Anyway. Perhaps you've noticed the lack of discussion about anything related to Catholicism. And perhaps you thought that was odd considering this blog is supposed to track my development, training and eventual confirmation in the church started by Jesus Christ.
Or maybe you've been completely oblivious. There's no accounting for attention span.
The reason I've not written a whole lot about it is because there hasn't been much to say. In the first place, My Catholic Year technically doesn't start until January 1, 2014. I can't really write much about My Catholic Year until, y'know, My Catholic Year actually starts.
Second, I thought it would be helpful to use the time leading up to My Catholic Year establishing my cred in other areas so that when the thing actually starts, you'll have a better frame of reference.
Still, I suppose there are a few things I could mention. For example, last Thursday I met with a director of my local Catholic parish's Faith Formation team to discuss RCIA. Wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, yeah, I've done a fair bit of research about what RCIA is all about weeks ago but what's listed as common practice on some blog or Wikipedia page and what's actually done could be two very different things.
The woman was very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. She said that my timing is pretty good since the next RCIA class to start ends registration sometime this week. Mine will be the final group which completes everything before Easter. Since confirmation and acceptance into the Church seem to mostly happen in conjunction with Easter, this is rather convenient for me.
Basically it all starts on January 9, 2014. I'm comfortable with everything they're talking about as far as RCIA goes. Apparently the people who run the program are equipped to handle basically any question you might throw at them. As useful as that might be, I've already resolved all or most of the questions and reservations I had about the Catholic faith weeks ago.
Baptism could be an issue though. I explained to the Faith Formation director that, yes, I was baptized into the Church of Christ when I was 17. The problem though is that it was done at a church; not really by a church. Long story but the short version is that the way it worked out means I have no documentation on the matter. If I had to prove in a court of law that I've been baptized, it'd be hard to do without eyewitness testimony... from my family, which isn't worth much in most courts.
And this doesn't touch the suspicion I've had that the Church of Christ is a cult, which further calls the legitimacy of my baptism into question.
Bottom line? Seems to me like the safest path is to be baptized "again" by the Catholics to make sure the job gets done right. If in the end it all proves to have been unnecessary, eh, whatever. I'd rather err on the side of caution.
I'm a little excited about all this. Joining up with the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church is a big deal for me. Feels like the culmination of something I've been searching for my entire life. And here it is.
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