Why is it so difficult? They require RCIA and if it's not on a night that people can attend you can't convert.  

I hate to say this, but it's because they don't care.  They care about their little hoops and making people jump through them - they don't actually care about the Faith being practiced.

They have RCIA because they want you to know and understand what you are getting into. They want you to take the time to reflect on what it is that you are getting into. In the end they will ask you to make a profession of faith. If you think that what the Catholic church teaches, then please don't make that profefssion of faith.

I converted six years ago but it took me about six years of trying. I wanted to convert about  eight years before we actually were baptized.

I agree RCIA is terrible, the teaching is not Christian and full of secular humanism. I  ended up going to a different parish where the priest had me attend his regular adult class. I remember people dropping out of RCIA early on because of schedule conflicts.

 I also tried attending RCIA when I was expecting but then I moved that winter.  I usually sat in the back and didn't really know what was going on.  :confused1: They were a warm group, nice people. Many of the people were part of the parish already attending with their Catholic spouse.

Since RCIA takes up to a year to complete, graduates should be extremely well-versed in the Baltimore Catechism, have a working understanding of latin, be really well versed in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and St. Francis de Sales and have over a dozen of so traditional prayers memorized by heart.  

You can learn a lot in a year, if you are committed.

Well it is about 9 months, from Sept to the Easter Vigil. There are breaks for the holidays too. I can't imagine learning all that as an adult for 2 hours once a week. Even if you expected 2 hours out of class that isn't realistic.  Maybe 2 or 3 prayers and one in Latin could be expected. An introduction to the writings but to be well versed is not realistic. People may not be coming in educated enough to be able to read St Augustine with comprehension.

I  think RCIA is an important indoctrination into religious  indifferentism and getting steeped into occult  practices like the centering prayer and drinking the Konciliar Koolaid. It  makes sure that everyone enters the pews as completely misguided  as the lifelong  congregants.

Without it they'd run the risk of any sort of authentic Catholicism springing up from the flow  of  converts  after all  that  work destroying the faith of the last  few generations  of  cradle  Catholics.

I know they didn't care for me pointing out that something they said was Protestant, and   that I could  have  remained a Protestant  if I believed it (e.g. that the  'presence' in the Eucharist was a metaphor). Then the  whole "all religions  are paths to  God" discussion-- that's  when I pointed  across the street where a protestant Church (Methodist)  was and say, "Should we go over there then? They have snacks"

Quote from: Tiffany

Why is it so difficult? They require RCIA and if it's not on a night that people can attend you can't convert. It took me over six years to convert after I wanted to.  I had to find godparents/confirmation sponsors too. I just wonder why they make it such a hard process. If there would have been an easier way in place and good teaching readily available I would have done it probably 8 years before.

OTOH I've worked in the NICU of a Catholic hospital where babies not from Catholic families were baptized.

You don't have to go through RCIA if you know a good priest who is willing to instruct you one on one. My wife converted through our local dicocesan church where the priest was more than happy to instruct her. I think he knew the dangers of going through RCIA.

Going through RCIA is a great way to not learn the Faith.

It doesn't have to be that way, but it very often is.

Tiffany, what a long journey into the church. Wow! Good for you for hanging in there!

 :applause: :cheers: :rahrah: