Coming Back to the Catholic Church

Two honest paths

Maybe you were baptised Catholic as a baby and have not been inside a church in twenty years. Maybe you were never baptised at all and are simply curious. Those are different starting points, and the Church treats them differently, so here is each path in plain words.

Whichever one is yours, the welcome is real. Jesus told a story about a son who left home and came back expecting a cold reception. “But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20, World English Bible). Catholics believe that is a picture of how God receives people who return.

If you were baptised Catholic as a child

Here is something many people do not know. You are still Catholic. Catholics believe Baptism leaves a permanent mark on the soul that nothing can remove, not years away, not anger, not indifference (CCC 1272). You do not rejoin the Church the way you rejoin a gym. There is no form, no fee, and no interview.

The way back is confession. Confession, also called the sacrament of Penance, is where a Catholic tells their sins honestly to a priest and hears the words of God’s forgiveness, called absolution. Catholics believe the priest acts in the person of Christ, and he is bound by absolute secrecy about everything he hears.

If the thought makes your stomach tighten, that is normal. Here is exactly how it goes today.

1. Find the confession times of any parish, which is a local church community. They are on the parish website, the notice board, or one phone call away. You do not need an appointment at the scheduled times. You just show up.
2. Wait your turn. In most churches you can choose to kneel behind a screen where the priest does not see your face, or sit and talk face to face. Either is completely fine.
3. Start by telling the truth about where you are. You can literally say, Father, it has been many years and I do not remember how this works. Priests hear this all the time, and most are quietly delighted when they do. He will guide you through it step by step.
4. Say what weighs on you, in your own plain words. There is no script you have to get right.
5. The priest may chat with you briefly, then he gives you a penance, which is usually a small prayer or act to express your turning back. He will help you with a short prayer of sorrow if you do not know one, and then he says the prayer of absolution over you.
6. Then you walk out. People who have done this after decades away describe the same thing again and again, a lightness, like setting down a bag they forgot they were carrying.

That is the whole road home. Confession, then Mass on Sunday, and you are back.

If you were never baptised

For an adult starting from the beginning, the Church has a path called RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. In some countries it is now called OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. Same journey, updated name.

RCIA runs at parish level, usually from around September through to Easter. It is a weekly gathering where you learn what Catholics believe, ask every question you have, and decide freely, with no obligation, whether you want to be baptised. Those who choose to continue are usually baptised and confirmed and receive their First Communion at the Easter Vigil, the night service before Easter Sunday. It is free.

In Cape Town, St Mary’s Cathedral in the city centre runs RCIA on Sundays at 09:00, and the Archdiocese of Cape Town lists RCIA information at adct.org.za/rcia. Times can shift from year to year, so confirm with the cathedral parish office before your first visit, and any parish near you can point you to its own group.

Three small steps this week

You do not have to decide anything big today. Here are three small things you could do this week.

1. Look up your nearest parish on the Archdiocese of Cape Town website, adct.org.za. Just find it on the map and note the Mass times.
2. Sit in on one Mass. There is no pressure and no one will single you out. Sit near the back, stand and sit when others do, and simply watch and listen. You do not go up for Communion, and nobody expects you to.
3. Say one Our Father. It is the prayer Jesus taught, and it takes twenty seconds. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

That is enough for one week. The door is open.

Sources

Archdiocese of Cape Town Archdiocese of Cape Town, RCIA St Mary’s Cathedral, Cape Town Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Two, Section Two, The Seven Sacraments of the Church World English Bible