While acknowledging that the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is about growing the faith of those new to the Catholic Church, Holy Spirit Parish in Fairfield is finding the process is enriching the entire parish community.

The parish’s nine-member RCIA team is a ministry with a clear sense of mission.

“We’re helping people in their faith journey, but we as a community are learning also,” according to Elba Zuvich, co-coordinator of the RCIA. “As a result our church community is empowered.”

While the RCIA process is aimed chiefly at preparing and initiating the unbaptized, it is also intended for Christians baptized in other churches who wish to be fully initiated members of the Catholic Church by reception of the sacraments of confirmation and Eucharist.

At Holy Spirit, people are accepted into the RCIA throughout the year. Linda Smith, a RCIA team member who went through the catechumenate more than 20 years ago and has been active in ministry ever since, said it is not accidental that as the parish works on creating a welcoming environment for new people at Mass, enrollment in the RCIA process has increased.

Lectors and other greeters welcome newcomers as they enter the church. The celebrant also personally welcomes them during Mass.

“We’re seeing our parishioners beginning to ‘step out of their box’…and that’s very welcoming to visitors new in a parish or someone looking for a place to belong,” Smith said. “It rolls over to the parishioners sitting out there.”

That was the case with the Blevins family. Robin and Jay Blevins and their seven-year-old son, Jake, had shared the feeling there was a spiritual void in their lives. So they began visiting a variety of faith communities in the Fairfield area. But too often the churches had a less than friendly atmosphere. Then one Sunday morning they found themselves attending Mass at Holy Spirit.

“The people were warm and welcoming,” Robin said. “We knew immediately it was home.”

The couple enrolled Jake in the RCIA adapted for children and started attending RCIA sessions.

“Jake fit right in. It was home for him too,” Robin said.

On March 4 all three joined a delegation of 18 catechumens and candidates from Holy Spirit participating in the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento.

During three Rite of Election celebrations at the cathedral and one at St. Joseph Church in Redding, Bishop William K. Weigand and Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia welcomed more than 440 adult and child catechumens, who will be baptized at Easter, and more than 530 candidates, who will complete their Christian initiation at the same time. Some 71 parishes were represented.

Father Michael Downey says one of his primary responsibilities as pastor of Holy Spirit is collaborating with the RCIA team.

“I see one of the great needs people have is the need to belong. They want to belong to the church,” he noted. “I think through participation, presence and involvement (pastors) help people belong more.”

Smith explained that it is a shared philosophy among members of the RCIA team at Holy Spirit that the rites of the catechumenate take center stage.

“I’m a firm believer in when you do the rites, you do them well because they speak for themselves,” she said.

The parish’s rite of acceptance, for example, was moved from weekend Mass to a weekday evening so the sole focus would be on the rite and catechumens and candidates would receive a more personal welcoming from parishioners.

“The rites are moving more than the people participating in them,” Smith said. “They’re moving the whole assembly.”

It’s Father Downey’s view that the Easter vigil is extremely important because of its impact on those going through the RCIA process.

“Easter is not just Easter season, but it is an ongoing process (for the catechumens and candidates) for the rest of their lives,” he said. “Every Sunday becomes a little Easter.”

Paying attention to people with special needs is also a focus of the RCIA team. Whether it is addressing the needs of people with physical disabilities, shyness or simply meeting the challenges of working moms, Smith says the team strives to meet individual personal and spiritual needs.

While pointing out that many people who go through the formation process are “healthy,” Father Downey said some are “very broken people” too.

“Some have experienced a lot of hurts in life and in marriages and are seeking healing,” he said.

The RCIA team has found breaking sessions into small groups allows for more comfortable interaction among participants and with team members.

“For some who carry a lot of baggage, forming smaller groups allows people to more willingly share,” Zuvich said. “It’s amazing the beauty that comes from them.”

The RCIA at Holy Spirit also focuses on ways to nurture and maintain the neophytes or new members during mystagogia, a yearlong period following initiation when new members strive to deepen their understanding of the mysteries of the faith. At weekly meetings following the 9 a.m. Mass, parish life is discussed by ministry leaders, and neophytes are encouraged to share experiences from their individual journeys of faith.

“It’s absolutely grand to see the spirit move in them,” Smith said. “You do a lot of growing within your own spirituality.”

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