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OCIA: How to Get Started and Future Schedule 2025-2026
- Classes begin Monday, September 8, 2025 at 6:30pm-8pm.
- We meet once a week on Monday at 6:30pm-8pm.
- We require a few extra days of meetings throughout the process
- Christian Initiation will be held during the Easter Vigil: Saturday, April 4, 2026
- If you are interested in OCIA at St. Christopher please fill out the online questionnaire below
- St. Christopher Parish will be in contact
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Becoming Catholic
LEARN ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Founded 2,000 Years Ago by JESUS CHRIST- Are you interested in learning more about the Catholic Church?
- Are you considering joining the Church?
- Are you seeking baptism?
- Have you been baptized as a Catholic or in another Christian tradition and want to receive the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation?
- Are you a Catholic returning to active membership in the Church?
The OCIA process is just what you are looking for!
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What Is O.C.I.A.?
The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) is the Catholic Church’s way of helping people understand the Church, welcoming new members and supporting Catholics in their return.
OCIA is comprised of several dimensions. You will learn about the Church, its history, Mass, Sacraments, Creed, traditions and so much more. You will grow in knowledge and understanding of the Church Jesus Christ created for your spiritual journey.
OCIA will help you grow spiritually through the Catholic prayer life, sacramental life, community life and shared spiritual life. Prayer, discernment, small group discussions and retreat experiences will help you integrate the presentation material and discern your spiritual journey.
With our weekly sessions, you will have a solid foundation to begin or improve your spiritual journey that God is calling you to. You will want to continue learning and growing in Christ throughout your life long after you have finished your OCIA experience.
If you begin the OCIA process and discern that the Holy Spirit is not calling you to join the Catholic Church at this time, we will still hope that you remain with us for the rest of the OCIA year to continue learning more about Christ’s Church.
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The OCIA Process* Inquiry During this time, you are encouraged to ask any questions about Christianity and receive truthful, life-sharing answers from Catholic Christians. The informal discussions during the inquiry period help you link your personal life stories to the Good News as witness and lived by the Roman Catholic community. If you desire to continue the conversion journey within our faith community, you are invited to experience the first major rite of the OCIA process, the Rite of Acceptance. The Rite of Acceptance marks both your acceptance of the call of Christ and the communities welcoming acceptance of you, typically at Sunday Mass, with a prayer of strengthening for the journey, symbolic of both the joys and the costs of Christian discipleship.
* Catechumenate The word catechumenate means “time of serious study”. The length of the catechumenate varies according to the individual need. You do not travel alone during this period. Sponsors (practicing Catholics) act as spiritual companions, providing personal support, sharing experience of Christian life and helping you feel “at home” with Catholic religious practice. The catechumenate period ends when you are ready to begin the third period of the journey, the period of purification and enlightenment, which coincides with Lent (a forty day “retreat”) each year. Here we celebrate the second major rite of the RCIA process, the Rite of Election and the Call to Continuing Conversion.
* Purification and Enlightenment This is a time of final preparation for initiation. Joining with the whole church as she enters the Lenten Season, this period is one of prayer, fasting, and reflection, a forty day “retreat” for the entire Church.
* Celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation You are initiated through the third and consummating rite of the OCIA process, the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday Night. On that night, when light drives out darkness, joyful sounds fill the silence, and we proclaim and renew our resurrection hope as you culminate your long journey to initiation. If you have not been baptized, this is the night you are born again in the waters of Baptism – then, along with those who are already baptized, you are sealed with the oil of Confirmation and share the bread and wine of the Eucharist as full members of the Roman Catholic community.
* Mystagogia Your Initiation begins the fourth period of the OCIA journey, the mystagogia, which means “living the mysteries”. It is the beginning of a pilgrimage of lifelong continuous conversion as Disciples of the Lord -
For more information contact:
Director of Religious Education:
Chloe Bowman
[email protected]
or
614-754-8888
Or you can:
Drop a note into the Sunday collection basket or
Talk with Father Andrew Kozminski after Mass.