RCIA Testimony - Becoming Catholic

good evening my name is ashley swanson and this is my husband chris and we're very excited to share our rci experience with you tonight a year ago i was sitting in the pews just like you when i first heard about rcia my desire to better understand the catholic faith is initially what brought me to rcia i grew up protestant and chris grew up catholic and when we got married we decided that we would attend the protestant denomination that i grew up in to raise our family i have catholic roots on both sides of my family but both subsequently left the church due to difficult experiences which in turn left me with a very negative connotation of the catholic church for the last 10 years we've been very active in a protestant denomination but when coveted hit in 2020 the church we were attending shut down for a whole year it left my spiritual tank feeling very empty one weekend i said to chris i can't go another sunday without attending church and he suggested we come up the street to sacred heart we started attending in spring of 2021 and upon hearing the announcement for rcia during that summer i told a very surprised chris that i would like to check it out he encouraged me to go for it i met with our rcia coordinator charm ease and she reassured me that my faith was respected and that nobody was going to pressure me into converting going to into the rcia sessions my pride caused me to be guarded i had spent many years saying i would never convert and here i was considering doing exactly that one thing that stood out was that so many of the sponsors were also converts from the denomination i was coming from and that they too initially had all the same concerns and misconceptions that i did these conversations helped me to swallow my pride let my guard down and open my heart to what the lord had in store for me i really enjoyed the rcia process the leaders and sponsors were fantastic the way the material was presented was very relatable and easy to understand and there was priority given to making sure every last question was answered thoroughly i attended ashley to support her in her journey and to reestablish the foundational knowledge of my own faith that i had been away from for over 10 years just like a montage in a rocky film i went back to the basics and i got stronger each week i rediscovered my faith alongside ashley and we attended the weekly sessions and discussed the material covered we not only grew together as catholics we grew together in our vocations as married couple as a married couple and as parents we even renewed our wedding vows on the morning of easter vigil rcia reminded me of the powerful impact of the sacrament of reconciliation i came to discover that i carried the shame of my sins with me which reduced my confidence my patience and contributed to unhealthy habits i went to confession for the first time in over 10 years and as a result i'm a better professional father and husband i've come to learn there are numerous families at sacred heart with one non-practicing spouse as a former member of this group i cannot emphasize enough the joy this process has brought to our household if you are curious about the catholic faith and are from another faith tradition didn't grow up in church or are a returning catholic i highly encourage you to go through the rcia process in rcia you are entering a judgment-free zone filled with people who are passionate about their faith and have been praying for you long before you even considered rcia if you go in with an open mind and try to let your guard down i have no doubt you will experience the holy spirit in ways you have never imagined chris and i along with shar will be in the narthex after the mass to answer any questions that you may have hope everyone has a great weekend thank you

Channel: Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church

Views: 16,003

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Id: mEKZsKfLg30

Length: 4min 10sec (250 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 29 2022