On October 10, 2015 the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton class met at Alemany High School, Mission Hills.  This is the last of six classes in a row prior to a weekend without a class or retreat. Our next class would be October 24th, but we are leaving for a family event on the 18th and won’t be back until the 25th. We will turn in our assignment prior to our departure and rejoin our classmates on November 7th back at Alemany.  (Click here to read all of Jay and Candy’s Diaconate blogs!)

Our class had the honor of having Clare Colella, a member of the North American Forum on the Catechumenate, discuss the Rite of Christian Initiation or RCIA. We have been sponsors for RCIA so we thought we were ahead of the curve on this topic. Well, we were half right.

We had a pretty good idea of what the various Rites and Blessings that would occur prior to an individual receiving the Sacraments on Holy Saturday. What we lacked was the history on why we do specific rites or blessings during RCIA.

One of the lessons we learned was that, like the Permanent Diaconate, RCIA was reborn during Vatican II with much of the richness of this Rite being drawn from the early Church. The richness comes not only from what was done in the early Church, but from the people themselves. They were becoming followers of Christ during a time in which this would have been a death sentence. Even with this threat of possible death, they persisted.

Clare is from the diocese of San Bernardino. She shared some the ways the RCIA Rites and blessings are conducted and the reason behind it.Clare’s in-depth knowledge of RCIA was amazing and she was able to help the Rite come alive for our class.

Since Jay received the Rite of Acolyte a little less than two-weeks ago, he has served as an Acolyte at two 5:30 pm Masses. At the most recent Mass, he was scheduled to be a Eucharistic Minister. He also was asked to assist at the altar as well as proclaim the first reading.

Jay will be saying the announcements at every Mass the weekend of October 31st / November 1st and we will be briefly sharing where we are in our journey towards the Diaconate and be available after Mass for any questions that you may have.

If you have any questions about what we have experienced in the diaconate (aka “that deacon thing”), please ask us or send us an e-mail to gbmom_01_02@yahoo.com.

If you are interested in becoming a Deacon or a Deacon Couple for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, please contact:

Diaconate Formation Office

Archdiocese of Los Angeles

3424 Wilshire Boulevard, 2nd Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241

213-637-7383

Candy & Jay Krueger,
Diaconate Formation,Year IV,  
Holy Family Church, South Pasadena, CA