OCIA Coordinators’ Weekly Update 11/15/2024
OCIA Begins Next Week: November 18!
November 15, 2024
(for the previous week’s update, please scroll down and click the left arrow found towards the bottom of the screen)
We are enthusiastically preparing for Our Fall 2024 – Spring OCIA. Our first session begins Monday, November 18, 2024. Sessions are scheduled on Monday evenings from 7 – 8:30 pm, with breaks for holidays. The Sacraments of Initiation are celebrated at the Easter Vigil, Saturday, April 19. And the OCIA journey continues through Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 2025.
There is still time to register and join us!
Those who have registered have scheduled initial meetings with Ed Harasim, OCIA Coordinator. This is an opportunity to share the faith journey which has brought them to join the OCIA, leading them toward full initiation into the Body of Christ.
As a reminder, the OCIA welcomes a) the unbaptized, b) Christians baptized in non-Catholic churches, and c) baptized Catholics who seek to complete their sacraments of initiation: Confirmation and Communion.
The new OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) was published November 1.
At an Archdiocesan workshop to review the revised text, the question heard most often since the title change is, “Why OCIA?” The first document of Vatican II, which was on the liturgy, called for restoring the catechumenate, a way of forming disciples for baptism from the Church’s early centuries.
The original Latin title published for the worldwide church in 1972 was “Ordo initiationis christianae adultorum.” The first English translation in 1974 was titled RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). At a later time, the United States Bishops received approval to adapt the RCIA to include various rites (rituals) marking the journey toward initiation for baptized non-Catholic Christians as well as for baptized Catholics seeking full initiaiton. In 2021, the Bishops decided on another revision and are returnig to the title “OCIA.” The “Order” is a collection of rites, norms and instructions. This title aligns with various sacramental books, e.g., The Order of Baptism, the Order of Christian Funerals, the Order of Celebrating Matrimony, etc.
Register to join OCIA here (or via the button below)
For more information, please contact Ed Harasim, OCIA Coordinator, eharasim@clement.org or Fr. Brett Williams, bawilliams@clement.org
Learn more about OCIA