You’ve heard the call to the Church. What’s next?

The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) is the process by which non-Catholic adults and children of cat- echetical age, whether non-baptized or baptized in another Christian faith, become members of the Catholic Church. Until recently, this process was called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). From “Rite” to “Order”

RCIA was instituted in 1974 as part of the reforms from the Second Vatican Council. Until then, those interested in becoming Catholic attended “convert classes” or took private instruction from a priest.

The RCIA process incorporated the Church’s ancient traditions regarding education, formation, and liturgical rites, many of which were drawn from when infant baptism was rare and most of those who sought Christian initiation were adults.

In 2021, the slight name change was mandated from the “Rite” to the “Order” of Christian initiation to reflect the current rules that demand a more formal equivalency of the Latin when translating liturgical texts. Thus, the Latin ritual book’s name is now translated as Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, reflecting a closer connection to the Latin title that begins with the word “Ordo.”
Participants in OCIA

OCIA is intended for those over the age of seven, who enter the Church as catechumens or candidates. (Infants and younger children are baptized but receive the other sacraments at the appropriate age, usually Communion around age seven and Confirmation between ages twelve to sixteen).

Unbaptized adults enter the catechumenate, the process that prepares them for the Church’s sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation—which are usually received by catechumens on the holiest night of the year: the Easter Vigil.

Candidates for full communion in the Church are adults already baptized, but by the Trinitarian formula into a non- Catholic tradition that has the same theology as the Catholic Church regarding baptism. They are not “rebaptized,” since the Sacrament of Baptism is not repeatable, but are prepared to receive Communion and Confirmation, which may occur once the candidates are judged ready, sometimes at the Easter Vigil.

Preparation and Process

Both catechumens and candidates require religious education and formation, but the liturgical process varies according to one’s baptismal status, with certain rites proper only to the unbaptized. These rites include both the rite of entrance, by which the person is formally enrolled in the catechumenate, and the scrutinies, which are a ritual of prayer, exorcism, and laying on of hands that encourages the catechumen to self-examination and repentance.

The preparation period is intentionally not rushed for adults seeking to enter the Church and usually lasts around one year for catechumens. The duration for candidates varies with the amount of instruction needed.

Living Out the Sacraments

It can be tempting to see sacramental reception as an end in itself, but once adults receive the sacraments and are brought into the Church, their lives as Catholics are just beginning. They are encouraged to recall what they experienced in the rituals as catechumens or candidates during this OCIA period of “mystagogy” (from the Greek word for “mysteries”), immediately after becoming Catholic, and consider anew the meaning of the sacraments.

Based on the Church’s earliest traditions of adult conversions, OCIA provides a path to learn, experience, and enter the Church through its sacramental rites, thus providing a faith foundation meant to last a lifetime.

Father David Endres, [email protected],  is professor of Church history and historical theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology.

This article appeared in the May 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.