OCIA | Order of Christian Initiation of Adults

“Where did I find you in order to make your acquaintance in the first place? You could not have been in my memory before I learned to know you. Where then could I have found you in order to learn of you, if not in yourself, far above me…O truth, you hold sovereign sway over all who turn to you for counsel, and to all of them you respond at the same time, however diverse their pleas. Clear is your response, but not all hear it clearly. They all appeal to you about what they want, but do not always hear what they want to hear. Your best servant is the one who is less intent on hearing from you what accords with his own will, and more on embracing with his hill what he has heard from you.

Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!

Lo, you were within, but I was outside, seeking there for you, and upon the shapely things you have made I rushed headlong…You were with me, but I was not with you. They held me back from you, those things which would have no being, were they not in you.

You called, you shouted, you broke through my deafness;
 you flared, you blazed, you banished my blindness;
 you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
 I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst; you touched me, and I burned for your peace.”[1]

The OCIA Program is a process in which individuals or families prepare for full initiation into the Roman Catholic Church. Whether an individual is coming from no faith tradition, a different Christian tradition, seeking to complete their Catholic sacraments, or from the practice of another faith, all are invited to inquire and be accompanied on the journey of conversion to Christ and be joined to His Church. The OCIA process runs throughout the year with candidates journeying together in faith alongside team members from the parish as together they learn and grow in the faith and in relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you are interested in inquiring into the OCIA program, please contact Deacon Patrick Shevlin.