Journey to Faith

RCIA – The Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults, or our popular name is the Journey to Faith

Every year the parish opens its heart to people who are seeking Baptism or full Communion with the Church. They go through a programme of preparation from September to Easter when Baptism, Confirmation and first Communion are celebrated. Our concern is that these catechumens not only have an understanding of the Church, her teaching and the Holy Scriptures, but equally appreciate that the Christian is always a disciple, sitting at the Lord’s feet, learning from the many ways in which Jesus inspires us, learning to pray, constantly growing in relationships with Jesus and with his people. They not only learn about the Last Supper but equally about the washing of the feet and all that symbolises.

In our parish we are blessed by the international nature of our congregation, and regularly have requests for Baptism from people for whom English is a foreign language. We are blessed with our interpreters, and currently have two separate meetings of the Journey to Faith, with Iran providing five applicants in this year’s programme.

For many years the same four catechists have provided a full programme of teaching to prepare these catechumens. This experience, gained over the years, has been invaluable to everyone, but we are also grateful for new ideas, new people and above all your prayer for the ongoing success of this programme.