Important both to our mission as a parish and our growth as a parish community is new members. Our mission is to invite others to become one with Christ in a community of faith. Jesus instructed his disciples: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” If you are a disciple of Jesus, this is a responsibility for you.
We do this, first and foremost, because it is good for the person to be brought into oneness with Jesus and we feel our community can help this person grow and become as a disciple of the Lord. We also do it for it is good for us as a community of faith to have new and vibrant members.
For anyone above the age of reason (normally, seven years of age) and particularly adults, the way to become a Catholic is through a process called The Rite of Christian of Adults (RCIA). The RCIA is for both unbaptized persons and for baptized Christians who wish now to live their baptismal life in the tradition of the Catholic Church.
We are ready to begin the RCIA on or about September 9th. All we need is candidates. I am PLEADING for your help in surfacing candidates. I have asked the community for potential candidates every year as we begin. The response has been underwhelming. For example, last year not a single name was surfaced.
If every active household in the parish made one recommendation, we would have more than a 100 potential candidates. If twenty-five candidates said yes, imagine the impact on this parish community.