Baptism of Children of Catechetical Age and of Adults
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is the process by which a man or woman over the age of sixteen becomes a member of the Catholic Church.
If you are an adult who wishes to be baptized or if your school-age child wishes to be baptized, contact your parish. (List of the parishes of the Archdiocese of Gatineau).
The culmination of this RCIA is the celebration of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil. Imagine a person who is not baptized and who wants to become a Christian in the Catholic Church. This person has some knowledge of the Gospel and the Church. The Christian community will want to accompany this person to help him or her develop a personal and living relationship with Jesus Christ. It will also want to foster a vital sense of belonging to the Church.
The first step will be to get to know each other and to lay the necessary foundations for a good faith journey. The entry into the catechumenate will be celebrated when the request is judged to be well founded. In this community celebration, the person asking for baptism becomes a catechumen. He or she has a special status in the community and begins to be part of it.
At the beginning of the following Lent, the bishop will celebrate the rite of election with all the catechumens for the sacraments of initiation at Easter. Their names will be inscribed in a diocesan register as a sign of the call that God has placed upon them.
Throughout Lent, during the Sunday Masses, scrutinies will be celebrated. These are moments of prayer inserted into the Eucharist after the homily. These moments allow the whole community to unite with the journey of the catechumens as they live these last weeks of preparation.
Finally, during the Easter Vigil, the catechumens will be baptized and confirmed; they will take part in the Eucharist and, for the first time, receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
A time of deepening of the experience that has just been lived begins. This is the time of mystagogy. The new Christians are no longer catechumens, but neophytes, new beings. They will be accompanied in a special way to ensure their full integration into parish life and to help them in these first months of Christian life.
Au fil du carême, lors des messes du dimanche, on célébrera les scrutins. Il s’agit de moments de prière insérés dans l’Eucharistie après l’homélie. Ces moments permettent à toute la communauté de s’unir au cheminement des catéchumènes alors qu’ils vivent ces dernières semaines de préparation.
Enfin, lors de la Vigile pascale, les catéchumènes seront baptisés et confirmés; ils prendront part à l’Eucharistie et, pour la première fois, communieront au Corps et au Sang du Christ.
Commence alors un temps d’approfondissement de l’expérience qu’on vient de vivre. C’est le temps de la mystagogie. Les nouveaux chrétiens ne sont plus des catéchumènes, mais des néophytes, des êtres nouveaux. On les accompagnera de façon spéciale pour assurer leur pleine intégration dans la vie paroissiale et pour les aider dans ces premiers mois de vie chrétienne.