6 [c. 50s A.D.].
“You were called a Catechumen, while the word echoed round you from without; hearing of hope, and knowing it not; hearing mysteries, and not understanding them; hearing Scriptures, and not knowing their depth.”
– Cyril of Jerusalem, “Procatechesis (Prologue),” 6 [c. 350 A.D.].
So, I’m a CANDIDATE?
The term candidate is shortened from ‘a candidate for reception into full Catholic communion’ referring to those who have already been baptized in a non-Catholic Christian community but wish to be fully initiated in, and reconciled with, the Catholic Church – which includes the final sacraments of initiation: confirmation and First Communion.
Length: Varies by individual.
“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.”
– John 17:20-21a [c. 90s A.D.].
“[F]or the apostles handed down only one Church and one baptism… this does not so much move me to venture to condemn the baptism of Christ when found among heretics (just as it is necessary to recognize the gospel itself when I find it with them, though I abominate their error).”
– St. Augustine of Hippo “On Baptism,” Book IV, ch. 6, 9 [c. 400 A.D.].
So, I’m a CONFIMAND?
Confirmand is abbreviated Latin for ‘a candidate for confirmation.’ Because some children are baptized in the Catholic Church but never raised in the faith, there are adults who have never been fully initiated. An adult who has yet to be confirmed is a confirmand or ‘candidate for confirmation’; an adult who has yet to receive their First Communion is a ‘candidate for Communion.’
Length: Varies by individual.
“Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit.”
– Acts 8:14-17 [early 60s A.D.].
“[I]n regard to those who were baptized in Samaria [Acts 8:14-17] that when the apostles Peter and John came there only hands were imposed on them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit… that only which was lacking was done by Peter and John. The prayer having been made over them and hands having been imposed upon them, the Holy Spirit was invoked and was poured out upon them. This is even now the practice among us, so that those who are baptized in the Church then are brought to the prelates of the Church; through our prayer and the imposition of hands, they receive the Holy Spirit and are perfected with the seal of the Lord.”
– Cyprian of Carthage, “Letter 73[72],” 9 [253 A.D.].
So, I’m a ‘REVERT?’
While ‘revert’ is not a technical term, it refers to someone who was fully initiated and left the Catholic Church but has ‘reverted’ (instead of ‘converted’) back to Catholicism.
Length: As long as it takes to go to Confession.
“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ.”
– Ignatius of Antioch, “Letter to the Philadelphians,” 3 [c. 107-110 A.D.].
“And with regard to those who have once been faithful, but from negligence or under constraint have returned to the worship of idols, make haste to bring them back to the faith, imposing on them a penance of a few days, that they may bewail their guilt, and keep to that to which they return, God helping them.”
– Gregory the Great, Registrum Epistolarum, Book VIII, Letter 1 [c. 600 A.D.].
So, I’m a CATHOLIC?
To be Catholic is like being aboard Noah’s ark. To be in the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church” (Nicene Creed) that Jesus founded: “I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18). The Catechism of the Catholic Church outlines the precepts of the Catholic Church which constitutes what it is to be a 'practicing Catholic' in CCC 2041-43.
Length: Eternity.
“Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
– Ignatius of Antioch, “Epistle to the Smyrnaeans,” 8 [c. 107-110 A.D.].
“The Church of God which sojourns at Smyrna, to the Church of God sojourning in Philomelium, and to all the congregations of the Holy and Catholic Church in every place: Mercy, peace, and love from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied.”
– The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 1 [c. late 2nd – early 3rd c. A.D.].
“And if ever you are sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord’s House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God [cf. Ephesians 5:25, Galatians 4:26].”
– Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, ch. 18, 26. [c. 350 A.D.].