Your process will look like this:
FIRST: Inquirer: Your chance to look into what it means to be part of the Catholic faith.

SECOND: Candidate: Your chance to familiarize yourself with the scriptures, Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.

FOR a baptized person this process can last from several months to 1 or 2 years. It depends on the person and their commitment to the process. Candidates can celebrate “becoming Catholic” at any point in the year, except Advent and Lent. This means that the process is truly individualized. When a candidate is ready, they can become a Catholic.

The Rite of Acceptance to the Community
God works in our lives all the time. God calls all people into community. God calls us to come to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him. Some hear this call and come to our parish, asking more about how to do just that: to come into a relationship with the God we call Father.

When that remarkable event happens, we have the privilege of introducing people to the one we call Lord: Jesus Christ. We share the good news, and uncover God’s action in our lives. For some, this leads to a remarkable beginning, a new life. They begin to know Christ, and to hear his call to love, mercy, forgiveness and change. They respond to that call from Christ to abandon what they know, and to come and follow him.

We mark the powerful presence of God-with-us, Emmanuel, by a special communal ritual. This ritual is called the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. It marks the first public declaration of God’s call to follow Christ. And this ritual also marks the beginning of a formal relationship between these unbaptized men, women and children over the age of seven, and the Roman Catholic Church.

Many things have already changed for these people. This Rite marks that change. We now know these men, women and children as belonging to God and to God’s people gathered here in our parish. They have a unique relationship, and a special name: catechumens. They are entrusted to this faith community to nurture in this journey of faith. They are signed with the sign of our faith, the sign of the cross. They commit now to begin to follow Christ deliberately, and to learn what that means from us, through our prayer, our deposit of faith, our works of charity and justice and our lives as holy/different people.

This is the first of many ritual moments these catechumens will celebrate on their way to the Lord’s Table. All along the way, we, the people of Sacred Heart are asked to accompany them with the affection of a mother. We are to welcome them into our homes, our lives and our ministries, and to show them what it means today to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. So this Rite of Acceptance is both a time of joy and a time of commitment for all of us. May we mark it with the enthusiasm of the Spirit and a renewed commitment to the way of the cross.

The Rite of Welcoming the Candidates
Baptism is the doorway to all the other sacraments. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the dignity of baptism done with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, no matter what Christian tradition conferred the baptism. We proclaim our belief in “one baptism for the forgiveness of sins” in our Creed and so do not re-baptize those who come to us wishing to live out their lives in Christ as Roman Catholics.

Next weekend (or Today) at the (time of the liturgy where the rite will be celebrated) liturgy, we will celebrate God’s call to (Names of Candidates), men, women and children over the age of seven, who were baptized in other Christian denominations who now wish to be one with us. They already share the rights and responsibilities of the baptized and so are in partial communion. They now seek full communion. The ritual we will celebrate is called the Rite of Welcoming the Candidates.

The Rite of Welcoming honors the dignity of baptism. The Rite recalls the signing with the cross done at baptism, and marks the beginning of this stage of their faith journey with the acknowledgment of the sacred scriptures. These men, women and children then begin a journey of preparation that will vary in length, depending on their needs. From us they will seek guidance, welcome, and instruction in what it means to follow Christ as a Roman Catholic. This community will provide this through formal instruction and through watching us and serving with us as we live and love as Christ commands. When they are sufficiently prepared, their baptism will be confirmed, they will be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and then join us at the Lord’s Table, which is for Roman Catholics, the ultimate sign of our unity with Christ and one another. They will enter full communion. The Rite of Welcoming marks the beginning of this special journey of faith.

Reception into Full Communion
This is the moment Candidates have been waiting for. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit (confirmed) and welcomed at the Table of the Lord. (First Eucharist).