RCIA Journey

For those of you who know what the RCIA is, you'd be surprised to hear that I have just finished a year-long journey course... Prior to yesterday night, I was actually "journeying" twice last year and again, this year. Some of you may be wondering why me, a cradle Catholic, would not only sign up for RCIA (Rite of the Christian/Catholic Initiation for Adults) but twice AND doing it concurrently?

What started as being a friend's "sponsor" with just weekly attendance to RCIA class with her ended in a more ... ahem!.... involved me! That course ended last night. It was bittersweet because it felt as though after 1 year (has it been that long!) of weekly get-togethers and learning about the Christian/Catholic faith as a family, it felt as if we were parting ways forever.

Yes, I back track... me... cradle Catholic. Baptised as a baby. Attend Catholic kindy, Catholic primary and secondary school, hardly stepped into the Church after I left home, STILL didn't go for mass after being a mother. Yes, both my kids were baptised Catholics before they were 3 months old. So you can imagine that even I surprise myself, after all that's happened in my life, bad and ultimately the worse years of my life, I managed to gather the courage to go for confession before I came here to Australia, you know, to start anew, leave the old Adelene behind. Not easy. I got scolded by the priest. Seriously. I was shocked.


Fast forward to 2005 in Australia. Still didn't know which side was up. After scouring for a nearby school for Caitlyn, I realise that there was a small Catholic school near our home. There isn't even a Church next to it YET they hold weekend masses there! So, one baby step at a time, I started to attend the Sunday mass there. Not knowing anyone there, I was awestruck:- Filipino priest, wonderful nuns, not surprisingly lots of Singaporean, Malaysian and Filipino parishioners among the Caucasian. It was as if I was in Novena Church... well... sans the physical building. Then slowly, week after week of just attend-and-dash masses, I decided that I gotta DO something.... Opportunity arose when the church was looking for a member in the Finance Committee.. guess who volunteered? So within the 2 years till the present, I have a finger in pretty much a few pies..... I am the Sunday pianist, I am still in the Finance committee, I read, Special Minister of the Eucharist, appointed Representative of the Church in the School board, Editor for the weekly bulletin... all this and YET... I knew next to nothing about Catholicism or the Bible. Weird huh? Sure I attend weekly mass but that was it.

Initially I was like "what? 1 whole year? weekly meeting some more!" but then weeks rolled into months and now, I have learnt, in the last year, more than what I have learnt in the last, well almost 40 years. Recently, another girlfriend of mine, same age as me, signed up for RCIA and asked ME to be her God Ma.... Very honoured... I accepted it and this would be my 2nd RCIA journey for me, first for her... she'll "graduate" in November.

Today, although I miss my 1st group friends, I do feel a weight being taken off my shoulder. Eh, these "journeys" and being such a Church kaypoh does come with a price, you know, they do take up my nights.

For that, I am thankful for having such a supportive husband, who oddly enough, isn't Catholic.... he supports by not complaining.